TOW: Peace in Our Time

*Disclaimer: It's the long weekend, and I had to work on Sunday, so that's why TOW and VOW will be put up today.*


What is a peaceful society? Many great philosophers, and political thinkers, have debated this question, and the question of whether peace is even possible for human beings. Today I would like to talk about a different kind of peace: inner peace. I'm not suggest the other questions about peace aren't important but a) I'm not a political scientist of any kind, b) it's kind of not a subject I can put on my blog without people sending me mail telling me what errors I made in the discussion and c) why can't people get together like toast and jam? It should be so simple.

Inner peace, however, is really, really hard to achieve. We are constantly confronted by negative comments people make about us and the world around us, and we often don't find balance when, say, someone just spilled coffee all over your new dress shirt on the bus. When confronted by various situations in our life that challenge our level of inner peace, however fragile that might be, we often say, "Why me?"

Yes, indeed, why me? Why you? Why them? Why, why, why? No one has any idea, really. But there it is. No matter how hard we try, there always seems to be that one thing that craps on your parade like a flock of pigeons with a full bladder and explosive dihearrea. And at times like these we can only wonder what we did to deserve such an unfortunate lot in life, and we must be the unluckiest person alive, except for maybe that guy who was hit by lightning 24 times over a period of 7 years. He was really screwed.

Philosophy has a lot to say about the role of inner peace in our lives. Perhaps the most sage advice amongst all the musings on inner peace are the ones that refuse to accept that inner peace is circumstantial. Because, maybe not surprisingly, inner peace isn't about finding balance, it's about finding meaning.

The reason for this is simple. You can always be more balanced, more in tune with keeping everything in harmony. (Good luck with that, by the way). These sorts of people are the ones who become stereotypes, the Western bankers who 'find balance' with feng shui or cafeteria-style Buddhism. When Murphy's Law kicks in, however, they are going to find themselves on a rapid river to Unhappy Land. (And no, you're not tall enough to ride the rides in Unhappy Land. You just stand around watching everyone having a great time.)

When we search for an anchor of meaning in our lives, however, circumstances become less important. They are not challenges to our inner peace, they are only challenges to our daily lives. In other words, we are free to be peaceful not because the world around us is inherently peaceful, but because our search for meaning leads us to inner peace. We all have the ability to rise out of the rubble, and make ourselves anew. We can shed that skin of unhappiness, and put on that Shiny Robe of No Problem-ness. (It's pretty shiny.) And reflecting on the bigger problems that face us in our day to day lives, whether it be of a political or moral nature, the question is not 'how did I end up in a set of circumstances like these?' but rather 'what am I going to do now that I am in circumstances like these?"

Stick that in your inner peace pie-hole and chew on that, Mr.-Guy-Who-Spilled-Coffee-on-My-Dress-Shirt-On-the-Bus.