Changing the Concept of Peace

Peace a word found in almost every culture, depending on the person speaking, has different meanings.  In the Kyeongyang Magazine, a scholar in peace studies gives us his thoughts on the meaning of Peace and how to achieve it.

In the military and connected fields: if you want peace, prepare for war are words often heard. The longing for peace is often expressed as national security, and the reason peace between countries is often so fragile.

When we have silence and compliance from orders in an undemocratic situation we often look upon it as peace. When we talk about peace of mind and continue with problems of inequality and racial conflict, structurally present and violent, we are closing our eyes to reality.

In the era of imperialism, war scholars believed war was a political maneuver and that power came from the gun barrel. This has passed on to this day.

There was a time when the intelligence agency had posters in subways and bus stations with the text: "When all seems peaceful is when things are dangerous." No one saw any problem with the wording. This way of thinking was around for some time. The resistance to this way of thinking was the beginning of a new understanding.

John Galtung the father of peace studies often mentioned the distinction between 'negative peace' and 'positive peace', direct violence and structural violence. Negative peace is the absence of violence.  Positive peace is working for the restoration of relationships, building social structures that work towards the resolution of conflict. Galtung didn't want the meaning of negative peace used. He also distinguished between direct violence and structural violence.
 
Passive Peace is only intended in the short term to prevent war and violence.  But for long-term results, it is open to all kinds of problems and violence continues. Galtung consequently was for the nonuse of the passive concept of peace. Active Peace requires we get rid of structures of confrontation, national rivalries, contention for domination, structures of inequality, structures that have to be examined. This thinking was hailed in many quarters.
 
Peace-making capabilities are required. He divides them into five steps.
 
1) Continue with capabilities to lay the foundation for peace and its increase.

2) See the many sides of the conflict, analyze and have the capability to manage it.

3) Each nation and citizen needs the capability to be leaders and show this by their words and actions.

4) We need a consistent strategy: dialogue, citizen peace structures, workshops to solve problems, prevent discrimination, and the capability to cope with the aftereffects of conflict.
 
5) Able to deal with the conflicts that will arise, and using this capacity to prevent permanent conflicts and achieve changes in the structures and systems.  

Peacemaking requires we understand prudently the violence and conflicts of daily life and can endure them. We use them to expand our thinking and spread peace and its value—management of conflict and the fostering of capabilities in dealing with frustrations. Need women, young people, and minorities to enter into the discussion and our need to continue the study. We work to make the system less violent and more manageable and regulated.

In the middle of the last century, we began to see a movement away from passive peace to active peace, from direct violence to a concern for structural and cultural violence, We saw a movement away from national security and the armament race, to peacemaking.

Briefly, we can say peacemaking has made an appearance, nations and various citizens groups have fostered non-violent capabilities and have worked to spread this within society. In conclusion, peace is not to imagine or assume others are enemies, but to move forward in looking for ways to live together. This is peace.

On Caring for Our Common Home the Earth

 

In the Catholic Times Weekly, the director of Our Theological Research Institute gives her ideas on the Corona 19 pandemic and Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si, "On care for our common home."

 

Expectations that we would be able to take off our masks and return to our usual lives when vaccinations started was shattered, and due to the spread of the 4th level of the pandemic, social distancing is being applied again around the metropolitan areas of Korea.  

 

The COVID-19 virus, which continues to mutate and does not want to go away, is scary, but this summer is even more suffocating due to the sweltering heat. In addition to the corona-related daily notifications, the heatwave disaster warning text is also sounded every day, so we have grown used to living with disaster situations. 

 

In recent years, the average temperature has risen to become a subtropical climate, and the phenomenon of abnormal climates in which torrential rains suddenly pour from clear skies has increased significantly. Environmental disasters are taking place not only in Korea but also around the world. In North America, wildfires and droughts are followed by a murderous heatwave. In Western Europe, an exceptionally torrential downpour caused great floods, and in the frozen land of Siberia, large-scale fires frequently occur.  

 

Scientists say that this abnormal climate is a warning from the earth, a phenomenon that is caused by the aggravation of global warming due to a surge in greenhouse gas emissions. When the average temperature of the earth rises by 2 degrees, the so-called 'tipping point' (the point where things that were in balance suddenly and explosively fluctuate), a turning point in which the global temperature rises out of control, is reached, and inevitably changing climate could push parts of the earth into irreversible change. 

