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The God Code…

The Messages of Our Past

The Promise of Our Future

By Gregg Braden

PEACE More Than The Absence Of War

Diplomatic solutions to conflict are always the most desirable. On an international scale, when such attempts have failed the tendency has been to resort to a military solution; overwhelming the source of violence with yet a greater force of power. It is precisely this principle that has been used in locations ranging from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Sierra Leone and East Timor. Although the intent of such missions is to provide peace and stability, the peace can be an imposed peace only; one where conflict is discouraged by a show of force. History has shown that in the long term, an imposed peace is temporary, at best.

Clearly, the number and duration of today’s peacekeeping missions is teaching us a powerful lesson. Bringing to mind the image of poking a finger into one part of a water-filled balloon, and seeing it bulge in another place of the same balloon, the repression of violence stemming from hurt and anger in one part of the world, does not make the conflict go away. While troops and sanctions can discourage violence in a particular location, the underlying tension at the root of that violence remains.

From this perspective, military solutions may be viewed as a “band aid” of sorts, a quick, near term response to a much deeper crisis. At times such responses may make sense by saving lives in the near term. It was only with the intervention of peace-keeping forces during the Kosovo crisis in 1999, for example, that the extermination of entire villages and communities was prevented. The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, however, has escalated even with a military presence in place.

This and similar examples illustrate the fact that true peace is more than simply the absence of conflict. Lasting peace happens in the hearts and minds of people before it ever happens between governments and nations. While the peace-keeping efforts throughout the world are key, and may provide a stepping-stone toward ending the cycles of violence, in the end they can do little more than buy precious time. The question becomes one of, whether or not within that time, we have the wisdom to truly resolve the issues that divide us. In our search for long-term solutions of peace, we must find another way.

Surviving Our “Technological Adolescence”

Before his death in 1996, astronomer and visionary Carl Sagan described our time in history as one of “technological adolescence”—a time when we have the ability to tap the forces of nature, while still developing the wisdom to survive such power. In many respects the violence, and competition for resources, that we see in our world today may be viewed as symptoms; signs that we have arrived at our technological adolescence.

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