eternal peace is not a static condition…

“Whether we can become good citizens of the world hinges upon the degree of self-control we achieve.  It is, after all, the ability to see ourselves penetratingly that enables us to transcend national boundaries and ethnic barriers.  Eternal peace is not a static condition but a continuum that is consciously maintained through the interaction of self-restraining individuals within a self-restraining society.  Cooperation for peace is necessary in the areas of politics, economics, and education, of course.  But the building of lasting peace depends on how many people of self-restraint can be fostered through religious guidance.  If religion is worthy of the name, and if it is one that can respond to the needs of contemporary times, it should be able to nurture in its followers the spiritual basis for becoming good citizens of the world.”- (Daisaku Ikeda, 1990 Peace Proposal)

acquire a global perspective…

“While people are gradually beginning to acquire a global perspective, wars and struggles fought over racial, ethnic, and religious issues are as omnipresent as ever.  By calling a Special Session on Education, the United Nations can effectively launch a campaign for educating world citizens that will encourage people to see that we are all passengers on one “spaceship Earth,” that we are all members of the same “house.”  (Daisaku Ikeda, 1990 Peace Proposal)

interactions with nature…

[The quality of] interactions between humans and the world around us can first be understood to depend on the subjective qualities of the person. It is through our various interactions with the world that we develop in a fully balanced manner. That being the case, the world around us, nature in particular, can truly be our enlightener, our guide, our consoler. Forging a variety of interactions with nature is essential in enabling us to meet and deal with the limitless vicissitudes of life. Our happiness in life can indeed be said to be proportional to the extent and intimacy of our interaction with nature. -  Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944),  2005 Peace Proposal, Toward a New Era of Dialogue: Humanism Explored, by Daisaku Ikeda, January 26, 2005

I’d really like to dedicate this to my good friend (Webmaster) at: http://www.globalissues.org/

 

 

harmony between humanity…

“In more concrete terms, the course of education for world citizens must encompass such currently vital problems as environment, development, peace and human rights.  Education for peace should reveal the cruelty of war, emphasize the threat of nuclear weapons, and insist on the importance of arms reduction.  Education for development must deal with the eradication of hunger and poverty and should devote attention of establishing a system of economic welfare for the approximately 500 million people who suffer from malnutrition today and to the two-thirds of the nations in the world that are impoverished.  Harmony between humanity and the world of nature should be the theme of education in relation to the environment; it is vital to stimulate the most serious consideration to the extend to which nuclear explosions harm the ecosystem.  Learning to respect the dignity of the individual must be the cornerstone of education in relation to human rights.    In all four of these essential categories, education must go beyond national boundaries and seek values applicable to all humanity.  Furthermore, to make possible the attainment of the paramount goal of peace for humankind, activities in all four areas must be conducted in a mutually interrelated fashion.  In other words, world-citizen education must be inclusive, comprehensive education for peace.”   – Daisaku Ikeda, Excerpt from 1987 Peace Proposal

lies and prejudices promote war…

Over 70 years ago, British diplomat Lord Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946) wrote in his book Falsehood in Wartime about the perennial propaganda claims of wartime leaders. Belgian historian Anne Morelli has recently shed fresh light on Ponsonby’s analysis, distilling his findings on wartime propaganda into 10 principles as follows:

1.     We do not want war;
2.     The other side is solely responsible for the war;
3.     The enemy has the face of the devil;
4.     It is a noble cause that we defend and not particular interests;
5.     The enemy commits atrocities knowingly; if we make unfortunate mistakes, it is involuntary;
6.     The enemy uses unauthorized weapons;
7.     We suffer very few losses, while the losses of the enemy are enormous;
8.     Artists and intellectuals support our cause;
9.     Our cause has a sacred nature;
10.   Those who question our statements are traitors.

Lies and prejudices promote war, and war in turn promotes lies and prejudices.

(Translated from French. Anne Morelli, Principes elementaires de propagande de guerre (Elementary Principles of War Propaganda) (Brussels: Éditions Labor, 2001). ((Dr. Jan Øberg, Director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (TFF)  from the Essay Series, “Life is Wonderful” (Translated from the November 10, 2002 issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, the Soka Gakkai daily newspaper, Daisaku Ikeda Essay Series))

peace for the human race…

It is of urgent necessity to educate as many people as possible to become “world citizen” in order to achieve everlasting peace.  The curriculum should cover the most important themes humankind must grapple with today — the environment, development, peace, and human rights.  Each one of these topics requires the new point of view of a world citizen, a perspective that goes beyond the confines of national entities.  The above four themes are closely related to one another.  The ultimate goal in studying them together is peace for the human race.”  (Daisaku Ikeda, 1998 Peace Proposal)

understand sustainability…

“How, then, are we to understand sustainability? In simplest terms, I think it could be described as follows: a way of life in which we refrain from seeking our own happiness at the expense of others; a determination not to pass on our local community and the planet as a whole to the next generation in a more dirty or damaged condition than it was when we entered it; a society in which the future is not sacrificed to the passing needs of the present, but where optimal choices and decisions are pursued with the interests of our children and grandchildren in mind.” – Daisaku Ikeda’s Peace Proposals, pg 12, 2012 peace proposal