According to the current trend, the time will come when the global temperature will rise by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 or earlier. 

  

Both viruses and abnormal climates are the results of man's reckless destruction of nature, and there are growing calls to realize the seriousness of the climate crisis and environmental problems and change our lives. 

 

However, possessing a lot is still considered a virtue, and life is successful only when we climb higher, do more, and succeed— this world order that encourages our desires infinitely seems well entrenched.  

 

Many people agree that religion is now the only thing that can lead people to reflect on their greedy life and lead them to temperance and offer alternative values in the face of the mighty power of capital. 

 

In 2015, Pope Francis published 'Laudato Si' an ecological encyclical, urging us to practice ecological conversion and make concrete changes in our lifestyle, taking good care of our common home, the earth. Catholic churches around the world are preparing or starting Laudato Si’s 7-Year Journey. The Korean church also started this seven-year journey through the opening Mass on May 24. 

 

Not only the church but also society responded. A documentary was aired on KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) 'Environmental Special' recently, where 100 people read the rules of 'Laudato Si' together as a climate change special. As she watched the broadcast repeatedly asking the question: "What kind of world do we want to pass on to our descendants and children who are growing up now?" The 'bread of life to be shared was the ecological gospel. 

 

After the broadcast, at an internet bookstore, 'Laudato Si' ranked No. 1 in weekly sales of religious books. Interestingly, women in their 40s, their 50s, and their 30s ranked 1st to 3rd who bought the most books, and especially women in their 40s accounted for 30% of the total purchasers. Some of the nuns at the forefront of Catholic Climate Action activities come to mind and the hopeless feelings of mothers that cannot pass on to their children the kind of world they would like. 

 

As a woman in her 40s, the writer, reread the Encyclical of Laudato Si this summer, reflecting on her call to respond to the cry of the earth and be a leading worker in caring for the poor who suffer from environmental disasters.

 

Hearing the Voice of the Earth

Today, every breeze, blade of grass, branch of the tree seems to be taking a deep breath as they pause for a moment. At the same time, they are looking over countless microorganisms in the bosom of the earth in this continuous cycle of life. So begins the column on listening to the sounds from the earth column of the Catholic Peace Weekly. The religious sister columnist is the gardener for the House of Ecological Spirituality.
 
Every year in early spring, they cook a pot of rice and go to the back mountain. Make delicious rice as if you were preparing a ritual meal, put it in an onion net, put it on the soil, and cover it with fallen leaves. If you go after a week or ten days, you will see white flowers in the onion nets. These flowers are the microorganisms and fungi that save our land. If we help them become friendly with our soil, all living things will live healthily. Countless microbes live in a handful of soil.
 
We need to do something to make sure these microbes are well established in the soil. Not spraying pesticides on the earth. Microorganisms cannot live in the soil sprayed with pesticides. Plants cannot grow properly in soil without microorganisms. So the farmers fertilize the land.
 
Fertilizers are growth promoters, earth absorbing more and better than it can absorb originally, you get a good-looking crop. However, the earth on which the  plant rests is broken and becomes hard soil. Farmers plow the fields with tractors to farm on hard soil that even a hoe cannot enter. In the past, she wondered how farmers would have done that when they farmed only with cows and plows, but she thinks that it would have been easier since you could use less labor for the soil was soft and alive.
 
The soil where microorganisms live does not have to be cultivated with a tractor, the soil is soft because the earth and microorganisms are creating space to breathe. Microbes and roots provide each other with what they need to live. Isn't that amazing? The fact that microbes invisible to our eyes cooperate with the roots to save the earth and other life…. She sees traces of God in this great cycle. Because this little microcosmic life reminds us again of the participation of God in our life— Koinonia.
 
Humans too quickly forgot these traces of God that nature remembers. Pesticides, fertilizers, and tractors prove it. And this is her feeling on the reality she has described. When we can see the soil properly and are conscious of the countless living matter that lives in it our eyes are opened to a new reality. It is like the disciples at Emmaus. We know that our current structure of thinking does not allow us to see reality as it is although we pretend to know.
 
