Customer Reviews

Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End (Chopra, Deepak)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In Peace is the Way, Deepak Chopra says, "You will know when your are living the way of peace when three things are present: Seva: Your actions harm no one and benefit everyone. Simran: You remember your true nature and your purpose for being here. Satsang: You belong in the community of peace and wisdom."

I have read a number of Deepak Chopra's books, but none have evoked the intense joy that I felt while reading Peace is the Way. I heard about the book the day before it came out, and was probably one of the first to purchase a copy. The quote above is from page eight. By page twenty I was wanting to jump with joy. By page 118, I was inwardly shouting, "Yes!"

Chopra outlines the thought processes and belief systems that keep war within our experience. Yet throughout the book, he shows that there is another way, the way of peace in one heart at a time, my heart, and your heart. Stopping war seems like an impossible task from such small beginnings, but Chopra reminds us on page nineteen that Christianity started with just thirteen people. Not only does Chopra show us the flaws in our war supporting beliefs, he gently leads us through new ways of thinking, encouraging us to open ourselves to Consciousness, to that which is beyond the duality of good and evil, "us" and "them".

Peace is the Way is a controversial book. It will make people uncomfortable, and some will blame Chopra instead of realizing the discomfort is within themselves. I am thinking of the last time I had my piano tuned. It was noticeably off key, but I had grown accustomed to the sound. The piano tuner began with one firm A, pounding out that beacon of true vibration over and over as he tightened the strings one by one, drawing me and my entire house into discord and discomfort until finally all was in harmony. Deepak Chopra's book is like that, vibrating the tone of peace so strongly that we feel the discord in our world and in our hearts, and one by one we are drawn into harmony.

You will be touched by this book. You may be angry. You may weep at the stories he tells. You may, like me, be filled with joy at the vision of a peace which is not accomplished through blood shed. You will definitely be changed. Chopra concludes with the words: "Right now there are 21.3 million soldiers serving in armies around the world. Can't we recruit a peace brigade ten times larger? A hundred times larger? The effort begins now, with you."

It's no news that the world is in terrible turmoil right now. I honestly don't know if things are getting worse, or they are just continuing in different parts of the world. But one thing I do know is that whatever happens affects all of us. We are all connected. We can't separate ourselves from what goes on in some distant country. I recently saw the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and it really brought to light some of the basic human emotions that we all share. Peace is a huge concept, and of course it is something we all want, something we strive for. World peace, community peace, inner peace, it's all connected. We all have to do our part to make it happen.

Deepak Chopra has written a beautiful new book called "Peace is the Way." I love the way Deepak writes because he expresses so well what is really important. It's so clear. I'd love it if this book could be in every classroom. We need to learn to get along! And some of these basic lessons can be learned in school. Peace is a possibility. A definite possibility.

I rate this book by Dr. Chopra, 5 stars without any hesitation. This is a very powerful, insightful and "peaceful" book. At the same time, Dr. Chopra truly "tells it like it is" in this book, which seems to be somewhat of a departure for him. I mean, he says what is on his mind here and he says it quite succinctly. I was somewhat surprised by that here. But this is an excellent book, one well worth the investment of time and money (as are Dr. Chopra's other books). It will leave you, or should I say, YOU will leave IT, a changed person indeed. A more peaceful one too! Peace! Namaste!

This book makes many excellent points about peace. Its theme is on what you can do to help, rather than on how you can allow apathy, revenge, fear, bias, or false hope to make you part of the problem.

In negotiations, the author recommends showing respect for the other side, recognizing perceived injustice, believing in forgiveness, bonding at the emotional level, recognizing values that are opposed to you own, desisting in belligerent actions, avoiding ideological talk, and avoiding passing judgment (and especially in making others out to be Wrong). And, most important, confronting the underlying factor of fear, the single most important element in conflicts.

While I don't always agree with Chopra, I think these points are always worth considering.

