Can there be peace without truth?
Can our minds be at peace if we give up truth? What is peace and what is truth?
A person believes that he should settle disputes by force. He practices what he believes. He faces the consequences for his actions. Is he being truthful? Is his mind at peace?
The complexity of our lives arises from the fact that there are innumerable individual mindsets, innumerable ways of looking at an issue, at a person, at a place. This gives room for variety and uniqueness on the one hand and complexity and conflict on the other. Where there are ten people, there are eleven opinions! Divergence of opinion leads to conflict. Given the individuality of man, this diversity and conflict seem inevitable.
In terms of social order, we have law enforcing agencies to enforce order. We have the parliament and courts to make laws and to dispense justice. This refers to the external structure that attempts to maintain order and justice in a society. It attempts to protect the truth and ensure peace in society.
In our own minds, how can truth and peace be protected? Can one arise without the other? Aren't they coexistent? Can we be peaceful if we are not truthful? If we are not peaceful, if we are violent deep within our own minds, torn by conflict and fragmentation, can we bring peace into our lives? Can we be peaceful within our own minds and thereby, externally, in society?
It seems to me that being truthful implies being true to oneself. This underlines the importance of an internal yardstick for oneself. One believes in something as a desirable course of action and follows it. This integrity between thought and action is truth. Does this mean that a person who believes in killing can kill and it is truth? Well, for him it is. He might bring about violence in the world but his own mind is at peace. His mind is at peace because there is no conflict between belief and action. Action arises spontaneously from belief. Of course, each individual will face the consequences of his own actions.
As I see it, the spontaneity that arises from the total integrity of belief and action is truth. In other words, being true to what one really believes is truth. This means that we cannot sit in judgment on anybody, either as good or bad. For it is impossible for us to say whether another person is being true to himself or not. The point that is relevant for each of us is whether we, each one of us, is being true to his own values, whether there is integrity of thought and action within ourselves. If there is, we are living in truth and in peace. For, peace is a lack of conflict within ourselves, within our own minds. In being true to oneself, one becomes peaceful because there are no warring fragments in the mind. Her/his mind is unified and hence peaceful. Therefore, truth and peace are intimately interlinked within our own minds.
I don't refer to truth as one principle that unites the world. This would be wishful thinking. I don't refer to peace as the lack of war. This, again, would be wishful thinking. I refer to truth and peace as being coexistent, as arising within our own minds when there is total integrity of thought and action. It means the end of conflict within our own minds. It means that our minds are unified and capable of acting with great power. From such a mind, come purpose, tranquility, and strength. There also arises the capacity to reflect and the possibility of a real transformation.
Is such a mind dedicated to peace and truth outside, in the world? Shouldn't a powerful, unified mind, clear in purpose, dedicate itself to peace and truth in society? I believe that a mind unified in purpose, a mind where conflict has ceased, is spontaneously dedicated to peace and truth in society. For society is a mirror image of our own consciousness. The conflict in society is a reflection of the conflict within us. To be true to ourselves, to our deepest convictions is truth. The harmony of our thought and action, our minds and our lives, is peace. There can be no peace without truth?within ourselves. So it is with the world.
Dimitri Avgherinos
A person believes that he should settle disputes by force. He practices what he believes. He faces the consequences for his actions. Is he being truthful? Is his mind at peace?
The complexity of our lives arises from the fact that there are innumerable individual mindsets, innumerable ways of looking at an issue, at a person, at a place. This gives room for variety and uniqueness on the one hand and complexity and conflict on the other. Where there are ten people, there are eleven opinions! Divergence of opinion leads to conflict. Given the individuality of man, this diversity and conflict seem inevitable.
In terms of social order, we have law enforcing agencies to enforce order. We have the parliament and courts to make laws and to dispense justice. This refers to the external structure that attempts to maintain order and justice in a society. It attempts to protect the truth and ensure peace in society.
In our own minds, how can truth and peace be protected? Can one arise without the other? Aren't they coexistent? Can we be peaceful if we are not truthful? If we are not peaceful, if we are violent deep within our own minds, torn by conflict and fragmentation, can we bring peace into our lives? Can we be peaceful within our own minds and thereby, externally, in society?
It seems to me that being truthful implies being true to oneself. This underlines the importance of an internal yardstick for oneself. One believes in something as a desirable course of action and follows it. This integrity between thought and action is truth. Does this mean that a person who believes in killing can kill and it is truth? Well, for him it is. He might bring about violence in the world but his own mind is at peace. His mind is at peace because there is no conflict between belief and action. Action arises spontaneously from belief. Of course, each individual will face the consequences of his own actions.
As I see it, the spontaneity that arises from the total integrity of belief and action is truth. In other words, being true to what one really believes is truth. This means that we cannot sit in judgment on anybody, either as good or bad. For it is impossible for us to say whether another person is being true to himself or not. The point that is relevant for each of us is whether we, each one of us, is being true to his own values, whether there is integrity of thought and action within ourselves. If there is, we are living in truth and in peace. For, peace is a lack of conflict within ourselves, within our own minds. In being true to oneself, one becomes peaceful because there are no warring fragments in the mind. Her/his mind is unified and hence peaceful. Therefore, truth and peace are intimately interlinked within our own minds.
I don't refer to truth as one principle that unites the world. This would be wishful thinking. I don't refer to peace as the lack of war. This, again, would be wishful thinking. I refer to truth and peace as being coexistent, as arising within our own minds when there is total integrity of thought and action. It means the end of conflict within our own minds. It means that our minds are unified and capable of acting with great power. From such a mind, come purpose, tranquility, and strength. There also arises the capacity to reflect and the possibility of a real transformation.
Is such a mind dedicated to peace and truth outside, in the world? Shouldn't a powerful, unified mind, clear in purpose, dedicate itself to peace and truth in society? I believe that a mind unified in purpose, a mind where conflict has ceased, is spontaneously dedicated to peace and truth in society. For society is a mirror image of our own consciousness. The conflict in society is a reflection of the conflict within us. To be true to ourselves, to our deepest convictions is truth. The harmony of our thought and action, our minds and our lives, is peace. There can be no peace without truth?within ourselves. So it is with the world.
Dimitri Avgherinos
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Seamus Ennis on
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Peace IS Truth and Truth IS Peace.
When we are aware of the Truth of the sacredness of all life and the Truth of our unity with all others, how can we NOT be peaceful? How can we not be supportive and caring and desirous of the Highest Good for our fellow humans?
Truth is Peace because the ideas that create violence are lies.
Peace is Truth, because the Absolute One Source/Spirit/God is the source of both, no matter what name we give that Source. If "God is Love" then God is Truth and Peace, as well as Cooperation, Freedom, Joy and Life, as Principle and as a working reality.
The essay talks about a function of government, but as we know governments don't mean anything until they have a fundamental basis in something greater than their own survival and lust for power. Governments are a reflection of the thoughts of its people and when those thoughts need to change, they start at the root, which is in the people.
When the people realize that Truth and Peace are inseparable in function and in Principle, then governments will follow and will come to reflect that instead of the greed and violence that currently exist. That's how change happens, and that is what's being called for now.
Salaam, Shalom, Shanti, Peace
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