The 'way to life is not the way for me to live alone, but the way for other lives to live'. Thich Nhat Hanh the Buddhist monk says that what we need to do to save our world: "Is to hear within us the sound of the earth crying." Only when we hear the cry of the earth within us will true healing be possible in our time.

What do we need to remember in the cycle of life? What choices should we make in this cycle?  Let's stop and listen to the countless sounds of life on the earth. It is really new the act of putting a pot of rice on the ground in the early spring in the back mountain like approaching an altar today. Come to think of it, the earth is the altar of the universe, and the farmer is the priest of the earth. I pray that many people will regain the preciousness of this work. Listening to the cry of the earth today....

When Enough is Not Enough

 

In the Catholic Peace Weekly a priest, spiritual psychologist, in his weekly column On Various Subjects treats the subject of "possession and use".

The human desire to possess seems boundless. A strange era to have a company that is selling land on the moon and Mars. The company, Lunar Embassy began on the say-so of one man, in 1980. More than 6 million have paid money for acreage on the moon and the planets.

 

They say they own the moon for fun, but they purchased land as an investment, preparing ahead for the age of space development.

Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants is a legendary U.S. baseball player who has set a single-season best of (73)home runs and a career-best of (762). 

 

When he hit his 73rd home run ball in San Francisco in 2001 it was caught by Alex Popov with a glove but because the crowd rushed towards him the ball fell from his glove and fell into the hands of Patrick Hayashi. Popov was so upset that he filed a lawsuit claiming that he was the owner of the ball. As a result, it was admitted that he had caught the ball first for 0.6 seconds, so he earned half of the ownership. The pair decided to sell the ball and share their income, the home run ball was sold for $450,000 Popov had to pay legal fees, with a loss of about $240,000.

Watching the rise in apartment prices in Seoul day by day, he wonders about the extent of people's desire to possess land or material goods. The root of possessiveness is the desire for survival. To survive, humans must possess the goods they need. However, when this possession arises to satisfy a need other than survival, we may suffer from greed. Even though we know that the cause of suffering is desire, why can't we get rid of it? Is possession the only way to satisfy human desires? 

  

When he goes for a walk in nature, he sometimes thinks: "Don't all these beautiful mountains, fields and valleys have owners? But what are they doing now?" The reason why this question comes to mind is dialog from a movie he watched a long time ago that impressed him and often comes to mind. The film features a scene in which a father, who is about to die, and his beloved daughter come out to the front yard of a hospital and have a conversation while looking out at the distant mountains. 

 

"My dear daughter, I have been climbing that mountain every day, and I have lived my life with that mountain all my life. Now I have to say goodbye to the mountain I lived with."  

 

"Father, there must be many unnamed landowners of that mountain you have been climbing. You have been climbing someone else’s mountain and think as if it belongs to you." 

 

"Yeah, that mountain must have owners. But how many times do you think they've been up and down that mountain in their lifetime? Perhaps they went there once or twice to see the location and shape of the mountain? After that, they may have lived with a satisfied expression for the rest of their lives, looking at the land documents they owned. But every day, I have lived by drinking the fresh air provided by the trees in the mountains and the freshwater of the valley. Nature received me unconditionally and healed me without any conditions when I entered the mountain after being hurt by people and the world. If it wasn't for that mountain, I probably wouldn't have lived this long. So who did the mountain really belong to? Wasn't I a happier person because of the mountain, feeling the benefits of nature with all my body, than those who owned that mountain only through documents?” 

Wouldn't it be great if you could change the desire to possess into a heart that enjoys? Rather than buying moon land, would it not be better to feel the mysteries of the universe once more while admiring the soft moonlight. Rather than finding and purchasing the things of a player you like, you are able to enjoy the player's game to the fullest. Instead of buying a mountain would it not be better to make the body and mind healthy by hiking. It seems this is a time when we should be able to see the beauty of flowers without the desire to want to pluck the flowers and bring them home.

Discerning Between Conscience and Greed

 

Fairness in the workplace is a serious issue that divides. The Catholic News, Light of the World column brings up some of the main ideas on the conflict. 

