Peace Can Only Be Won When...

I have three or four strategies for making peace:

   * We must recognize the humanity in each other, and the poignancy of that humanity; recognizing each other as real human beings will make war unthinkable.

   * Cultivate equanimity and contentment; this is taking the example of the lilies of the field to heart.

   * We must live within the carrying capacity of our range -- the planet -- by conservation and invention; violence won't be attractive to people who are living in abundance.

   * Prohibit behaviors by which individuals exceed our shares of carrying capacity.

Scarcity, Abundance, And Sketchbook Pages

Violence comes from a sense of scarcity that's real, not an illusion. People do starve. One of the notions that The world's goods are unevenly distributed. Some of us have appropriated more than our share, some of us hate, but ultimately, we murder and steal because that seems better than starving. One notion that comes in a range of brands is "abundance." "There is no scarcity." "Scarcity betrays an unwillingness to exercise our imaginations." "We can reach abundance."

Talking with a friend the other day about human prospects, we were both pessimistic. I said it was up to sixtyish Americans. We're the ones with the information and the leisure to create abundance; besides, we have some unfinished business from forty years ago.