Dear rn list, July 23
I think the following was the first reply we recieved to the "deep peace"
message. It gives some interesting-sounding leads for our topic:
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 06:47:01 -0700 (PDT)
To: •••@••.•••
From: Alex Campbell <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: "deep peace" and other comments
At 11:31 PM 7/20/98 -0300, Jan Slakov wrote:
>Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 18:21:38 -0400
>To: •••@••.•••
>From: Bill Ellis <•••@••.•••>
>Subject: Deep Peace
>But, in spite of all the anti nuke, anti military, anit crime, and non
>violence activity going on I'm still having trouble finding literature on
>"peace." That is, what is it made Gandhi, King and others the peaceFULL
>(not only peace loving) people they were? And what made Stalin, Hitler, and
>others the violent people they were?
>And, how do we move society in the direction of "deep peace?"
A couple works that might be of interest:
Louis Oppenheimer, "War as a Institution, but what about Peace?
Developmental Perspectives," _International Journal of Behavioral
Development_, 1996, 19 (1), 201-18.
He discusses some of the expert literature on "peaceful"
cultures / peoples.
John Galtung, _Peace by peaceful means: peace and conflict, development and
civilization_ (London: Sage, 1996) ISBN 0 8039 7511 2.
Discusses Galtung's theory of many scales of violence (cultural,
personal, family, etc.); four major parts: a theory of peace; a theory of
conflict; a theory of development; and a theory of civilizations.
Alex Campbell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Campbell
Assistant to the President, National Center
for Economic and Security Alternatives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2000 P Street, NW
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20036
202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax)
•••@••.•••
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Jan: Alex, or anyone who is able to read the above books, if you
had time to give us some idea of what the most important aspect of their
message is, from your perspective, I am sure that would be interesting for
the list.
I, for one, do intend to follow up on your suggestions but this takes TIME.
Also, Alex, the title of your position sounds rather interesting. There must
surely be some postable description of the "National Center for Economic and
Security Alternatives" you could send us?
Another reply came to us from Brazil!
Angela Denise Lemos <•••@••.•••> is just finishing her MBA, an
undertaking she has used to further her work for environmental protection.
Hers is the "first Brazilian thesis about the theme "Cleaner Production"
related with the Primary Sector (agriculture)."
She first became involved in environmental activism in 1994 when she visited
a Greenpeace vessel which had come to her city. This led to opposing French
nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll, a speaking engagement at her university and
continued work with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (ADFG-Amigos da
Terra or (Gaucha Female Democratic Association-)).
Now she is active in the neighbourhood movement she started to oppose a plan
to build a "Pista de Eventos" or "A Building for big events like Carnival
for example" in a local green park (which would result in chopping down more
than 80 trees). The movement has taken their case to court and are winning
so far. "Nowadays I am acting as volunteer at our neighbourhood association
at the Environmental Department. We are aiming at developing some
"educational environmental programs" for children and for entrepreneurs of
our neighbourhood."
She is also starting her own consultantcy firm: "I am a consultant of the
Brazilian CNTL or "Cleaner Technologies National Center". It is a branch of
UNIDO/UNEP (United Nations Industrial Development Organization/United
Nations Environment Program). I have as a personal mission to help
organizations in the
adoption of the Cleaner Production concepts in order to protect or conserve
our natural resources and to help them to become more competitive. The
central idea is:
Preserving or conserving the environment, companies start to get
economic benefits of tangible and intangible nature."
Angela's recommendation re: deep peace:
"Dear rn list:
For those who are really seeking how to find or get
the inner peace or the "deep peace", please look at
the web site www.rosicrucian.org (for English readers)
or www://rosacruz.org (for Spanish readers).
This is my suggestion, because I believe that
we are not able to change the world if we are
not able to change ourselves.
With deep peace, Angela."
I (Jan) visited the English site; here is one excerpt.
Is the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, a Religion?
No. AMORC, which stands for Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, is not
a religion and does not require a specific code of belief or conduct.
Rosicrucian students come from a variety of cultural and religious
backgrounds. Becoming a Rosicrucian student does not in any way require you
to leave your church, join a church, or change your religious beliefs. Some
Rosicrucian members do not subscribe to any specific religious beliefs at
all. For students who do, we encourage them to participate in the religion
of their choice. As a result, Rosicrucian students come from every religious
denomination, and through our teachings, many find a greater appreciation of
the mystical principles
underlying their individual religious and philosophical beliefs. Those who
do not belong to any particular religion often discover a sense of
connection with a higher intelligence that was missing in their lives before.
Angela wrote about how Rosicrucian teachings have given her insight:
"There is a simple explanation I would like to tell you about our strong
individualism of nowadays:
Imagine a city at night with many bulbs on. This city is served by a central
energy generator. Something happens and this central generator is damaged.
Is there a possibility of a bulb to be on yet? (Don't think about emergency
light!!). I am talking about the bulbs direct connected with
the central generator. Of course no bulb will be on. So, this idea reveals
that the strong "individualism" of today is not a "natural law". All of us
are connected with the central energy. We are sons of the same father. We
are brothers. By the same analogy, we are connected with each other. We are
part of the same energy. We need each other.
If each of us could understand this, do you think a big corporation (wich
is formed by people) could act in a way of destroying the life of their
brothers?
In my humble opinion, I believe that what humankind needs is education.
But not the education in the current mode of education. We need opening
our minds and hearts to absorve the knowledge of our father (God, the
central energy generator) in order to help our brothers at any part of the
world."
One thing I find interesting in Angela's reply is the reference to spiritual
teachings. This seems to be a common thread in many efforts to find "deep
peace".
To be continued, I hope.
All the best, Jan
