impediment. Even samurai had their tearoom safe havens where weapons reminiscent of their livelihood were not allowed. Many share the desire for a few ï¬eeting moments of quietude in the midst of everyday lifeâs hustle and bustle; those systematically denied usually ï¬nd peace difï¬cult to attain. Eremite Christian monks and Shugendo practitioners made these ï¬eeting moments ways of life, but may not have been able to without a degree of plenitude, a sense of completeness corporeal or otherwise. Fastings and moments of silence of different kinds prescribed by most religions serve to remind devotees of quietudeâs and plenitudeâs criticality for inner peace. The Epicurean Garden, Buddhist Sangha and cenobite monasticism are examples of how quietude and plenitude can be socially achieved while providing for their lack in societies of which they are a part and apart from. Stoic masteries of passions and loyal dedication make individual quietude and plenitude possible even when they are totally absent socially and collectively, a model though not a method for everyone.
Recognition and Respect
Mesopotamian issuance of coins by states was a way to non-violently assert their ï¬scal or political independence, cylinder seals cemented relationships between individuals and groups, and their value depended on recognition and respect. Medieval states were and modern states are recognized by one another through treaties and gain respect through mutually beneï¬cial trade and/or protective alliances. Mohammed had a reputation for justice and honesty which allowed him to improve plights of the ï¬rst Muslims. Trade unions were recognized by their states before they became effective collective bargaining bodies, as which they gained respect they lacked as militant bodies before. Individually, recognition and respect successively derive from or against family, community, education, professions, states, the media, and religious, regional and world bodies, without which the most successful peacemakers in world historycould not have achieved what they did. The ï¬ipside: militants and terrorists gain recognition the same way but at othersâ expense, thereby losing the respect of their enemies while gaining that of their backers, creating a precarious asymmetry that makes (re)conciliation difï¬cult, let alone peace. Whom to recognize and how, whom to respect and for what are central questions to world peace depending entirely on what point of view is taken and what is at stake.
Spiritual and Intellectual Attainment
The most elusive and yet most sought-after components of inner peace are probably spiritual and intellectual attainment. Religious imperatives of peace are related to but distinguished from spiritual imperatives. The former organize, systemize and make prescriptions of the latter only after the latter have been proven. The belief in karma as individual pursuits for peace made more achievable in social conditions insofar as the social reï¬ects the prevalence of the individual rested on reincarnative peace, the idea that our peace or its absence in this life will continue in the next, shared by major monotheisms. The Buddhist Eightfold Path and Islamic Five Pillars are both passages to peace and its spiritual qua behavioral supports. Intellectuals such as Russell, Pauling and Forsberg were all eminent in their ï¬elds before becoming peacemakers, and peace writers throughout the ages have been able to articulate new ideas and principles inasmuch as they are versed in those of the past and present. This is not to say that everyone must have a PhD or be saintly for world peace to be actualized, but instead to suggest that striving for and reaching the spiritual and intellectual attainment within oneâs grasp is a stepping stone thereto more easily actualizable once the Pyramidâs previous levels and items are met.
World Peace
The premise of world peace is to facilitate
Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins