Dr. Dalia Steiner WICO'S Founder and International President,
"Ambassador for Peace"
The alternative - Developing Culture of Peace
Dr. Dalia Steiner, WICO'S –"Women's International Coalition"
Founder and International President
“If there is no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another.” (Mother Teresa)
The culture of peace concept has been developing for 10 years at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the United Nations (UN) since it was first described at Yamoussoukro in 1989. It calls for a transformation and development of alternatives to the values, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary and sufficient for the preparation and elaboration of the culture of war and violence: the concept of power as force; the image of an enemy that does not have the same rights as you; authoritarian social structure, secrecy, and armaments. The UN, in its recent Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace, has called for a global movement for a culture of peace.
Here it is, it’s very simple...The most important thing:
YOU can do to manifest World Peace. … BELIEVE PEACE. Once we have a vision of peace, we are able to move to the next step of actually BELIEVING PEACE.
Culture deals with people's way of life, which is influenced by their philosophy, historical background, traditional beliefs, and vision of the future. Such a culture may lead to peace or to war among us or with others. The choice is in our hands since we are given the option to choose actions that may lead to peace or to war. In creating a culture of peace we are setting the stage for a future generation to choose harmony over dissent and to embrace peace over war.
A culture of peace is not something that happens overnight. We have to work hard to create it and make it permanent. The patriarchal society in which we live has based its solution to problems it encounters on wars, already for a period of six thousand years. In fact, the strength of a nation has been always measured in terms of its military might and its ability to annihilate other nations with the speed of light. It has rarely been measured in terms of the strength of its people in character and personality, in terms of the outstanding virtues people demonstrate to have in alleviating millions of fellow brethren from so much misery and suffering. This is due to the culture of war that we have inherited. Soldiers are trained to kill other people mercilessly, to destroy the housing facilities, which serve as shelter to millions of people, and to wipe out our cultural heritage, which we inherited over several centuries and millennia. In their training in our culture of war, our young men and women learn to help each other and to sacrifice themselves for each other. But they never learn how to demonstrate mercy and love for their enemies and how to work closely with those they may dislike for a common end and benefit. In view of this, we need to rely on several civic, educational, and religious groups if we want really to develop and establish a culture of peace. One thing we know for sure is this. The future governments of every nation will be composed of the children of today for whose education we are responsible. The elderly members of our community have put at work everything that they learned at a younger age. The philosophy they developed as children was reflected in their words and actions as responsible members of the community later on. If we were to give a rapid glance at the books of history we will soon find out that they are all centered on wars. Everything else becomes marginal, including the inventions and discoveries made that were so beneficial to the entire human race. All this will have to change if we really want to create a culture of peace that will enable our children to live at peace with one another in harmony and prosperity. The world has always been lucky to have people that worked silently and effectively in the areas just mentioned. We need to educate whole masses of the population from early childhood to be altruistic and to realize that the art of living is the art of giving. As Frank Sinatra said in one of his songs:
" Make someone happy and you will be happy too". Some 2,400 years ago, Confucius gave us the recipe of the culture of peace when he exhorted us saying: "Do not do to others what you do not like others to do to you". Culture of peace is something from which everyone without exception is bound to benefit. It is a culture based on the universal welfare of all people without exception to the exclusion of no one.
Einstein said that, “you can’t solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created the problem.”
It is important right now to release any feelings of anger or pain, by shining the light of your PRESENCE into them. Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. Hate cannot exist in the presence of love. War cannot exist in the Presence of Peace. And this starts in our OWN consciousness.
"I believe that the KEY to world peace is to “heal” our sense of separation from each other. If we have any energy of negativity or anger toward anyone, we are holding them separate from us, and thus contributing to the mass unconsciousness in which things like “war” and “violence” feed. Send every being love. Know the Truth of them, regardless of what they are demonstrating. Know the Truth of yourself as well."
The vision as a promise for universal peace appears in the Old Testament several times .Among the paramount prophetic visionaries was Isaiah, 740 B.C., who was active during an extraordinarily lengthy period, extending from the reign of King Uzziah to that of King Hezekiah, who both ruled in Judah.
Isaiah was witness to one of the most turbulent periods in the history of Jerusalem, from both the religious and the political standpoint. Because of his social status he took an active and in some cases central part in the course of events. But his position did not prevent him from excoriating the corruption which had vitiated the ruling class and the aristocracy's obliviousness toward the downtrodden.
Isaiah is the most "political" of the prophets. In the face of the expansionist Assyrian empire he counseled a passive political and military response. He put his faith in divine salvation, which would certainly follow from a necessary change in the moral leadership and in the people's spiritual tenacity. Although he stood by King Hezekiah, Isaiah objected to his attempts to forge alliances with Egypt and with the envoys of the Babylonian king Merodach-baladan as a wedge against the Assyrians. Such efforts, the prophet said, demonstrated a lack of faith in God.
Dreams do come true. As a believer I do believe that we shall win peace, if we shall Believe, If we shall Hope, If we shall Act and if we shall keep In our hearts the prophets promise:
וכתּתוּ חרבוֹתם לאתּים וחניתוֹתיהם למזמרוֹת לא-ישׂא גוי אל גוי חרב ולא ילמדו עוד מלחמה"
( ישעיהו ב, 4 )
(Isaiah 02:04)
"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
Isaías 2:4 Spanish: Modern
Él juzgará entre las naciones y arbitrará entre muchos pueblos. Y convertirán sus espadas en rejas de arado, y sus lanzas en podaderas. No alzará espada nación contra nación, ni se adiestrarán más para la guerra.
Él juzgará entre las naciones y arbitrará entre muchos pueblos. Y convertirán sus espadas en rejas de arado, y sus lanzas en podaderas. No alzará espada nación contra nación, ni se adiestrarán más para la guerra.
Jesaja 2:4 German: Elberfelder (1871)
und er wird richten zwischen den Nationen und Recht sprechen vielen Völkern. Und sie werden ihre Schwerter zu Pflugmessern schmieden, und ihre Speere zu Winzermessern; nicht wird Nation wider Nation das Schwert erheben, und sie werden den Krieg nicht mehr lernen.
und er wird richten zwischen den Nationen und Recht sprechen vielen Völkern. Und sie werden ihre Schwerter zu Pflugmessern schmieden, und ihre Speere zu Winzermessern; nicht wird Nation wider Nation das Schwert erheben, und sie werden den Krieg nicht mehr lernen.
Ésaïe 2:4 French: Darby
Et il jugera au milieu des nations, et prononcera le droit à beaucoup de peuples; et de leurs épées ils forgeront des socs, et de leurs lances, des serpes: une nation ne lèvera pas l'épée contre une autre nation, et on n'apprendra plus la guerre.
Et il jugera au milieu des nations, et prononcera le droit à beaucoup de peuples; et de leurs épées ils forgeront des socs, et de leurs lances, des serpes: une nation ne lèvera pas l'épée contre une autre nation, et on n'apprendra plus la guerre.
Bibliography:
Lisa Hepner 2003 Peaceful Earth
Old Testament (Isaiah 2:4 )
