There are, at large, two definitions of peacefulness - the individual quality of having a peaceful and calm mind, eased of worries and the communal existence with harmony and absence of violence.
It is very important to establish peacefulness of both these types. In the context of today, where the world is war-torn and moving entirely too fast for many to adjust to, or even keep track, both internal and external becomes crucial for continuing to live a somewhat sane life. And while it might seem like the necessity of peace is new, it is not. The need for peace has been around as long as violence has been, and that is since the beginning of humanity. History has shown us time and again how violence and peace work in circles, only when humanity has lost itself to the worst of violence, has it realised the value of peace. Periods of chaos often precede periods of peace. But it is worthwhile to think about ways to achieve peace before that.
A peaceful society may seem idealistic and a little beyond reach at times, but it is achievable if we all make small efforts consistently within our individual means. But individual means also need to be a collective effort. Many people are discouraged from these efforts because the idea can be very overwhelming at first, that the responsibility of a peaceful existence for all rests upon you, but it is necessary to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day and that we can take baby steps each day as long as we are taking those steps.
Change comes from within, and a greater change from the society must begin within each individual it consists of first. Let us discuss why it is important to find inner peace -
It helps us centre ourselves, and it improves our ability to focus on things that are important to us and require our attention. Unfortunately, the world we live in today, there is no shortage of distractions that incite anxiety and send up into a flurry of worries. These small yet intense sources of anxiety and worry are counter-productive to us leading a mentally and physically healthy life, and impede growth by causing us to lose focus on the things that make up the core of a meaningful life i.e our families, friends and social circle, and our identity. Inner peace also helps us develop and practice coping methods that prep us in facing the challenges life throws our way. Inner peace and these subsequent coping methods help us transform the negative to positive, helps us take the negative input in the form of anxiety and stress we experience from stressful life situations, and transform it into the positive output of working out plans and strategies to finding and executing a solution. The positive outcome is a lot more desired than the alternative, which is spiralling into negative thoughts that are bound to create more anxiety, hence setting a cycle that only keeps you in a negative mindset. These coping strategies help us retain and redirect energy to the things that are actually important in life.
Inner peace helps us be patient and tolerant. Why and when do we lose our patience? When we are restless, and not at peace with our thoughts or actions. The restlessness on the inside shows up on the outside. Why and when do we turn intolerant? When we feel threatened at the existence of an opposing ideology, and feel that it would invalidate our opinions. But inner peace helps you understand that it is not the case, and opposing ideologies can co-exist. Their coexistence is what makes it possible to reach a middle ground. Peace also helps you calm your errant thoughts, making you less (and hopefully to the point it is non-existent) restless. If you have spent any amount of time scrolling on social media, you must have observed the utter lack of tolerance and patience people seem to have towards others these days. Inner peace teaches us to be patient and tolerant in our treatment of others and their views and to control anger and irritation while responding to them. It also teaches us that holding on to patience will only help us understand the situation better, giving way to a rational process of finding solutions.
Inner peace helps us sleep better, get a better quality of rest, and improve our quality of life. A lot of us do not get the necessary amount of sleep either because we have been working too hard or our minds have been working too hard. Since inner peace enables us to cope with stress and anxiety better, it also allows our minds to finally slow down when we are done for the day, helping us to get a good night's sleep.
We feel happier more frequently and for longer, we can truly cherish the things that do make us happy. Happiness is an emotion, and a fleeting one at that, that everyone chases. Who does not wish to feel happy? Inner peace helps you cherish the small things in life, feel happiness more freely, the unbridled joy that you fail to experience when your mind is clouded with a thousand thoughts. Hence, inner peace which lessens stress and anxiety also serves as a path to feel our happy moments more deeply. And not just for us, but peace also makes sure we try to share happiness as much as possible.
We form more enriched bonds with others. A great deal of the quality of the relationships we foster depends on the way we think of ourselves. It might surprise you, but the way we feel about ourselves has a huge say in the way we treat those around us, as well as how we let them treat us. Both of these ultimately define what kind of and how strong of a bond we share with them. Peace helps you be at peace with yourself, it assures you that you are solid in whatever and whoever you are, and your worth is determined by your own thoughts. This makes you more confident in the relationships you share with others. Peace also assists you in treating the people with kindness and ensuring you that there is a certain degree of respect and kindness you deserve to receive from others. This process ensures that the relationships you build are a positive influence on you and your life.
