International Dialogue Series on Peace and Peacefulness
By way of active preparation for Spirit of Humanity Forum 2017, the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace (GHFP) and the Fetzer Institute took part in a three-part dialogue series in order to explore the nature of peace and how to apply this understanding in the process of creating a global culture of peacefulness.
The first dialogue was hosted by the GHFP in December in East Sussex, England. This dialogue was specifically concerned with building structural peace and took our innate peacefulness as a given. Therefore the focus was on the structures, systems and institutional cultures required to bring about a common political vision of peace as well as on identifying particular practices of peace and peacefulness which could lead to the transformation of individuals and communities internationally and globally.
The second dialogue was hosted by the Fetzer Institute in June 2016 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, and explored the nature of peacefulness from its spiritual dimension, considering the realities within a given local context, such as communities, that might support the practice of peacefulness. A distinct theme was transformation through a spiritual pathway and how it might inspire us to live our lives from the inside out in more peaceful ways and towards a global transition from separation and fear to interconnection, oneness and love.
The third dialogue took place in October 2016 in Reykjavik as part of the preparation for the Spirit of Humanity Forum 2017 and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Reagan and Gorbachev meeting in Reykjavik. It sought to investigate governance features and international policies of a peaceful state. Iceland was an ideal location for this dialogue as it had been consistently rated as one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Important questions, such as ‘Why is there peace?’ and ‘What might we do together to make our society more peaceful?’ were posed in this dialogue to understand political processes, including the responsibilities of individuals, institutions and communities, that contribute to the collective intention of peace.
For each dialogue event, contributors were asked to prepare in advance a written outline of their thoughts concerning the posed questions, to be shared with the other participants. The underlying intention was that through articulating one’s ideas and responses to the questions, the dialogue had already started before the face-to-face encounter. During the actual dialogue meetings, there was a mix of individual presentations with focused conversations, and in-depth group reflection in a contemplative space with encounters through mindful listening. Through doing so, the dialogue helped deepen more holistic understandings of peace and the implications of such understandings for individuals, for societies and for the world.
The findings and contributions of these three dialogues were brought to the Spirit of Humanity Forum in 2017 to share this learning with a larger international audience.
The insights from each dialogue and learning from the Spirit of Humanity Forum 2017 were disseminated more widely in different forms of report in 2016/17, including volumes of edited books published by mainstream publishers.
Post Script ..
‘Peacefulness: Being Peace and Making Peace’
This dialogue series led to a book published by the Spirit of Humanity Press in 2018.