West Bank, Santas Ghetto. Photo by EddieDangerous, Flickr Creative Commons

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

–The Talmud
_______________________

Over the past two weeks, many of us have watched anxiously as the tension around Syria and drumbeats for war grow.

Yes, a very bad thing happened there. Hundreds of people, perhaps more, were killed by chemical weapons. Bad things happen all over the world, though. Do we try to respond to all of them? How do we choose what to respond to and what to ignore? And what should the response be?

It is daunting to consider these questions, and so many of us turn the other way.

We have been forced into a corner where it appears that the only choices are:

a) to act with aggression, or

b) to ignore and do nothing.

This, however, is a false choice. (I wrote more about this here.)

When we are in a corner, the choices seem more limited – and in fact may be limited by the corner itself. Viewed in this way, of course a nonviolent solution may seem implausible and impossible.

What I believe is this: Peacemaking is more than a single response to an isolated event. Rather it’s a way of life, built up moment after moment, day after day, year after year.

It grows out of a deep commitment to embodying nonviolence in oneself in all ways – speech, thought, actions. It has to be woven into the way we treat each other and govern our societies.

And it is rooted in Love.

Peacemaking requires imagination. It’s really a creative act, as John Paul Lederach describes beautifully in his book, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace.

And it needs to be accompanied by justice; that is, ensuring that all people (and creatures) have equal access to the conditions and resources we need to survive, and that we have processes in place with which to address the myriad ways that justice has been denied to individuals as well as groups of people.

During this past summer, I taught a workshop in northern Thailand on socially engaged Buddhism. One of the many things we explored was the difference between change and transformation. Sure – you can switch out one unjust regime with another, and you’ve achieved social change.

But social transformation can only happen by working at the level of root causes and cures. The greatest of these are our mental models – the view we hold of the world (and ourselves).

In my workshop, I shared a model of three overlapping circles that looked like this:

The place where those three elements — Spirit, Strategy, and Power/Privilege/Position — intersect is what makes transformation possible.

Back to Syria – how to respond? Admittedly I’m not an expert in this, but I love what Anne Lamott wrote about just that:

There’s no way regular people like us could know what to do in Syria, whether to strike or not. The greatest strategic and political minds of our day, with genuinely brilliant advisers and sci-fi intelligence gathering, can’t figure it out. So how is some aging hippie Nana peacenik going to figure out the Rubic’s Cube of this distant savage heartbreaking civil war, where many of the rebels are jihadis, and there’s no one who is prepared or organized enough to run the country post-Assad?

But isn’t this one reality–that the most fastidiously trained and learned people in the government, military, humanitarian and diplomatic fields, can’t figure out the right move–reason enough to hold off bomb strikes for the time being?

If we want peace in Syria — or anywhere — we have to work for it, right here and right now in ourselves, and in the workings of our country.

So how can we move toward this vision of creating a more just and peaceful world? Here are four steps that can help us get started:

1) Realize that a peaceful and just society is possible, and that nonviolence is the most effective way to get there.
I want to give you a homework assignment – watch this incredible documentary: Pray the Devil Back to Hell. It’s the amazing true story of the women’s peace movement in Liberia. It will make you understand that the impossible is possible, when spirit, strategy, and power/privilege/position intersect.

2) Realize that we are not alone.
Connect. Find a community of like-minded and like-spirited peacemakers. Here are a few suggestions:

• Buddhist Peace Fellowship
• American Friends Service Committee
• Pax Christi

Remember that we bring all of our humanity into every situation, and that we often unwittingly re-create violence in these very groups where our desire is to make peace. So don’t expect them to be utopias… but realize the power of patience and willingness to learn together. This is how we practice peace right where we are, and wake up together.

3) Have a practice that nourishes peacemaking.
There are so many possibilities… some of these are individual practices, some are collective. Here are a few: Nonviolent communication, council practice, meditation, yoga, art… plenty more ideas here.

4) Take peaceful actions in your every day life.
Every day you can do something that builds peace in yourself, in your neighborhood, in your environment — what I call micro peacework. Take that action. Don’t stop. Persist. Commit.

Do you have more ideas on how to practice peace? Please share them in the comments below.

_____________________

Sharing the Love

The Liberated Life Project is a labor of love.
If you feel moved to give a love offering in return, here are 3 things you can do!
1) Become a subscriber and receive posts in your email each week. Sign up here.
2) Tell your friends! Share LLP posts on your Facebook page and elsewhere…
see the ‘share’ buttons at the bottom of this post.
3) Make a donation! See the button below. I will be eternally grateful.

—Maia