Reflect means grasping the totality of a situation, especially our own role in producing it

 

 

How peaceful are you?
Personal Activities
Are you responsible for wars?
Are you cruel or brutal? In what ways?
What share do you have in the world’s confusion and wickedness?’
In what ways are you narrow, superficial, fragmented?’

General Questions
What is violence?
How is love possible?
What is peace? How is peace possible?
Should one seek peace?
Is belief in a transcendent truth necessary for peace?

Are you at war with yourself? Do you sometimes act with cruelty or brutality? In what ways are you narrow, superficial, fragmented? In what ways? Are you responsible for wars? What share do you have in the world’s confusion and wickedness?’

How do you get along with your parents, siblings, partners? How do you feel waiting in a supermarket line when there is an unexpected delay? How do you feel when you have to wait, for example forced to go at 50 mph when the speed limit is 65?

How do you lead your life? Do you participate in violent cultural activities, use respectful language? What would it mean to lead your daily life peacefully, including in your work, entertainment, and generally in your daily life?

Understand the heart of a conflict
1. Think of any conflict (global, political or personal)
2. What is the ROOT of the problem?
3. What is something REAL you’ve seen?
4. Say something GOOD about those you disagree with.

What is peace?
What is peace? What is external peace and what is inner peace?
How is peace possible?
Can conflict be resolved without force?
What should one be willing to compromise in the interests of peace? What should one never compromise?
Is violent force every justified or required? If so, when?
Can lasting change be made through politics, or does it have to come from within?
Is it okay to use non-violence as a tactic, or does it require a moral commitment?

Experience peace
1. Completely relax your body and quiet your mind. Then, imagine a transparent and lu¬minous sphere that descends toward you until it comes to rest in your heart. In that moment you will recognize that the sphere ceases to appear as an image and transforms into a sensation within your chest.
2. Observe how the sensation of the sphere slowly expands from your heart toward the outside of your body, while your breathing becomes fuller and deeper. When the sen¬sa¬tion reaches the limits of your body, you may stop there and register the experience of internal peace. You may remain there as long as you feel is appropriate. To conclude the exercise, calm and renewed, reverse the previous expansion until arriving, as in the beginning, at your heart, and finally releasing the sphere. This work is called the expe-rience of peace.
Silo, Humanize the Earth