The Road to Lasting Peace
By: Dr. Angelika Selle
From childhood, I wanted to be a peacemaker, but it seemed like an impossible dream—a pipe dream, some would say.
According to one online post I recently encountered, “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace only for 268 of them, or only 8 percent of recorded history.” This indicates that, although most humans desire peace, it has never been fully achieved. Yet, simultaneously, the strong desire for peace never stops, and efforts toward peace continue.
We also witness that institutions such as the United Nations—founded to maintain international peace and security and, to that end, to take effective collective measures to prevent and remove threats to the peace—have not been able to fulfill their promise to the fullest. In fact, in the face of today’s countless global crises, tensions, wars, and violations of human rights, one might not have much hope or expectations that the UN or any government or institution will be able to even make a dent in terms of not only creating peace but maintaining it.
So, is there any hope?
I say, YES, there is hope, and peace is possible!
However, from my experience, the answer does not lie in peace treaties, contracts, or mutual agreements. Instead, lasting peace begins in the spiritual realm and within each individual.
Indeed, I realized that, in addition to all the wars, divisions, and conflicts in the world, there are also eight billion wars—one within each of us. It is a battle between striving to do good, being kind and unselfish, and living for the sake of others and constantly being tempted and trapped into doing the opposite, namely, evil or bad, selfishness, anger, hate, and all other forms of hurting self and others.
One can say that the latter is just “reality” and “being human”; therefore, nothing will ever change.
Therein lies the problem…
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