Ongoing Process

There is a very common misconception about the relationship between peace and violence. This is that peace is the absence of violence. That is to say that if we could just put an end to violence, then what is left over would be peace. However, this is not correct. Peace is not the absence of violence. The reality is quite the other way around. Violence is the absence of peace.

Violence is much like darkness. We have an idea we call dark, but it is just a conceptual shortcut. In reality, there is no such thing as dark. One can neither produce, manipulate, nor destroy dark. The idea we call dark is in actuality the absence of light. Light, on the other hand, is entirely real. We can easily produce, manipulate, and destroy light. In this way, light is much like peace.

Peace, like light, is not an absence but a presence. Peace is the presence of awareness. Or, more accurately, peace is the awareness of Presence. Peace is the awareness of the sacred by whatever name… God, beauty, wholeness, Life, or whatever symbol you prefer. Violence is the painful state of being in ignorance of the divine. In the awareness of Presence, violence is not overcome or defeated, it simply does not exist.

With this realization, we see how the vast majority of efforts to create peace are tragically misguided. Over and over, we seek only to destroy violence. We fight fighting and shed our blood to end bloodshed. This is an endless cycle which at best does nothing and very often perpetuates the very conflicts it would seek to end.

If we want peace, we must not seek to end violence. We must create peace. We must create awareness of Presence. We must cultivate that which celebrates the sacred in all of Life. If we want peace, we must shine like a beacon in the darkness so that others may see the holy in all they behold.

“Do not curse the darkness; light a candle.” - Chinese Proverb