“Blessed are the peacemakers! As they will be called Sons of God”

 (Bible, Matta 5. 9)

Perhaps because of feeling its deficiency peace is one of the most widely used concepts. As being the oxygen of life, peace is most wanted and desired thing. Although the connotations of this concept motivate the thoughts, challenges and obstacles in practice of life are known.

Peace is a life line support that starts in the inner world and requires to be in line with social order with a spiritual awakening. It should start-be shaped first inner world of a human being then should spread whole vessels.

Path of peace is narrow and rugged. It has deeper implications that cannot be compared with daily conversations and worship. It is an understanding that one needs to be close with Lord’s words, and should be experienced in all aspects of life. It is a process that requires continues innovation in thought and spirit. There is no alternative. Peace path is a love path that is chosen less. It is a path of responsibility. Path of freedom. Path of productivity. Path of solidarity and help. Path of accepting and understanding others. Path of renovation in spirit and thought. It is the path of purification and forgiveness. Path of relief and relaxation. Path of patience. Path of justice. Path of kindness and productivity…

Peace can be achieved in outer world to the extend of flattening of these pathways in human beings. For this reason, faith, hope, love should be unified developed in the spirits. The attitudes of those who have developed themselves in these three struts are more flexible. This path should be walked and followed by improving the awareness without changing the route. As the souls and thoughts grow, the egos expand, the narrowness of this road also expands and the roughness of the path becomes plain.

Social life, material and spiritual world are shaped by the requirements. The importance of the balance between two universes is as meaningful as the importance of the balance between soul and body for world peace. Humanitarian improvement can be achieved by a loving and tender point of view. Peace has functional effects to live, be lived to discover the virtues that strengthen the social and inner basses of this improvement.

Peace requires an inner discipline. As in all disciplinary there is a desire to scold the ego and to defeat the pride at the core of this discipline as well. There is nothing in the context of restrain and change desires, is as useful as service and kindness that are done for the domination of peace. Every single favor on behalf of peace, is a loan and cost of living in mortal world. For this reason, approaches like aid, compassion, care, acceptance of others’ self beings, configures peace. Peace extracts people being lazy and emptiness. Makes life meaningful. Although it might be regarded hard in today’s conditions, in fact, it is a relationship in every culture and belief. Although looking at life in the spirit of service, to denigrate anyone, not to exclude anyone, not to be victim of negative conditionings, not to be quarrelsome, to be docile, treat others’ softly are some of the conditions of contemporary world, they are also essential for the peace we wish to live.

In order to live and let them live, reverends, beyond the all rhetoric, with calm and gracious spirit avoiding rote approaches, fort he domination of peace should continuously express the vitality of those values. Not only should express them but absorb and practice them with a spirit of peace. The states and organs on earth are all fort he good of humanity like the different organs of the organism. If the humanity is a family, the organs of this organism and distinguished members of this family should constantly honor each other with the understanding of the principle of mutual dependence.

Today, social, economical, political turmoil in all around the world, make us feel the necessity of finding a path from the material world leading to the spiritual world, and endeavor to meet the same spirit. Concussions necessitate it. Because as the humankind discovers itself, gets close to its spirit, peace will be settled down, sufferings will be reduced. If the facts in changing world disappear, the meaning of peace which is the basis of everything will lose its meaning. The most important power donated us by God is the power of capability to change and improve our prejudices, thoughts, and perceptions. We would contribute the world’s peace as long as we could do it. Peace means to be something new, rather than doing something new. It improves by thinking the other party’s perception to be/perception of the language that is used.

Weakening of specific meanings in regard of peace in case of disorder, contributes to be away from perceptions and insecurity. For this reason, all the spiritual traditions on earth, should endeavor to meet again at “the love of God and the human” for peace. They should come together at a social arena. They should practice hypostatic peace by putting forth. To converge and meet, prevent putting new walls by demolishing them. It is very important to be together and to be understood for the peace of world. In this context, if reverends, men of thoughts and culture, audial and visual media, want to take a role in ensuring peace in the world, they should always be a mirror in reflecting conspicuous indifference to the public, and so fulfill this important responsibility.

