Peace Through True Surrender

The tide of violence has again crested and is washing over the Gaza Strip with the waves of brutality from both sides rippling through the consciousness of much of the world. The Israeli-Palestinian situation feels hopeless to me when I view the reports. However, I strongly believe there is no impossible human condition, as these conditions are not imposed but agreed upon- a kind of macro decision consolidated from millions and millions of angry minds and hardened hearts.

For what it's worth, I do believe the situation is tractable- an astonishing thesis I'm sure. I believe the answer is one that is deeply psychological and begins with every individual immediately engaged in the situation. Surrender, not to one's "enemies" or injustice, but to oneself. The lamb on the alter for each person can be the ideas and emotions that entwine into a general condition of pain- mental and physical.

This is easy for me to write as my little boys are healthy and happy on this day. I do not fear mortar attacks or gun fire. My concerns for my sons are of flu viruses and whether they are enjoying their lives. I'm a privileged mother, I know.

But as the collective mental positions of Israel and Palestine continue to be expressed in their explicit form, violence, it is clear what is at stake. The health, happiness and hope for their children is the price of conflict. If fighting only causes more violence, then the fighting needs to stop. And in place of the actions of violence, people could learn to tolerate those powerful emotions of fear, hate and dread. For many, doing and receiving violence may be easier than sitting quietly with those powerful emotions. But in a place of inaction and intimacy with one's own feelings, good ideas for real change may arise.