WORKING FOR PEACE AND HARMONY
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.Peace is not the science of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
WHAT IS PEACE???
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict and the freedom from fear of violence. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the establishment of equality, and a working political order that serves the true interests of all. In international relations, peacetime is not only the absence of war or violent conflict, but also the presence of positive and respectful cultural and economic relationships.
The most essential thing in any country for its people is to live in peace and harmony. However, beautiful and wealthy a country may be if there is no peace in that country, the people who live in those countries are always in tear and sadness. Some of the countries like Bangladesh that has floods very often, Japan that suffers terribly when there are earthquakes, also there are countries like America, Africa that have many high mountains and they have earth slips that ruin many buildings, houses and the people. These are very, very unfortunate countries. When we compare our Sri Lanka with those countries, we will feel how fortunate we are to be always protected with the coziness of our motherland.
Our beautiful country is known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Although we are not that much unlucky to face those terrible natural disasters, as the citizens of Sri Lanka, we are unfortunate to suffer from WAR.Even though we are still suffering by the war which has started 20 years back. we are a safe made country. Even with the war causing much trouble in North province and some other rural areas, we are not affected by food. We grow our own rice, vegetables, fruits and we make our own milk products. We even supply some of our primary industry products like Tea, Coconut, Rubber and Gems as our own exports.
As we are affected more and more by the war, our forces become much more stronger. There are thousands of noble sons and daughters who are always ready to give up their lives on be half of our Motherland. They are divided as Army, Navy, Air force and Police. They are always ready to go to the front without any fear at any moment.
If we expect to have peace, then we should try to achieve peace as a family a society and finally the whole country. Then automatically the country will achieve peace and harmony. Greed and Selfishness always start a war. Some are not satisfied with what they have, they just wants to grab others properties.
Peace is something that every human being would like to enjoy. If all human beings love each other and contented with what they have, there will be no space for war. War ruins a country and its people. Once a war comes to an end that country would lose its beauty and for people, it will take years and years to come back to its earlier position which was so beautiful with all its splendor. It's in the hands of all human beings to live a religious, unselfishness and take life to care for others.
Keeping the Full stop for the war will not just depend on praying god. Hold my hand, we will do it…
Religious beliefs
and peace
Religious beliefs often seek to identify and address the basic problems of human life, including the conflicts between, among, and within persons and societies.Christians claim Jesus of Nazareth to be the "Prince of Peace", the Messiah Christ who established a Kingdom of Peace where persons, societies, and all of creation are to be healed of evil. For persons to enter this Kingdom and experience peace, Christians believe that one must develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who stated: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." According to Benedict, "Peace is achieved by consciences that are open to the truth and to love''.Buddhists believe that peace can be attained once all suffering ends. They regard all suffering as stemming from cravings (in the extreme, greed), aversions (fears), or delusions. To eliminate such suffering and achieve personal peace, followers in the path of the Buddha adhere to a set of teachings called the Four Noble Truths — a central tenet in Buddhist philosophy.Islam means submission. The title "Muslim" -- etymologically directly related to salaam and the name Islam -- means a person who submits to Allah in salaam. The submission to Allah (the Arabic proper noun for "The God", One and Only) is based on humility. An attitude of humility within one's own self cannot be accomplished without total rejection of violence, and a personal attitude and alignment toward peace
symbol of peace
FOCUS ON PEACE
To me peace means brotherhood. Peace means interrelationship and peace means to live happily. Nowadays it is very difficult to find peace in this world but i found it when I was working for this peace project. We were all of different religions, cultures and different opinions. But we worked together with a lot of understanding and then I realized that if we children can work together even though we are from different religions then why can’t the world. This peace movement is an excellent step towards bringing peace and harmony to the country first and then the world at large. Now, let me tell you something about what we did to promote peace in our school first. Our library teacher Meena ma’am gave us great support and technical help by arranging for a Peace Board and a Peace Corner for us. Our first peace assignment was on Mahatma Gandhi. We visited the house of M.K.Gandhi in Bombay, ‘Mani Bhavan’ to know more about him. We clicked many pictures and studied his ideals. I could fell the presence of the Mahatma in the house.
MOST SILENT PLACE
Mani Bhavan is so silent and peaceful it gives you a sense of inner tranquillity. After visiting Mani Bhavan we came back to school. We started are work by putting are ideas together on the Peace Board. Then we created a collage on M.K.Gandhi’s life and wrote down his sayings. His sayings are so selfless and for the good of humanity that you feel like practicing them. After all the work was completed and the decoration was done the final day came when the Consul General of the United States of America came to visit are school. We asked him to inaugurate our Peace Corner and explained to him what we had done. He was impressed by our work. Then we proceeded towards the hall were an entertainment programme emphasizing Peace was held for the Consul General. He was honoured by our school and the ‘Lions Clubs International’. Then he spoke to us and enlightened us about Peace and about the importance of Dayton and its Peace Museum. His speech will always be remembered by us. It was an excellent day filled with peace, harmony and hope for the future.
Peace of Mind in Daily Life
1.Meditate
No matter who you are or what you do, you cannot go wrong with meditation. It is the first and the most important step towards peaceful mind.There are many types of meditation including mindfulness, mantra, breath and silence meditations. I am practising mantra meditation, but I know that most people concentrate on breathing. It really does not matter what style you choose. You should try some types to understand which one is right for you.You should meditate twice a day for 20 minutes. 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes before the last meal. Meditation at these times gives most benefits.
2.Release negativity
Negative emotions disturb peaceful mind quicker than you think. Therefore you shouldn’t let any negative thoughts settle in your mind. As soon as you notice a negative thought arising in you, eliminate it by placing a completely opposite thought instead.
