PEACE AND VIOLENCE

PEACE AND VIOLENCE ~ 22 ~ PEACE AND VIOLENCE PEACE has been defined by scholars as the absence of war. Technically speaking, this definition is quite right. When there is no armed conflict in a society, a state of peace will automatically establish itself. The establishment of peace in a society is, however, not just a matter of putting an end to war and violence: that is only its initial phase. Whenever the state of peace prevails in a society in the real sense, its members will necessarily engage themselves in positive activities. Their energies will be channelised into the reconstruction of their own lives and of their social environment. The establishment of peace in a society can be likened to removing a dam from a river. Human life, like a flowing river, wants to surge forward under its own momentum. When there is no obstruction, all life’s activities will be set in motion, propelled by human nature itself. They come to a halt only when the artificial barriers of war and violence are placed before them. Peace, from the point of view of its result, is like an opening of all the doors of life to the fullest possible extent.