Peace on Earth: Creating a Global Climate for Peace

By DAISAKU IKEDA

Even as we prepare to deal with the threat of war and conflict, we need to focus on the equally critical issue of the impact this has on people's hearts and minds. The signal failure of military action to produce a clear prospect for peace has left many feeling suffocated with illusions of powerlessness and dread.

The impasse could be broken through military force or other forms of "hard power". At best, however, such action only responds to the symptoms of conflict. To the extent it plants further seeds of hatred in regions already torn by strife, it deepens and entrenches antagonisms.

Those who possess and wield tools of hard power need to practise restraint and cultivate the spirit of self-mastery. This is essential if the exercise of such power is to bring about a result other than to deepen the cycles of hatred and revenge.

Simultaneously, I urge a united response by the international community - one that centrally includes the use of soft power. No efforts will gain people's wholehearted support or succeed in bringing about lasting stability and peace without a spirit of self-mastery based on an acute awareness of the humanity of others - something that I consider to be the very essence of civilisation.

The sharp divisions that exist regarding the legitimacy of military operations against Iraq have yet to heal. It is vital that all reflect on past failings and find a renewed commitment to constructive dialogue. All should join in the search for an approach that constitutes not just symptomatic treatment but fundamental cure.

In our asymmetrical "war" against terrorism, there is the inherent risk that it will become a deadly quagmire. What can be done to prevent this from happening? Since it is probably unrealistic to expect self-restraint on the part of terrorists, those who oppose them must put priority on the exercise of self-mastery, a quality that grows from the effort to consider and understand the position of the "other". This must take precedence over the use of hard power.

Equally essential is the courage and vision to address the underlying conditions of poverty and injustice - enabling factors in terrorism.

Once this is done, we can demonstrate genuine proof of civilisation. What is needed is not simply to repeat universal principles, that freedom and democracy are the fruits of civilisation, for example. Our words need to be grounded in the spirit of self-mastery or the willingness to learn from the example of others and correct our behaviour accordingly.

Those in authority need to embody the kind of soft power that can persuade, "co-opt rather than coerce". Unless they are put into a concrete form that can readily be appreciated by all, the loftiest expressions of ideals will be devoid of content and remain empty rhetoric. This is a concern I simply cannot dismiss.

I would like to consider the issue of peace from a perspective different from that of both political and military responses. Specifically, I believe that there is a kind of progressive "root-rot" eating away at the depths of people's understanding of what it means to be human and how we define ourselves and how we relate to those different from us. In a world trapped in cycles of terrorism and military reprisal, I feel it is vital to put the scalpel to the corrupt roots from which the spiritual malaise stems. Only by mustering the courage to do this will we be able to breathe the liberating winds of hope.

(The writer is president, Soka Gakkai International. Extracted from the 2004 peace proposal.)

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See also: Peace of Mind, Peace on Earth, Life and Beyond, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)