Too often I observe that we identify ourselves by what we are against rather that what we are for. If you ask someone what problems they see with issues past and present, you will likely find yourself in a long, engaging discussion about the world's ills. If you ask that person what their ideas are for the future, what kind of world they would like and how they intend to build it, the conversation meanders through vagaries and generalities and then often stops without any clear answers. This is a disparity that needs to be corrected in order to bring our efforts into full effect. read more »

In order to evolve we must accept that within us there is something unevolved. This is also known as humility. If our self-importance, arrogance and righteousness are over used then we do not see what is to be learned from a given situation. At the same time, if we do not assert ourselves and believe in the rightness of our thoughts and actions we become passive, progress stalls and we do not bring events into our lives from which we can learn. It can be tricky to intuit when to take which posture. read more »

The "disengagement" going on right now in Gaza is a testament to the evolution of humanity and of the overarching desire for peace. Those who are sacrificing, willingly or not, their homes, livelihood and communities for the greater good are to be commended, and fully supported in their understandably emotional response. These are heroes in the story, just as any soldier who sacrifices on a battlefield would be a hero. read more »

I came across a wonderful propeace website, www.apassionforpeace.com. In exploring the site I found that it too has an approach that focuses on creating the peace we want in the world beyond simply being opposed to violence. The website puts forth a challenge: commit to writing one piece for peace before December 31, 2005. Have it published, read it or have it read somewhere publicly. Post your piece for peace here on propeace.net if you would like. Peace will take the participation of all of us. Here's the link to the challenge: http://www.apassionforpeace.com/2005_write_a_piece_for_peace_challenge/i....

The webmaster of that site sums it up this way: "What we focus on expands." What will you focus on?

I frequently meet people who are skeptical of the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. They give good reasons, citing examples of how such an entity could be corrupted or rendered ineffective. Certainly any human institution is subject to that. I think what is overlooked is the change in emphasis that would accompany the creation of a seat for peace at the table of power. Peace would become a competing concern in the exercise of executive power. It could be rendered effectively or ineffectively just as any other instrument of executive power. But it would mean that our government is in the peace business as surely as today it is in the war business. The billions of dollars budgeted for the department would be spent into the economy of our nation, creating a self-fueling industrial complex around peace, just as we have created one with the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on "defense." Sure there would be big bureaucracy, big business, even corruption as in any humanly-flawed institution. I prefer that to some ideal solution that no one seems to have identified yet. While waiting for this ideal solution to be identified our focus will be distracted again and again as the patterns of violence repeat. Let's accept our flawed humanity and strive for a less imperfect peace.

On July 25th, Pat Simon, Andrea Loretz-Frey and I attended the Board of Aldermen meeting in Everett, MA to summarize the Department of Peace bill and to put a resolution before the board in support of the bill. Our presentation was very well received. The resolution will be voted on at the next meeting on August 22nd.

Download the City of Everett resolution: [inline:1]

Passing resolutions such as this one at the city and town level can send a powerful message to the congressmen whom we are lobbying. read more »

The Irish Republican Army announced yesterday that it would disarm immediately. The IRA is not disbanding, but combatants were instructed to place their weapons in "arms dumps" and cease all activities by the end of the day. While many are understandably reserving judgment until weapons are actually collected and until a pattern of nonviolence is observed, this announcement should be applauded for its good intent. If we consider the progression of thought leading to words leading to deeds, this announcement indicates that the IRA leadership has moved through the first two of those steps in its desire for peace. Let's support them in continuing on to the third step, the deeds. Let's support a spirit of nonviolent conflict resolution between the Irish Republicans and the British, as they have much hard work still to do.

Read the CBS News article.

The administration is reframing the "War on Terror" as a "struggle against violent extremism." I see this as a step in the right direction. It's subtle, but will eventually have an impact on how war proponents think. We are no longer at war. We are struggling to put an end to violence. This is good.

Of course, we should reserve judgement until we see tactical changes. Let's hope the administration can recognize its own violent extremism! But the softening of language is evidence of a softening of thought and will hopefully lead to a softening of deeds.

Read the New York Times article.

Who among us is truly Independent? What person, family, town, business, state, nation or planet depends on nothing outside of itself for its sustenance and existence in harmony? All exists in an interlocking network of interdependencies.

Independence Day honors the break from tyranny that occurred in the olden times. The importance and consequence of this transition, in all its greatness and imperfection, still plays itself out in our world today. In honoring that transition we can take a moment to put ourselves in that time, and to imagine the transcendence that took place. A centuries-old status quo broke down as central rule evolved into republican rule, as monocracy was overwhelmed by democracy, and as ordinary people were promoted from peasanthood to empowered citizens.

We know that those representatives and citizens where engaged in debating the issues of the times, often bitterly. Nevertheless they were able to lift the whole balance of human organization and governance to the next higher rung. Independence benefited everyone, even the partisan rivals of the times, and sparked a global ideological revolution.

It is simple to see our partisan struggles in modern times. They are what we read about, talk about and expend vast amounts of energy and money engaging in. What is not so simple is to look up and to see the next higher rung in ideological evolution. Truly beneficial change will have to benefit all of humankind, not just those we happen to agree with in our current patterns of thought. What is that change? read more »

I wrote this last Independence Day. That was the day that I succumbed to my utter frustration with what passes for news, frustration with Internet commentary and frustration with the grip conflict has on us, no matter which side of a given issue we take. I succumbed by registering the propeace.net Internet domain, vowing personally to remove myself from the problem and work for a solution. Not a "win" for our side and a "loss" for their side, but a solution that transcends the problem altogether and creates a "win" for everyone. That was the day the future changed... read more »