Traditionally, one side puts weight on results, competition, and competence, the other side places emphasis on equality of distribution and care. The two have to balance and harmonize, but differences in positions and conflicts are inevitable. Is it because many people feel deprived, lost, and not happy in this harsh world? The debate over fairness is hostile and confrontational.

It began last year, with the transition to full-time jobs at Inchon Airport which spread the conflict. Many job seekers opposed the airport's transition to full-time jobs. Opinions of non-regular workers (temporary workers), who were treated unreasonably while working the same job were opposed to the airport authorities. There is constant controversy over the process not only in employment but also in areas such as entrance examination, admission, housing subscription, and tax payment. Furthermore, the loopholes in policy and the system, the neglect of the regime, and airport authorities make the reality worse.

Competition is inevitable in a society where we live together. But the writer doesn't think it should be all about competition. Care and concern for others must be activated and eventually, the two are forced to co-exist. The key is whether they function properly in our daily lives. Fair competition is impossible if inequality is flagrant. We need to make it a fair competition.

The same goes for caring. It's beautiful in itself, but when abused, its original purpose changes and harmful side effects occur. Both competition and care need morality and ethics. With the limited amount of resources in society, competition and care need to work properly in a healthy society. Care for someone weaker than myself should be the foundation of society. It's not that we don't know about this. However, the conflict grows because we can't take care of ourselves, let alone take care of someone in a difficult situation.

Justice is a value that accompanies the exercise of the corresponding cardinal moral virtues. According to its most classic formulation, it "consists in the constant and firm will to give to God and neighbor what is due" (#201 Catholic Social Doctrine). Despite this direction, it is very difficult to clearly adjust our interests to the reality we face. This is because the system and policies are limited, and everyone wants to enjoy a better and more comfortable style of living, and what we think is for our personal benefit.

Improving the system and policies is important to solve social conflicts and problems. Fair and effective policies must be implemented. But at the same time, changing the consciousness of the members of society is essential. Furthermore, we need to identify greed and try to eliminate it. In fact, the difficulty of fair debate lies more in the division and hostile antagonism resulting from differences of interest and position. There is also a reason for the current situation, which has nourished benefits and wealth and made us dependent on this lifestyle. 

Clearly, in the pursuit of God and his kingdom, we need to stop the hostile arguments that are hidden in the debate about justice and fairness. He apologizes to the people who can't buy a home even when they worked hard for decades, the young people who can't find a job, the elderly who suffer from loneliness, and countless numbers of citizens who feel ignored. For these people, the state, society, religion, and neighbors should help them both materially and spiritually. 

 

Nevertheless, the distinction between conscience and greed, the consideration for those who are in more difficult circumstances and life that aims to love and share is the kind of life we are being asked to live. People and society become healthy and peaceful when they pursue essential values rather than wealth or worldly greed.

 

"A society that wishes and intends to remain at the service of the human being at every level is a society that has the common good — the good of all people and of the whole person — as its primary goal. The human person cannot find fulfillment in himself, that is, apart from the fact that he exists 'with' others and 'for' others" (#165 Catholic Social Principles).

Listening with the Ears of the Heart

 

We are all familiar with the game of Telephone. It was used in celebrations of the parish community when two teams were formed and competed for points in various activities. In the telephone game, each team was given a sentence to pass on to the teammates by whispering in the ear of the person behind them in a line each team formed. The team that was closest to the original words would be the winner and get the points allotted.

Even when one knows the object is to listen carefully and pass on what has been heard the results are often hilarious. Because of distractions, thinking you understand and do not, emotions, boredom, and hearing difficulties, what is passed on is not what was intended.

To hear it is necessary to listen and a priest member of a diocesan research team gives the readers of the Catholic Digest some thoughts on listening.

He recounts an incident in his life as a child. On a rainy day, his father called home to ask his son to bring the father's umbrella to the bus station. The son knew the way his father would come home after work and thought his father would be very happy if he were at the subway station to give his father the umbrella before he took the bus. However, there were so many coming out of the subway exit that he did not see his father and had to return home with the umbrella.

