Peace is something most people yearn for. Yet sometimes it seems like it’s slipping away rather than becoming wide-spread. There probably is a parallel between a lack of peace in people’s private life and the lack of peace between many countries, societies or cultures.
We live in a day and age when individualism has become a new religion and when the survival instinct hasn’t yet caught up with the comforts of modern life. Science has given us so much that many people have fallen into it, making it the sole focus of their life, often forgetting about other equally important aspects of existence. They seek in science the solution to any problem. But looking at our evolution, I would say that our science is still primitive. It’s definitely not something we should have blind faith in, yet this is exactly the ego trap that some people fall for.
Emotion ended up being seen as the behavioral manifestation of a biological machine. Perhaps it is, but this approach lacks imagination; its artistic dimension is missing. As the union between emotion and free will, art is a pillar of life.
Let’s go beyond the simple textbook definition of peace and above the few sentences we could think of in a rush. Peace as a life-permeating and world-changing emotion is something that we need to dig at. It is something that requires introspection, research and application.
Throughout the following three articles, I have silenced my inner scientist and tuned in to my emotions. I explored gratefulness, love and empathy in order to grasp at the foundations of peace.
Part 1 – Because You Are Here^, exposes gratefulness as a key ingredient of a happier life. This emotion is a catalyst for the cultivation of inner peace and its outward manifestation as social peace.
Part 2 – Interaction and the Spectrum of Love^, deals with relationships and how they generate love and grow from love. The emotion of love is not only a primordial force of life but also the strongest motivator for peace.
Part 3 – Be and Let Be^, focuses on empathy and how this can release one’s life from the pressure of destructive competition (in opposition to natural, instinct-driven competition). Empathy is an instinctual means of connection and a transmitter of peace.
Interlude – Corporations, Corrupt Governments, Militaries and Lots of Empathy^, bridges this trilogy with the upcoming “Science of Peace” trilogy.
I wish you peace.
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