We all want Peace in the world, but don't you think to have Peace in the world, we must have peace within?

Question

We run around wearing peace signs, our cars have peace bumper stickers and we ask everyone "to give peace a chance". Hum, well, Peace starts within first.

Answer 1

Of course. If you are not at peace within you will not be at peace without and your thoughts and actions will tend not to be peacefully motivated (genuinely) and you will be a part of the problem.

Answer 2

Absolutely...Amen.  I totally agree.  You can't change anyone but yourself.  That's where it starts.

Answer 3

You're like, so deep man.  Like, you know.  You said like that thing that...  You're gonna change the world.  I can see it now.  We're gonna need new bumper stickers that say "Give Peace Within a Chance".  You like, changed my whole life man.  This whole time, I've had war in my heart.  I've been going around looking for war and I see that that's just not right.  I'm responsible for that stuff in the Middle East, and I just - I feel awful.  Israel-Palestine - Guilty.  The Seven Days' War - Guilty.  Lebanon - That was me.  Sudan - got me.  Bosnia - I'm sorry.  Nuclear proliferation - I thought I was doing a good thing.  Hundreds of years of war between Britain and France - I was there.  The war on drugs - silly me.  Heroshima - I thought it would be fun.  Racial profiling - guilty.  Slavery - that harvest wasn't gonna harvest itself.  The Roman Empire - my bad.  The British Opium Wars in the Orient - we all like to kick back every now and then.  Apartheid - who doesn't like to keep things organized?  You like totally just changed my life right now.  You should write that down.  Like you should really write that down.  Send it to a publisher man.  Get the word out that we're all just f**king it up for everyone else.  Cause it's just not right.  It's not right to act like this.  We act like...like animals, man.

Answer 4

I want to learn the ways of war and combat.  I want every one to know how to fight.  Should we all be sheep?  Should we all sit around in a "love in" and agree to be vegetarians and ignore the approach of the wolves?  Give me a sharp sword and a strong arm with which to wield it and I shall make peace flow from the veins of my enemies.

What I mean is that the price for peace is eternal vigilance.  Just because we are not war mongers ourselves, that doesn't mean that some one else isn't making ready for war.  Remember your world history:

Prior to the second world war (WWII)  every one else was paring down their military and playing all nice nice.  Meanwhile, the Axis powers were building up and preparing to make war.  We almost lost that war because of it.

Answer 5

Absolutely.

"Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world. Every individual must change his own life if he wants to live in a peaceful world. The world cannot become peaceful unless and until you yourself begin to work toward peace. It is only by removing hate from our hearts that we can live a Christ-like life."

~Paramahansa Yogananda, who was not a Christian himself, but an admirer of Christ and a promoter of peace.

"Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share peace with neighboring communities, and so on. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace."

~ 14th Dalai Lama

Pax

Answer 6

it is true. while we work for world peace, we should also build peace within ourselves and in our surroundings.  

Answer 7

Actually, I don't believe that 'we ALL want peace in the world'. A lot of people find their perverse little niche in protagonizing conflict; others fill their cavernous pockets with ill-gotten gains during wartime; even peace loving little people whose investment portfolios happen to include companies that produce armaments and win military contracts have no qualms about ordering lobster while parts of the world are on fire.

Achieving peace means more than being peace loving, and it involves a variety of factors: acceptance of others' differences, willingness to share resources, refusal to dwell on the injustices of the past, rejection of one's own feelings of superiority, and most of all really and truly treating others as one would like to be treated.

You are right, of course, that if EVERY individual felt the kind of peace within that comes from personally living all of the above, the world would be ... WOW...it's hard to imagine how great!

Still, we cannot but help elect leaders who promise to 'protect' us, which alone implies that there is an enemy out there, which implies that we have something we don't want to share, are superior, are afraid, etc. In a world of fear, distrust, and envy, hatred not love blooms, and poor ol' Peace doesn't have much of a chance. Meanwhile, unfortunately, as a presidential candidate so merrily sung, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iraq.'

Answer 8

Yes, that's a given.

Answer 9

That is the Truth which those noisy a warlike peacemakers do not want to hear...

Answer 10

Yes, people seem to think that peace is sort of in the air thats outside of us or something. It really comes from within us. Thats where everything comes from; within.