When he arrived home he saw his father's shoes at the entrance to the house and before he took off his shoes his father appeared. "Why did you go to the subway station when I told you to go to the bus station?" his father asked somewhat upset. He answered crying: "I thought that I would make you happier if I was able to give you the umbrella before you took the bus." The father put his hand on the head of the child and said: "I told you to go to the bus station didn't I?" No matter what you think may be better, what you have promised to do is what you need to do. In the future you will keep the promise that was made won't you?"

As a child, he wanted to make his father happy but ended up doing the wrong thing. This incident has always stayed with him. He was somewhat upset when his father scolded him but after some thought, he was able to understand his father's situation and feelings. In dealing with others we often fail to understand the situation and judge incorrectly.

His thoughts in the article turn to Jesus and how he felt after his many teachings and the way they were received. We sometimes think what we are doing is pleasing to Jesus when we do what he has told us not to do. What I think is the right thing to do can be the opposite of what Jesus wants. The dynamics involved in the spiritual life should be present when speaking and listening to others. To listen to others with complete attention and with the ears of the heart is difficult.

Hear means that sounds come into your ears whether you want it or not, while listening means that you consciously pay attention to what you hear. When our mothers told us to do something we wanted, we listened when it was something we did not like, it went in one ear and out the other.

Listening attentively is not something that comes naturally. When we are talking to another person we need to listen with our whole being to what is being said. When Jesus speaks to us in the Scriptures this should be our attitude to be attentive giving our undivided attention to what is being said.

It requires that we put aside our worries, anxiety, stubbornness, prejudices, and sit at the feet of Jesus in the way Mary of Bethany did. In the way, the two disciples listened to Jesus on the way to Emmaus. When we in our daily lives can experience the presence of Jesus and open ourselves to his words we will be open to the great gift of grace.
 

Our Attitude Will Determine How We Live

 

In the Catholic Times' Theology in the World Column, the priest director of a theological research center writes about identity.

Who is the "I", whose life I am supposed to be living? Who do people define me as? Am I the same person I think I am in the eyes of others? Identity is the perception of "I" and the way others accept me. How do I define myself? Who am I? Furthermore, am I always the same when I am expressing myself to others in real life? The subtle differences between the person I think I am, the way others see me, and the way I project myself to others brings about a crisis of identity.
 
The question of identity is fundamental in one's life. It's a question of who I am and who I'm perceived by others. Identity is not fixed but achieved in time. Identity consists not of one element but has various and complex aspects.

In general, identity consists of relationships with others. "What we become depends on the interaction we share with others. It depends on the environment and culture in a broad sense." Identity endlessly raises problems with the other and contains fundamental gaps and differences between me and others

Who is the other for us? Who is the other person with whom I have a relationship? God as the Other, the people as the Other, and myself as the Other. Our identity is defined and constructed according to the relationship of these three.
 

A person's social identity consists of several elements: gender, ethnicity, national and racial elements. An individual lives with a variety of social identities. Within one individual, there is a combination of identity as Christian, a woman, and as Korean. And these identities don't collide with each other. However, there is an identity that needs to be considered further in any choice and decision-making position. Is Christian identity always a priority? Does Christian identity, a kind of religious identity, take precedence over sexual identity, ethnic identity, national identity, racial identity, class identity? If not, for that person, faith does not play a primary or central role in life, and it works as secondary, or as an ornament in life.

Christian faith is the work of knowing, experiencing, resembling, Jesus Christ. Faith, above all, makes us resemble Jesus Christ, in a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ on this earth. The identity of a believer is based on the resemblance to Jesus, not on the familiarity of religious practices and customs. Today, many people speak with faith and act in the name of faith, but it is said that it is increasingly difficult to find a resemblance to Jesus Christ in their appearance and attitude. The external identity is Christian, but the actual identity is often not Christian. Although life is externally religious, it is not with faith but with a secular logic (the logic of capital and power).

Identity is also uniqueness. How am I living? What is my way of thinking and acting? Am I honestly looking, understanding, and reflecting on my thoughts, emotions, and desires? Does my life have its own color? Where, what, and how do I live? How do I describe my life? What nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs do I use. It doesn't matter what noun (status) what verbs I relate to (action and work), or what adjectives (characteristics) I modify. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives do not sanctify me. What makes me holy is how I perform my duties and work (adverbs). How we live determines our holiness.

The way you live is your identity. Your attitude and behavior towards life are your true identity.