Sensing Peace
I’ve been having many conversations about peace and peacebuilding lately with friends, family, colleagues, and sometimes even strangers. In most instances, my conversation partners define peace as either a feeling of calmness, the absence of conflict, or a spectacular accomplishment: a peace treaty or a movement led by figures like Nelson Mandela or Gandhi. Most of my conversations about peace are accompanied by a sense of despair. In light of daily realities and relationships, often neither of these definitions of peace seem attainable.
I’ve had some opportunities to participate in the major events that we often imagine peacebuilding to look like: peace marches, ceasefires, and negotiations between armed groups. While these were remarkable, once in a lifetime moments, if we define these as our goals for peacebuilding, we miss out on all the ways in which we can actively use our senses and our bodies to engage in peace practices. And, like all of us, I’ve been stuck in interpersonal conflict that was anything but calm!
In my experience, it was often the daily choices in regular life that defined peace and allowed for both a feeling of calm and for the big events to eventually take place. It was a cup of coffee shared between people from different communities who were working to trust each other after the conflict had divided them. It was an afternoon of playing Ultimate Frisbee and through the movement of bodies, renegotiating rules and practicing peace. It was a massage circle at the creek shared by women after a long day of telling stories of the impacts of armed conflict. Peace was being covered in dust after a hot sweaty day of community visits. It was shared moments of laughter after a long meeting with government officials. Sometimes, for the community leaders I worked with, it was the chance to put their phones on silent and sing with gusto at a church service. All of these embodied practices made engaging in the work conflict transformation just a little bit easier.
Romans 12 suggests a different way forward. In light of God’s mercy, Paul invites us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices and to use our bodies to put love into action. Because our bodies belong to a God of grace, we can make active choices when facing hard situations. We can bless those who harm us, we can live in harmony, and we can leave revenge up to God. This sounds a lot like loving our enemies to me!
I’ve come to see that peace is a way of moving and being as a physical person in the world, rather than a feeling or a major accomplishment. The paradox is, that this way of connecting with our bodies, as temples, can also help pave the way for those feelings and big activities as well.
Rather than being abstract, peace is sensational!
Peace is a concrete set of tools that we commit to using when we are faced with the challenges of conflict, big or small. All of us engage with the world through our five senses; we can use our connections with those five senses as a way of grounding ourselves in our values and our faith as we love our enemies. Here are some ideas:
Sight: Look deeply and focus on one good thing or reflection of the image of God in the person or group you are engaging with. Let that centre the way you engage with respect and love.
Hearing: Listen deeply, for both the words that someone is saying and the deeper meaning they may be sharing. Reflect back what you are hearing and check for understanding as you go, considering your own biases.
Touch: Feel your feet touching the floor and allow yourself to be grounded in the embrace of God. Remember that you are loved beyond measure.
Smell: Pause and breathe deeply. Let God’s creation fill you with wonder and joy and take the time you need to be replenished.
Taste: Get curious and prepare to experience something new as you move out of your comfort zone. Taste and see that the Lord is good, even and especially in the midst of conflict.
And of course, don’t forget about our sixth sense, the Holy Spirit, ready to comfort and guide us on the journey as we reach out in prayer!
You can use this as a reminder in times of challenges to ground yourself in your senses or incorporate it into a daily prayer practice.
Questions for reflection:
1. How would you define peace and the role of your five senses in peace and conflict?
2. When you think about your body and the invitation in Romans 12 to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, how do you understand that passage? Are there ways in which you can see an opportunity or challenge connected to your own experiences of peace and conflict?
3. Spend 10 minutes using your senses as a form of prayer or grounding and commit to putting one practice into action this week. Encourage a friend to join you!