Peace on Earth, 2030
(A few years back, I was one of several people asked if I thought it would be possible to have peace on Earth by 2030. The question was being asked as a way to encourage reflection on what might need to happen in the present to support peace in the future. I thought about my answer for quite some time and then offered the following response.)
I’d like to begin by suggesting there may be a clearer way to get to the point of this question, a way that acknowledges that to the rabbit who is hunted by the hawk there will never be peace on Earth. A way that understands that if we truly are interested in peace, we need to recognize that as humans we are connected to the rabbit AND to the hawk, AND to the fact that the hawk hunting the rabbit is part of a natural cycle of balance.
In other words, I don’t think peace on Earth will be defined as hawks laying down with rabbits.
As posed, I think the question also presupposes that world peace is an end result rather than the unfolding of a process. As as end, I think we are tempted to treat world peace as the solving of a problem, the lack of world peace. I think any time we reduce complex issues to that of problems needing to be solved, we are bound to think in absolute solutions: THIS is how we achieve peace on Earth.
