International Day of World Peace: Weapons within our hearts

Weapons Within Our Hearts

“Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation no longer will they learn how to make war.” (Israel 2:4)

The statement quoted from this bible verse which is hanged outside the United Nations Headquarters reflects that peace is not only the desire of Israelists of the Old Testament era, it is also the hope of people in contemporary age.

People nowadays always talk about civilization and civilized acts, thus, peaceful means, rather than violence should be employed to solve conflicts. However, hatred and wars between nations and ethnics occur continuously. Numerous examples tell us peaceful day is a far far away dream which is almost impossible to achieve. This can be seen from the conflict in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Palestine, the suicidal attack of extreme Muslims towards the West, the occupation of Iraq by U.S. in the name of destroying “the terrorists.” Recently, we witnessed the attack of Lebanon by Israel and the British airport chaos. All these lead to death and injury of innocent civilians.

Our world is facing different kinds of “terrorist” attack. Suicidal attack, of course, is frightening. Are white terrorism, racial and religious discrimination, suppressing freedom of speech and press arose from anti-terrorism equally frightening? Revenge, violence and war cannot solve problem indeed. They only carry on the conflicts, bringing never-ending hatred. In fact, many political leaders employed various kinds of obvious and subtle violence to reinforce the feeling of hatred in the name of patriotism, ignoring the freedom and lives of civilians.

Very often, we think that racial and religious conflicts are international problems, we are not the ones who create them and we cannot do much on that, thus, we don’t need to shoulder any responsibility. However, have we ever thought that we are creating and reinforcing violence and injustice intentionally? In her article “The Tridents Within,” American feminist Jeanne Clark notes that “trident and all future weapons of destruction can be stopped only when we look deeply enough within ourselves to discover that there are Tridents within us.” These weapons within us are those things which disrupt our right relationship with ourselves, with one another, with the earth and its creator.

Weapons within us originate from our inability to accept difference which gives rise to a desire of control. For many people, one way to treat difference is to make you like I am, or I will destroy you or neglect you, making you as someone non-exist or name you as an enemy. Once an enemy is created, I don’t need to suffer from the pain of struggling with differences within me. The differences is in you; good and evil, right and wrong is clear. Everything is in my control.

Such desire of control does not merely exist in the hands of strong powers, it also exists in each of us. We want to be winners in everything. Apart from political and economic arenas, this kind of desire and temptation occurs in the relationship between parents and children, friends, partners and even in our faith. For example, when we think that we are more holy and faithful, know more truth and do better than others, we may neglect, exclude or ignore those who are different from us.

On the other hand, submitting to reality, abandoning the power to bring change to the world and give it to the dominant powers is another kind of weapon within us. Some people believe that only heroes and leaders can bring hope. Such feeling of helplessness and hopelessness deter us from taking up responsibilities. It is this kind of submissiveness and passivity that give violence a chance to continue, leading us to see the harm that others bringing to us, but not seeing such attitudes may bring harm to others as well as ourselves.

Today, violence continues and expresses in various form. Before it occurs in the form of war, it grows and flourishes deep within us. As Christians who accept the gospel of the Son of Peace Jesus Christ, are we willing to examine the various kinds of weapons within us and see clearly? Are we willing to repent and become peacemakers? In view of the reality, the peace message of Isaiah is not easy to achieve in today’s world, but this is the hope of us.

國際和平主日

「他將統治萬邦，治理眾民；致使眾人把自己的刀劍鋳成鋤頭，將自己的槍矛製成鎌刀；民族與民族不再持刀相向，人類不再學習戰鬥。」　（以／依2: 4）

這句懸掛在聯合國總部的經文，反映出和平不只是舊約時期以色列人的渴望，更是現代人的願望。

現代人講求文明，理應以和平方式解決問題，而不是訴諸暴力。但是有關國與國之間的戰爭、民族與民族之間的仇恨之消息卻是不絕於耳。近日的以黎衝突、英國機場驚魂，以至長期的以巴土地紛爭、因所謂的恐怖襲擊和反恐行動而傷及無辜平民等，都在告訴我們，和平的日子似乎遙不可及！

我們的世界正在面對不同形式的恐怖襲擊。同歸於盡式的襲擊固然可怕，但因反恐怖主義而造成的白色恐怖、種族宗教歧視、遏制言論及新聞自由等不是同樣可怕嗎？復仇、暴力和戰爭都不能解決問題，只會沉澱、累積，以至蔓延下一代，帶來循環不息的仇恨和衝突。

很多時，我們以為種族宗教糾紛或戰爭衝突是國際問題，個人的力量根本解決不了，所以自己亦不用負上任何責任。然而，我們可曾想到，自己可能不自覺地參與製造或鞏固暴力和不義呢？美國婦運領袖Jeanne Clark在一篇名為「內心的武器」的文章中指出，如果我們不深切檢視潛藏在自己內心深處的武器，所有危害人類的「大殺傷力武器」根本無法消滅；這些內在武器正是那些破壞和侵蝕我們與自己、與他人、與地球以及與創造者關係的東西。

內心的武器源於我們無法接受差異，因而產生控制的慾望。對不少人來說，對待差異的其中一種方法是將對方改變成為跟我一樣，另一種方法是消滅他，又或是否定他，將他視為不存在，稱之為敵人。一旦製造了敵人，我們就不用因內心的差異而痛苦爭扎，而只將差異歸咎於對方，對錯、好壞變得黑白分明，一切似乎在自己掌握和控制之內。這種控制的慾望不只存在於擁有權力的強國手中，亦存在於我們每一個人的心中，希望在一切事上取得勝利。不要以為這慾望和誘惑只發生在政治、經濟層面，其實，它亦出現在父母與子女、朋友或伴侶之間的關係上，甚至是信仰層面。例如，當我們渴望比別人更神聖、更忠信、掌握更多真理，或在任何事上都想比其他人好，則可能會忽略、排斥或否定其他與自己不同的人。　

另一方面，屈服於現狀，自動放棄改變世界的能力，將這能力供手相讓予霸權者，是另一種內心武器。有些人以為要等待領袖或英雄的出現，才有希望。無力感和無望感，令我們不再相信自己可以為事件負責；正是這種被動和服從，使暴力有機可乘延續下去，我們亦只看到別人對自己帶來的暴力傷害，卻沒有察覺因自己屈從於權力亦會對他人或自己造成傷害。

今天，我們仍看到戰事不斷，在暴力以戰爭形式出現之前，它早已在我們的內心萌芽。我們既接受了耶穌基督這位「和平之子」的福音，我們是否願意察亮眼睛，檢視一下自己內心深處所潛藏著的各式各樣武器，不論是控制他人或盲目服從？是否決心悔改成為一位締造和平的使者？昔日以賽亞先知的和平信息，對今天的基督徒來說，雖然在實踐上困難重重，卻是我們的希望所在。