As important as inner peace is, in the greater scheme of things, peace amongst communities and nations is just as important as inner peace. While it may seem easy to bifurcate the two kinds of peace to make better sense and give us a clearer understanding of what both concepts of peace mean, they share a symbiotic relationship.
Inner peace in a world that is torn by war cannot exist, and we cannot achieve world peace as long as the main players of this game of violence have not achieved inner peace and instead are driven by greed.
While the people in power call the shots, people in the actual areas of conflict are often deprived of basic human necessities. People in areas affected by war and conflict between sparring countries often have no support from either country/countries involved, they are treated as collateral damage and resort to fending for themselves. Even then, the very essentials humans need in order to survive becomes a distant dream as they struggle to find sources of food and drinking water. In many unfortunate cases, people have to flee the place they have called home their whole life with only the clothes on their backs. Even as a refugee, they struggle to find their ground in the new country, continuing to feel alien.
The biggest loss in such violence-stricken areas is quite possibly the loss of human dignity. People have to compromise their morals to ensure their lives are spared, more so people are forced into actions they would otherwise never do. Even if they do manage to escape such a situation, they still have to carry the memories of the inhuman acts they were subjected to which can severely affect their mental health. The PTSD that is a result of the trauma they have survived, is regrettably, not confined to them and affects the generations that follow them as well.
Women and children often bear the brunt of such crises. Women, and in some heartbreaking but unfortunately very real instances children too, become victims of trafficking. Children lose their childhood and innocence regardless of being sold into slavery, the traumas they face change them irreparably for their life ahead. Prisoners of war are another discussion altogether. The Geneva Convention’s most notable treatise was the rules it set in place for the moral culpability of perpetrators for the treatment of people who were captured by the enemy state in an ongoing war. History has been a testament time and again, that innocent people are the ones who suffer in war.
Every individual should try to bring peace into the world. Every citizen has a moral responsibility to use their franchise as a citizen to guide their state away from war, and condemn these actions and the repercussions they bring.
Peace ensures security and a future where everyone has access to the basic needs that people caught in the middle of violent conflicts desperately seek but never get.
On the other hand, ensuring such a future is a demanding endeavour. But just because it is demanding should not deter us from working towards it. We are not at a place where losing more human lives, loss of human dignity and health, or standing by as we watch lives get ruined is something we can afford. We need to work on building livelihoods, infrastructure and establishing communication challenges and building bridges of assimilation for those that have been displaced.
Here are just three of the major reasons why we need to get the ball of world peace rolling:
1. Because the aftermath of conflicts are far-reaching and irreparable.
As stated earlier as well, there is no place on the globe as we speak that is not experiencing the effects of war - either a current war that is ongoing, a war that is being prepared to be fought or effects of wars that have been long fought and won or lost, yet continue to freshen the scars of those who witnessed it. And these effects are irreparable. The disparity between a child that goes to bed with a full stomach, a roof over their head, and the safety of knowing they are protected and have their parents is a stark difference to another child that has probably lose one or both their parents as a result of violent conflict, who has to go to sleep hungry not knowing where their next meal will come from and not knowing where they will be sleeping next. This disparity should be enough to drive us to action.
2. Because politicians who rarely have to face the consequences of their decisions will do what is convenient to them.
The majority of the conflicts arise due to issues of exclusion, inequality and injustice. Politicians often mobilise the military as the solution to the conflict, but maybe what we need more than brute force is intellectual discussions. Every nation wants to be the most powerful, but what many leaders that incite such violence fail to realise is that a fight will never solve the underlying problems that cause such a conflict in the first place. A more peaceful solution would be to look for reforms that nip the bud at the root i.e figure out what causes humans to be this hateful and competitive towards each other (it is often a lack of resources leading to competition but often this is not due to a lack of resources, rather a lack of available resources as the rich and powerful hoard whatever they wish to) and find a solution (the solution here being an equitable distribution of resources).
3. Because conflict irreversibly and negatively affects the lives and stunts the development of those who experience it.
More than one and a half billion people live in countries that are in the middle of a conflict. Nearly sixty million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of unsafe situations due to war, out of which twenty million live as refugees. The saddest part? Nearly half of these are children. Lives changed before they even understand what life is. This means more than 1/7th of the world’s population lives in constant fear and anxiety of what tomorrow brings because they know what can happen. This is precisely why it is important to be peaceful - to make sure every human gets to live a life of peace and dignity.
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