If we want 'freedom from violence' as the United Nations recently stated in a link to its web site, I wounder if the enormity of that statement is really understood when it appears such an easy statement to make and an ideal to pursue.
Do we not see that most of us are violent in our ambitions, our relationships, in our workplace, in the corporate companies, the nations and our religions. We may not call it violence but our fear of loosing what we are constantly accumulating makes us aggressive when we have to consider giving something up. Can we have a peaceful life for everybody on this planet if we do not see what we have gained at the expense of others?
Do we think we can carry on as we are, unwilling to ease off on our selfish consumption and magically have peace? That nation states will stop looking after their own interests and we, as self-centred individuals, will stop accumulating material and psychological attachments? Will we stop defending our individual and national possessions that have been acquired often through exploitation in this very unfair and unequal world?
To have no violence requires fundamental change within and without. It cannot be achieved through politics and force of will.
Perhaps we can have peace if we understand what it means to be conditioned by our respective societies and cultures and we can observe our own thoughts and behaviour factually so we can see the competitiveness, aggression and violence we carry out in our daily lives as we strive to achieve and gain what we think is success in our competitive and aggressive societies.
