Question

Being Peace: "The Heart of Practice" & "Working for Peace"

Is peace an attainable goal, personally, locally, nationally or globally? What is your reaction to the pirate example Hanh gives? What do you think of the seven methods of solving disputes

350 words

Answer 1

Being peace is a poem penned down by Thich Nhat Hunh. It is a poem which capitalizes on the conflict that one encounters, in proliferation at times, and hence is bound to navigate through its tortuous ordeals, mostly by interactions, which aren't merely confined to the self but also with ones respective environment.

The poem demonstrates through a common motif realized by the aid of the predominant discourse, which the poem takes, that: everything is connected. This message could be termed as quite prosaic or cliched, but the commonality of the message engraved within the stanzas doesn't, in any way, discredit the truth they harbor. The message is encrypted within the expanse of the poem - it is that only when one is able to accept the good and evil - that each individual caters to - will one be truly at peace with the entity that is the self.   

The chief problem is that people think there are variants to the prospect of peace; but peace isn't a hydra, if anything, it is the antithesis of a hydra. Once personal peace is attained by individuals across, then this simple truth can be extrapolated locally as well as globally. We might not always be in constant conflict with an outwardly force/ person, but we most definitely are in a constant battle with the untoward: our own selves. Only when we achieved true compassion and comprehension of self can we truly be empathetic and compassionate towards the rest.   

There is no magic ingredient that is the precursor to this peace so many speak of, but a mere act that starts from self. The example twelve year old girl who was raped by the pirate emphasis the component of compassion, and the fact that an individual is having two side within self, when the poet equates himself to both the girl and the pirate, sending a powerful message across to his readers.

He tries to show us from the initial stanzas that the delicate balance of life is dependent on many things that may be viewed evil from one perspective, but necessary for survival if viewed from the opposite perspective; as seen in the example of the hunter and prey:Bird and the Mayfly/ Frog and Snake.

During the brevity of the poem he tries to showcase the kinds of conflict that an individual may encounter through brief exemplary analogies.  

Then he talks about the similar perspective conundrum, only this it isn't so much as an instinct for survival but a more complex system of the human emotions and the means we take onto alleviate our selfish pain, neglecting that of other: The merchant and thin Uganda boy.

Then he speak of the loss of understanding of love that inflicts pain not only on the soul of the individual, but onto the soul of others with whom we choose to interact, only by truly understanding love can we love ourselves and distribute it amongst others: the girl and the pirate. Our interactions with something and betwixt somethings which are innate to us all: pain and joy are what makes us one, as they emanate from one.