Core Practice #3

I will work with others to build a world beyond war.

While this sounds like a bland, “mom and apple pie” resolve, it is probably the most challenging core practice of all. We know a good deal more about resolving conflict than we do about how to get diverse cultural groups of humans to cooperate in the name of global issues like climate change or finding sources of sustainable energy. 

This practice implies an understanding that there is no way not to make a difference. If I do nothing, that makes a difference. The change that is needed on this planet now requires enormous numbers of people to work together to build agreement about the truths that war is obsolete, that we are one, and that means determine ends.

But the challenge of working with others is often exercised on the more mundane level of our individual lives. Do we take the time to fully understand and appreciate another point of view in a family dialogue? Often we do not, and yet a genuine spirit of consultation often leads to much better results—on this or any level.

The three core practices are really all one practice, where I am willing to stay present and open, to refuse to impose my own views, to create the new, and to cooperate in the name of the larger goal of meaningful survival not just for me, but for all.

Living by these fundamental principles and core practices does not imply some sort of unrealistic instant perfection. What is does imply is a firm willingness to get on the path and start learning. When we fall off, we can pick ourselves up and try again.

When we begin to understand that these practices really work to change our own lives and the lives of those around us, a new confidence arises that the same processes can work on the larger stage of international relations, leading to genuine better alternatives to war.The most hopeful indication that moving beyond war is possible is contained in this extensive repertory of creative alternatives.

Instead of bombs and threats of war, nations can act decisively and effectively to help build a world in which conflicts are resolved nonviolently by taking four types of actions:

• Nonviolent conflict resolution processes, such as diplomacy and practices like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. 
• Appropriate foreign aid to build friendshipswith people in poor nations, like the Peace Corps, Heifer International, The Central Asia Project.
• Support for international law, as in signing the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and participating in the International Criminal Court.
• Cooperation with other nations, such as support for the United Nations, and international efforts to eradicate polio, smallpox and AIDS.