This week as I head off to deliver a workshop at a retreat, 2 books sit side-by-side in my box:
- War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
- Bringing Peace into The Room by Daniel Bowling and David Hoffman
In the first book, war correspondent Chris Hedges explores both the culture and the drug of war and how in the end it destroys not only people and communities but humanity itself.
Chris describes war not only as an external conflict but also as an addiction and an internal struggle between the instinct of life and the instinct of destruction. We are torn between Eros, the impulse within us to become close to others, to preserve and conserve and Thanatos, the impulse that works towards the annihilation of all living things, including ourselves.
The second book, which is aimed at mediators, explains how when we are feeling at peace with ourselves and the world around us, we are better able to bring peace into the room and so impact how others feel and behave in situations of conflict.
There are 3 “stages” of development, first learning facts, skills or techniques, second understanding how to apply them to achieve the right outcomes. And finally, the most challenging frontier for each of us is the growing awareness of our own personal qualities and how we are experienced by others and can have a positive (or negative) impact on the world around us.
One book about war and the other about peace, have the same message and that is that LOVE and our ability to reach a deeper level of self-awareness and connection with ourselves and others is the key to bringing peace into the room AND into the world.
As Victor Frankl writes is Man’s Search for Meaning “A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life, I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”
And so, instead of feeling hopeless and helpless in the face of conflict, each of us has the power to step aside from the frenzy of the crowd and to bring peace into the world by rejecting fear and focusing on a deeper connection with ourselves and each other.
“War does not determine who is right, only who is left.“
– Bertrand Russell –
