Peace-promoting

Columbia University’s Sustaining Peace Project studies Mauritius, the most peaceful nation in Africa. Different ethnic and religious groups with populations of Hindus (52%), Christians (28%) and Muslims (16%) practice democracy. A simple sign reinforces acceptance: “One Island. Many Peoples. All Mauritians.” The ethic of respect is an everyday/everywhere practice, from how daily news is reported, how teachers support their students, and notably, how politicians relate. Peacefulness is not taken for granted but is cultivated nationally.

A diverse group of scholars – psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, astrophysicists, environmental scientists, political scientists, data scientists, communications experts – began meeting in 2014 to study cultures where peace was sustainable. They found non-warring social systems existing in the 5 Nordic countries who have lived peacefully with one another for 200+ years. Singapore, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Canada, Qatar, the Orang Asli of Malaysia, 10 Upper Xingu River basin communities of Brazil, the E.U. and Mauritius are further examples.

The scholars’ list of peace-promoting individual habits prescribes a model for healthy adulthood:

• Motives: Endorsing self-transcendent values, an attitude of openness, a cooperative orientation, and peace beliefs;
• Cognitions: Possessing strengths in moral reasoning, fluency of a language of peace, and embracing a global identity;
• Affect: Demonstrating levels of empathy and compassion, hopefulness and positivity, and a trusting mindset;
• Behavior: Exhibiting mindfulness and a willingness to compromise.

Moving to family and community, peace-promoting includes these variables:

• A shared identity as a peaceful family/community with peace-enhancing ceremonies;
• A belief in cooperative tasks, goals, and reward structures;
• High levels of education and literacy, including early access to tolerance and multiculturalism in education;
• An ability to promote superordinate identity groups as unified across differences;
• Leaders who model peaceful values such as egalitarian values and norms;
• Examples of peace language in media and a spirit of sharing a free flow of information.

As a point of interest, an astrophysicist set his mathematic genius to work during one weekend and made an algorithm of the peace variables. No worries, I am not going there in this blogpost, but just know that the interactions of the above characteristics change when a variable is “decreased.” Peace-promoting can encounter rocky shorelines.

Internationally we suffer from an Attention-to-peace Deficit Disorder in spite of the United Nations attempts to sustain a peaceful planet.

Perhaps the education piece of peace is where we might best focus efforts for world peace. As psychiatrist Erich Fromm (The Sane Society, 1955) asked: “Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?”

A song popularized by singer Vince Gill (and daughter Jenny) was written by husband-and-wife songwriters Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller (in 1955) with a message that still rings true today: “Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me. Let there be peace on earth, The peace that was meant to be….”   

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

201. What does peace-promoting mean in your own words?

202. What peaceful language can you use today?