THE PEACE TOPICS OUTLINE

In the traumatic aftermath of September 11, I searched my soul: “What are the real causes behind such unconscionable actions?” I wanted to look beyond the simple reductionistic ideas of people or groups as “good” and “evil” and find a deeper cause.

What would a considered holistic approach to peace look like? It was from this question that this Peace Topics Outline came into being. It was intended for my own contemplation and, ultimately, for interview topics used in the original version of this film. The working title was In the Way of Peace.

As I began filming it dawned on me that the fundamental obstacles to peace are actually the unexamined beliefs that cause suffering for others and ourselves. Discovering what I believe to be a core obstacle to peace, I changed direction, reframed the film and called it Beyond Belief.

I offer this outline simply as an initial reflection on some of the obstacles to peace. Feel free to use it as part of a peace studies curriculum, to stimulate dialogue or in any way you wish. [Please credit this website.]       --Jim Lemkin

1. WHEN WORLDVIEWS COLLIDE: DIFFERING BELIEF SYSTEMS, VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE & CORE VALUES

Deconstruct the statements:

• “Why can’t people just get along?!” –Rodney King [possibly the key intro question]
• “People’s religious beliefs and views are just too different for people to ever get along.”
• “It’s God’s will to have a peaceful world.”
• “I’ll die fighting for my beliefs!”
• “An eye for an eye…”
• “Some religions don’t profess peace.”
• “There will never be peace until people share our views.”
• “It’s God’s plan for the righteous to vanquish the wicked.”
• “At our core we’re still animals, only out for our own self interests.”
• “Greed is embedded too deeply into the culture to change it.”
• “Wars are inevitable. Human nature hasn’t changed since the beginning of time!”
• “How am I going to help others get peace when I don’t even have my own life together?”
• “Basically, all people want a peaceful life.” etc.

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2. FEAR, INSECURITY AND VILLIFYING “THE OTHER”

• What is meant by “security,” “defense,” “acting in self-defense,” “the best defense is a good offense”?
• Is fear the main emotional obstacle to a secure and peaceful life?
• What are the origins of mistrust?
• Can fearfulness and openheartedness coexist?
• Are some people or groups evil, or do some of their thoughts and beliefs lead to evil actions?
• Do we grow up with radically different gestalts of what “safe” means? How does our need for safety and security play out in the social, political and religious structures we create?
• Explore the psychology behind the creation of “other”…
• How do fears of one’s social/tribal disintegration create loss of meaning and the birth of “enemies?”
• What are the consequences of power without wisdom…

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3. CAN WE TALK WITH EACH OTHER? CAN WE LISTEN?

• What is behind the language we use when we speak?
• Are we able to effectively identify and communicate our needs, feelings and requests and are we able to listen to those of others?
• What can you do when “the other” refuses to engage in dialogue?
• Distinguishing between strategies, threats, posturing, polemics and authentic communication…
• What would constitute effective communication if peaceful relations were a top priority?
• Is sustainable peace possible in the absence of mutually satisfying communication?
• Does our society cultivate and foster the use of tools necessary for mutually satisfying communication?
• Interview with Marshall Rosenberg, psychologist, developer of Nonviolent Communication…

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4. IS THE ENACTMENT OF WAR INEVITABLE?

• Is violence or aggression inborn and natural? Do we all have within us the seeds of war?
• When is violence or war objectively justifiable? An exploration of the need for “self-defense.”
• Is war failure on some level?
• Is “war a force that gives us meaning”?
• How often do we try to understand the actual underlying basic needs and feelings of “the enemy” before we develop aggressive strategies?
• What compels us to pick retributive justice over constructive or rehabilitative justice?
• What are the consequences of failing to recognize our shadow influences?
• What would an equanimous world leader look like?

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5. WHEN YOUR JOB DEPENDS ON A WAR ECONOMY

• Is peace unprofitable? Does it lead to financial and job instability?
• Do workers or owners share responsibility if they are distanced from the consequences of their productions of war and harming influences?
• Workers/corporations responsibility to help create sustainable neighbor-friendly international and domestic relations…
• (How) does national and multi-national corporatism influence our perceptions and judgments about the nature and possibilities for sustainable peace?
• Can an economy largely dependent on military defense shift its commitment toward proactive, equally secure non-military alternatives?

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6. CAN NON-SUSTAINABLE and/or INEQUITABLE LIFESTYLES BE IN HARMONY WITH SUSTAINABLE PEACE?

