The 'peace' the gospel brings is never the absence of conflict, but an ineffable divine reassurance within the heart of conflict; a peace that surpasses understanding.
Interpretation
True peace is found not in the absence of conflict, but in the presence of inner reassurance amidst turmoil.
Walter Wink's quote suggests that genuine peace is not merely about avoiding conflict; rather, it manifests as a profound sense of assurance and tranquility within oneβs heart even when facing challenges. It emphasizes that this inner peace transcends logical understanding, reflecting a deeper spiritual or emotional state that defies external circumstances.
In practice
During a meditation session focused on finding inner peace amidst life's challenges.
In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations . . . If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa . . . the independence movement in India . . .) the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real' world.
Evil can be opposed without being mirrored. Oppressors can be resisted without being emulated. Enemies can be neutralized without being destroyed.
Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end of understanding who you are and what society is like.
When we blame all Muslims, all Syrians, or all members of any other group because of the actions of individuals, we fall into the trap of asserting collective guilt. We empower the narrow-minded ideology that we are trying to defeat.
It takes no effort to love. The state has its own innate joy. Questions answer themselves if you are aware enough. Life is safe; flowing with the current of being is the simplest way to live. Resistance never really succeeds. Controlling the flow of life is impossible.
Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.
At bottom, the battle has been waged on moral grounds. The country has debated whether a society for which the dignity of the individual is the supreme value can, without a fundamental inconsistency, follow the practice of deliberately putting one of its members to death.
As long as we look to legislation to cure poverty or to abolish special privilege we are going to see poverty and special privilege grow
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