As is seen, culture of peace requires a universal view and spiritual approach. If this approach surrounds the life aid all aspects, clears inequities and imbalances, peace on earth will develop and grow. It regains its power as a converter and changer that puts the human and value- focused thought into the center. The balance between the product (egg) and producer (chicken) will be provided.

Peace is a requirement of natural life. A basic need of the soul. Is a reflection of God. There are negativities taken place in peace, relations and interactions an as people pollute the light and love of life coming from God with their ego centric behaviors. Fort he sake of world’s peace, humankind should get rid of all restrictive and exclusionary approaches; instead he should replace them with blessed approaches. If one live away from rotated approach, live volatility, because of the universal character he is in, he would gain a complementarily understanding.

Syriac Scholars being noticed ahead that main goal in life is to develop thinking, were the pioneers of socio-cultural-spiritual efforts developed and produced on the geography of Mesopotamia in history. As an east dynamics through the dynamics of east culture, they contributed the spiritual-intellectual productivity of East-West. The process that began before the arrival of Islam to the region, continued till 13th century sometimes strong, sometimes limp. Syriac Scholars lived with different beliefs and cultures. They were lived with an understanding of sustenance. In fact at this point, Syriac culture is  waiting for the support and encouragement of other cultures and beliefs they have been living together.

The belief that is thought by this history and culture of understanding orders, “to love God more than anything and love our neighbours like ourselves”. Neighbour here means a human being. And this human being is our brother. According to a father of a church, “how much a human being (brother) is small, so much big is God in him” This is the concrete expression of seeing God in so-called unskilled person. The pettiness here should be understood in the context of social criteria.

If we can shape our point of view according to this data of intellectual understanding, our social perceptions will transform. As being different organs of the same organism of life, if we acquire the spirit of mutual dependence and shape our religious and cultural selves according to it, we can get rid of neglecting our peace-loving humanitarian sides. We can adopt and transfer our values to the future as long as we live peacefully.

New spiritual awakenings and enlightments will not only develop world’s peace, but also bring joy to life. The darkness into the spirits eliminates the barriers. For this reason, spiritual nurture and information are needed in the era of speed. All of the connotations of superiority and inferiority should be cleared and great effort must be made not to use any of them at any conversation. Installing moral values to life, supporting those who struggle on behalf of future generations, would provide a significant contribute in developing peace. The key issue in ensuring peace, is meeting of compassion and conscience, their feeding and caring each other. In order to resist against an individual shaped by modern life, on behalf of the spirit of public awareness and peaceful notions, ancient values of humanity should be kept alive continuously. This should be done for the sake of universal values to integrate the culture of peace, to prevent the threat towards real and natural values, for the sake of world’s peace, for the sake of virtuous understanding that is nurtured by wisdom and love. In this turbulent process of change, particularly the states and everybody with a spirit of self-regulation should contribute the development of peace culture. This subject should be studied more and people should be more productive about it.

In fact, the development of world peace and healing thoughts are flourishing. This can only be possible with a universal eye, a broad mind and a deeper understanding. In order to uphold a mentality for the development of world peace everybody (especially the leaders) should be peace-loving as a requirement for learning and development. Although the difficult of being fair is known, relations and goodness should be done with the spirit of justice. Thought must be open to new ideas. While developing solutions on behalf of peace polarizations and provocations should be avoided. Instead of conflict culture a new transaction culture from the “yeast” into the traditions should be developed. Understanding of servant leadership should be more dominant. Efforts and political debates in west-east axis, should be done by the synthesing with an understanding of the spirit of change. Thought should be managed not by polarization but by insights of East-West synthesis.

Peacefulness is the source of understanding one’s own value, limits and power of self-development. Thus, peaceful person act, with consciousness of knowing the way leading to God passes from peace, responsible, value, share, cooperate in solidarity. Because he knows very well that peace is provided by violence and force but peace. As you sow peace you shall reap peace (Bible –Jacob 3-18)

Let the healing power of the Lord dominate and encompass peace in the world

Yusuf Beğtaş

Mardin