• What are sustainable and non-sustainable lifestyles?
• Most basically, what is it we wish to sustain in our lives?
• Is sustainability an achievable goal in the long run?
• The concept of “enough” (in $$ or in satisfaction)…
• Dissatisfaction: its sources and relationship to consumerism…
• Is there a workable model of corporate social responsibility that is profitable and sustainable?
• Native American view: Every action must bear the consequences and responsibility for the wellbeing of the next seven generations…
• What does it require to implant personal and corporate awareness and acknowledgement of social responsibility?

Explore:

• “God has rewarded me by giving me more wealth.”
• “Am I willing to give up a habits/addictions if I know they deprive others of basics?”
• “What if I simply don’t care about the consequences of my actions on others!?”

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7. PREREQUISITES FOR PEACE

• Meeting basic needs for a “satisfied mind”: food, clothing, shelter, economic security, a gut-satisfying sense of safety, the importance of having meaning in one’s life, to share what is most important, autonomy, community, freedom of belief, etc. Are these common to all human beings?
• The roles of family, educational systems, communication styles, religious/spiritual beliefs, the media, the political environs, cultural norms, common myths, in forming relationships to peace…

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8. WHERE DOES PEACE BEGIN?

• Do all religions promise it? How do they define “peace?”
• Traditional religious views on the paths of loss and return of peacefulness…
• The purpose of the turbulent world of violence or aggression in the divine plan…
• Does a “peaceful world” begin with a critical mass of “peaceful persons”?
• Does our language repel or draw “others” closer? Is it inclusive, exclusive, arbitrary, etc?
• Interview with US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Sponsor of a House Bill co-signed by more than 50 congressmen and women to establish a cabinet-level US Department of Peace):

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9. PEACE AS AN INNER STATE

• “Know thyself” Reflections on spacious awareness, the arising of projections and thoughts, “Inner” and “outer” explored…
• How can we come to know our human nature and its potential?
• What is a “peaceful mind”? The roles of meditation, contemplation and prayer…
• The burden of desires and aversions…
• Examine the non-dual actions of a spiritual master, martial arts master, etc. [“The peace that surpasses understanding”]

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10. WHERE/WHEN HAS A STABLE PEACE EVER EXISTED?

• BRIEF HISTORY: a few historical moments in which the nature and concepts of “peace” are central, marginal or absent. What were the contexts?
• Moments in personal histories…
• Legends and lore of peace…
• Interview with tribal elders (any culture, shamanic, etc), where there was a felt sense of peace, a simple life and how it was lost.
• Tribal cultures - what it took to hold it all together, and why it fell apart…

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1. When world views collide: Differing belief systems, views of human nature & core values
2. Fear, insecurity and vilifying "the other"
3. Can we talk with each other? Can we listen?
4. Is the enactment of war inevitable?
5. When your job depends on a war economy
6. Can non-sustainable and/or inequitable lifestyles be in harmony with sustainable peace?
7. Prerequisites for peace
8. Where does peace begin?
9. Peace as an inner state
10. Where/when has a stable peace ever existed?
11. Holism vs. Symptomatic treatment -prevention or disease care?
12. The fulcrum of choice

11. HOLISM vs. SYMPTOMATIC TREATMENT -PREVENTION or DISEASE CARE?

• The Earth as an ailing body, in an autoimmune, cancerous state…
• What model of disease care or health have we de facto invested in?
• Holistic medicine as a model for social, economic, ecologic, political, domestic and international healing.
• Listening to all parts of the system - each in their own understandable language. How do we make the translation? How can the parts communicate constructively?
• Is there a “center of gravity” of the disease of disharmony? Do different belief systems, fears, unmet needs stimulate dis-ease?
• How can we treat the causes… or even identify them?
• Each person as the wounded and the healer…

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12. THE FULCRUM OF CHOICE

• Is it possible to simply remain as we are and do as we wish? Do we really have a choice?
• Can we choose to act in ways that move us closer to what we most deeply need?
• What does it take to tip the balance?
• FINALLY: Are there meeting points out of which we can act collectively in the higher good of all?

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ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: OLDER VERSIONS

• Many people speak of peace, but is there something we actually want more?
• Can peace be possible when there are justifiable but unaddressed fears, insecurities and needs?
• What is the relationship between the need for security and the need for peace?
• Do our present religious, cultural and personal belief systems provide the needed tools for an evolving peace?
• Is killing or war sometimes the best solution?
• Is peace merely the absence of war?
• How do differing worldviews influence the chances for peace within ourselves, our families, communities, our country and internationally?
• How far will we move beyond our comfortable realms of meaning, belief and communication styles in order to inch towards peace?
• What is required for a peaceful life?
• What might a holistic peace perspective look like?
• What common needs do virtually all people share?

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