3.Be alone
Being alone makes you rethink everything that is important to you. You start thinking for yourself and paying less attention to what those around you are saying. This is crucial for inner peace.
Being alone teaches you to rely on yourself and to make decisions that are best for you. This does not make you selfish, it just gets you focused on what you want in life.
4.Let go of anger
If you don’t learn to let go of anger, you will never achieve inner peace. You should forgive and let go no matter what happened to you.The damage that anger causes is huge. It disturbs your mind, gives birth to all diseases and hurts you soul. Never let anyone make you angry, they are just not worth it.
5.Be in the flow
By going with the flow I do not mean following the crowd. This I certainly donot recommend. By being in the flow I mean not resisting.You shouldn’t struggle against any obstacles in your life. There will always be ways to overcome them.Your struggling nature makes things hard for you. If you could stop resisting and go with the flow, everything would be so much easier. You would achieve goals effortlessly and with peaceful mind.
6.Rethink negative emotions
Your negative emotions create depressing reality. You shouldn’t let negative thoughts settle down in your mind because they are the weeds that need to be completely removed to achieve total peace. Try to always focus on the positive instead.7.Follow your heart
Following your heart means respecting your soul. If you cannot decide between two things, choose the one that your heart feels better about. You will never be wrong going with such option.Most people choose logic to heart. But logic is only a collection of our limited beliefs, it is not logical in itself. It is subjective.
8.Control your mind
You have a complete control over your mind. However, if you don’t control your mind, someone else will control it for you. It may be your friends, colleagues, media or someone else that will take over this precious asset.Always keep track of what your main thoughts are. You should think only about things you want to see in your life. You should never dwell on negative thoughts or indulge in negative emotions. This will only make things worse.9.Think positive
Always think positively and allow only positive thoughts into your head. This way you will have a peaceful mind as there will be nothing left for you to worry about.It may be hard for you to keep thinking positively if you are surrounded by negative people or circumstances. It this is the case, try to block them out of you life as much as possible.
I would advise to always keep the music player with you. As soon as you notice that something or someone affects you negatively, start listening to your favourite music. This way you will avoid any negative emotions impacting you.Reading self-help books is also a good idea because it distances your mind from the unpleasant reality. This way your future will be created not based on what you see, but on what you think about.
10.Avoid arguments
Once you are on a certain level of consciousness, arguing seems plainly pointless. It just hurts both sides and lowers consciousness immensely.Arguing ruins your mood. No peace can be found in a person full of hatred and anger.
11.Become Disciplined
Once you become disciplined, you remove any possibility of chaos. Your mind starts working in an organised way. Your thoughts become purposeful, you don’t get many random thoughts. And, of course, this creates peaceful mind.12.Exercise
Exercise is a good step towards peaceful mind as it teaches discipline. Discipline quietens your mind and removes chaos. However, this step is optional. You may achieve inner peace without this activity.
Conclusion
These steps will certainly help you achieve complete peace of mind. However, it is not enough just to read them. You should apply them to get the benefits. And the best time to do this is Now!
Peace and Harmony:
The use of popular English word peace can be found in words like Pax , Eirene [Greek] and Shalom [Hebrew]. Besides wishing harmony [a word derived from harmonia of Greek to denote a state of accord, concord, friendliness and unity] in day-to-day human practices at individual and social levels, the urge for a situation free from conflicts and struggles is desired here. Generally, a situation free from tension, struggle, dispute or conflict, particularly in socio-economic spheres, is considered the state of peace in this context. This phenomenon signifies the absence of fight or war between or among the nations and is generally the accepted notion of peace at the international level. It is almost the same in the Indian perspective. Popular Hindi words, which are derived from Samskrit, such as Vishram, Nivriti, Nistabdha and Ananda are used to describe a state of peace.
Despite this similarity between the Western and Indian perspectives, peace is not a motionless state even according to ancient philosophical thought. Peace is not a situation of the status quo. The state of peace provides man the pathway to progress in a tension-free atmosphere. Within a state of peace, efforts are made for healthy co-existence to extend the welfare of the people. Therefore, the state of peace is in fact dynamic. It fills people with enthusiasm and inspires them to move forward. Similarly, harmony signifying human unity, concord and agreement urges man for stepping forward to do concrete for the welfare of one and all. Hence, it is quite similar to peace; it is also dynamic and undoubtedly for the establishment of peace.Inter-Relations: Evidently, education is the basis for the all-round development of man; it is the means of developing his personality. Moreover, it is the process that helps make one’s life purposeful. All constructive and welfaristic conditions that may be required for the purpose are also inherent in this process. Similarly, peace and harmony, both, despite being the states free from dispute, conflict and war, are also active and dynamic states in which there is a call to go forward. New benefits are expected in the states of peace and harmony. They are the pathways to progress without any fear and confusion. Therefore, it can be said that education, peace and harmony are linked with each-other; they contribute to the development and welfare of each and every human being on planet.
Role of Teacher: About the role of a teacher in imparting education and through it in all-round-development of personality is well evident. We are all well aware of the truth, how the great teachers –Acharyas and Gurus in Indian terms, creating an atmosphere of harmony among people and in the state of peace contributed to the larger welfare of society and the nation. The examples of Gautama Buddha, Vardhamana Mahavira, Socrates, Kung Futsi [Confucius], Chanakya, Plato, Shankaracharaya, Paramahansa Ramakrishna and so many others who were the Gurus, Acharyas and teacher par excellence are before us. I think there is no need to mention anything more in this regard except quoting the following statement of Mahatma Gandhi:
“A teacher is not only the nuclei of the education system, but is also the backbone of the system and the success or failure of this system depends to a large extent on the community of teachers. A teacher, if works with sincerity, honesty and a sense of duty, raises students to their all-round development on the one hand and contribute unprecedentedly to harmony and peace in society and the nation on the other.”