Sunday, February 26, 2017

Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, February 25, 2017 - The Inevitability of Peace

People cling to the belief it’s all going to end badly. Things look pretty shaky right now. But that’s just because we’re looking in the wrong end of the binoculars. The view is somewhat accurate in content, but too narrow, hard to make out. Distorted.

It’s difficult to see the larger reality: We are so used to progress we feel like passengers standing in the aisle of a speeding train. We can barely perceive the true speed at which we are moving forward. We feel as if waiting in line at the cafe counter is an eternity of standing still. But it is an illusion.

If you take a step back to look at the wider timeline of known human history we have come a long way. And our progress is speeding up. Most notably, our social progress. Just a blip of time ago, whole populations of countries were enslaved by others as a common practice. It has taken (and is taking) a long time to eradicate slavery on this planet. Several thousand years and counting. But you can see the shift over time in what is considered acceptable.

We changed our laws here in the US on slavery only six generations ago. And it’s taken all of those six generations to even get to this point. We know we are not done yet. Rome wasn’t dismantled a day either. The old ways die hard and they’re hurling all their weapons in these, their dying hours. It still may get worse before it gets better. But the cha-cha of progress will prevail.

The point being, we are moving forward. And the Old School knows it now. We have reached the tipping point where it is no longer possible to keep people in the dark, away from one another. We know we are all out there now. That was the Old School’s best weapon against us. Keeping us separate. Keeping us in the dark. But no more.

Peace is inevitable now because of that one fact. You are free to call it Pollyanna Complex, or as I prefer to think of it, Constructive Delusion, if you wish. My belief in the inevitable peace of this planet is the one thing upon which I depend. It is the one hope upon which we all of us weigh our every decision, in fact. We just don’t realize it.

We all believe, deep down, that this world will one day, be at peace. All of our actions speak in favor of our continuing existence. There’s plenty one could use to refute everything I’m saying, of course. One could also conclude that people work toward peace only for themselves. But the scale is tipping on that as well the more we get to know one another and begin to recognize a very different understanding of the word Neighbor.

Be at peace, and peace will be with you. Let it radiate outward for all to receive and adopt for their own. Scour the earth with hope.

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