A piece of peace

Some wars and battles  – inside of us, outside of us – have been going on for a very long time, writes HOT’s Zelly Restorick.  So long in fact, I’ve heard people say they’ve forgotten how they started. 

Have you heard the expression : ‘Who threw the first stone’?

We’ve all thrown real – and metaphorical stones – and had them thrown at us.

Who threw the first one? 

The answer to this is often lost in the dim and distant past.

Irretrievable amongst our personal, collective and ancestral histories.

What if… we all laid down any stones [of the real or metaphorical variety] we wanted to use with violent intent?

What if… we took some time to heal the wounds that have already been inflicted – and spend some time considering whether inflicting more wounds is the only way forward?

It’s irrelevant to me who threw the first stone… it’s an eye for an eye thinking.

‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’  Gandhi

What happened before the first stone was thrown?

What happened to cause the stone to be thrown in the first place?

There’s always something that took place before something happened. And before that and before that.. and so on and so on and so on.

What if we choose to look forward and not back?

What if… we imagined we each had a stone in our hand, representing the very first stone thrown?

What if… on behalf of all the ancestral past that is within each of us, we considered laying down our stone?

As a sincere and significant gesture towards a more peaceful way of doing things.

What if…. we spoke to those in our lives and said: ‘Sorry for any hurts I or my ancestors may have done to you or your ancestors. Sorry for any hatred I have perpetuated, any violence or hurt.’

Apologise on behalf of our tribe.

And then we could say – if we wanted to – it’s our choice: ‘Want to start again?’

War isn’t only something that involves bombs, weapons and drones. It is within each and every one of us. It can be in our homes, at work and many environments.

Before getting involved in other people’s conflicts and battles, do we first need to create peace inside of ourselves?

Within our own personal lives?

If we made peace in ourselves, would there be less war on the outside?

I read somewhere that we need conflict in order to evolve.

Is this the only way?  Is conflict really the only way to move forward?

Or is that way of looking at things now out of date?

Are there other methods? Alternatives? Other perspectives and ideas?

Have you ever been hurt by someone?  Wounded?  Physically?  Mentally?  Felt what it feels like?  What does it teach you?  Can any of us really learn anything valuable from violence, domination and bullying tactics?  Are there no other ways for us to learn?  Is suffering the only way to learn?

How would you feel, for example, if you heard a noise  – right now – that was recognisable to you as as an enemy drone plane?

How would you feel if you were bombed?  Your house destroyed?  Your loved ones killed or injured?

Would you feel love towards whoever was doing this to you?  Understanding?  Compassion?  Anger?  Rage?  A desire for revenge? For someone to send back bigger better more powerful bombs?

Would you want the bombing to stop so that you could try to repair your life and get back to your family and friends?

‘Peace cannot be kept by force… it can only be achieved by understanding.’  Einstein

It breaks my heart when the country where I was born gets involved in another war. It’s certainly not in my name and I wonder if other people around the world might think I’ve agreed to war being used as a way of keeping the peace?

Can you imagine…. there are people out there at this time using their beautiful miraculous incredible brains to come up with more efficient technological ways to kill other members of their own species. They’re way beyond the stone method.

Imagine… if all that knowledge and energy and experience, skill and brain power       were re-directed in wise ways for more more thoughtful, less destructive and loving purposes?

What might happen?

Do we need a really good shake up? Is this the only way for us to learn? Via suffering the only way?

Is dominance the only way? Authority? Bullying? Force? Threat?

What if it wasn’t your battle, but now you’re involved?

[Although probably we’re all involved at some level – whether we do something or don’t.]

Could we live without war?

Could the people who think there’s ‘good’ in war, come round to thinking they could achieve this ‘good’ in some less destructive, less harmful way? I know there’s money in war, but surely there are other ways to earn a living?

Imagine…. if we all chose to not have any enemy. Would this make a difference?

Or if we at least chose to not make someone else’s enemy our own?

Can we ‘fight’ for peace?  Do these words go together?  ‘Fighting’ and ‘peace’?

Should we all make an effort to take the language of war and battle out of our own vocabularies? Would this make a difference?

What would be a reasonable justification to pick up a stone and throw it at someone else or some living thing?  When would it be okay?  Is it ever okay?

Could you think about laying down your stones?

You could take the stone in your hand and admire its beauty… knowing it’s filled with the same atomic material as yourself – all just energy – and agree to never again use it with violent intent.

It is a unique miracle, that stone… just like you are.

 

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