Chopra also discusses the role of religion. He says that religion must place responsibility for violence in the mind of every person. That it must stop judging others negatively for being outside the faith, it must stop defending war, it must stop claiming to be the only True Path, it must give up its arrogance and claim to authority, it must renounce its covert greed and desire for power, and it must discover how to return love to its place of primacy. Again, I think that while he is demanding quite a bit here, we all ought to think about this.

The author also discusses how terrorists are created. His seven step recipe: group pressure, secrecy, an atmosphere of fear, a hierarchy that demands obedience, a nearby authority that makes cruelty a duty, permission to disregard morality, and no threat of punishment for evil deeds.

Chopra notes that many very sweet people actually enable violence by refusing to oppose it. There are numerous reasons for this but a key is false hope. That enables victimhood, it serves as a mask for denial that there is a problem, it papers over conflicts, and it causes many people to suffer in silence. One example of this is the hope many of us had for peace in the Levant when Rabin shook hands with Arafat. But as Chopra points out, nothing positive happened from this pretence of friendship. "Conflicts are not resolved when two parties walk away with residual animosity." I may not fully agree with Chopra here, but I think he's on the right track.

The author says that in the short run, we see Islamist terrorists boasting that their violence has helped get their coreligionists to "rise up" against some presumed oppressor. But he explains that the truth is that "governments everywhere are rising up against" the Islamists. And he gives Beslan as an example. Here he gives us some friendly advice. We may be tempted to call support for terror "evil." That's not always the best idea. Many people do support terror and most do not think they themselves are evil. We won't be very convincing if we call them evil.

Instead, Chopra encourages to speak to these people, but change the subject from "evil" to "chaos." While it may be difficult to see which side is evil, it is much easier to see if specific strategies will simply lead to chaos. And it is easy to argue that chaos is counterproductive and that it is a poor idea to promote it.

While the author does not give us much advice on exactly what to do about violent aggressors who insist on bullying us, I think he makes some really good points about how we all can help. If those of us who refuse to stop thugs physically would simply support those who are against aggression instead of making excuses for the thugs, I think we'd be making plenty of progress. In any case, the key is to react soberly. "The world has become a better place because of the dominance of reason over irrational impulse."

I recommend this book.

I have not written a review before, although I read a great deal. I am now at page 42 and am compelled to write. I have immense respect for this book because it forces you to look inside yourself to where peace should begin. I like being challenged in this way and I look forward to reading the rest of this book. I hope you enjoy it too.

Chopra writes, "Do we live in a country that stands for peace? Millions of Americans fervently believe they do, and ugly facts will not change their minds. They turn their backs on the damage America creates, almost thoughtlessly, around the world. American corporations who do not want to tolerate being regulated at home move overseas where they can pile asbestos in huge mounds that Asian children play on, sell potent pharmaceuticals over the counter in Thailand without the need of prescriptions, create a lethal gas leak in Bhopal, India, and generally damage the ecology in any way they choose. Being an American means all of those things. It's just as American to be the largest supplier of arms in the world and send your troops into battle to be killed by these same arms. It's American to promote free markets whatever the cost, as one native culture after another is despoiled and corrupted by the dollar."

Here are some questions I'm still chewing on.

1. Is war ever an appropriate response? (I'm thinking of US involvement in WWII)
2. Should violence be used to stop an atrocity? (I'm thinking of Rwanda 1994)
3. Can peace be achieved through forcefully countering evil and evil intentions? (I'm thinking of police action against crime)
4. Should America pass laws regarding US corporations' activities in foreign countries, or should those individual countries pass and enforce laws restricting those activities?
5. Are there times when 'reacting out of fear' is appropriate? That is, are there some things we should be afraid of?
6. If the best reaction is one of love, is there ever a time when justice is love?
7. On an international level, are love and war always incompatible?
8. If Iraqis were being killed by their own government what would have been the best solution for addressing this?
9. Regarding the terrorist cells who directed the 9/11 attack, how should they have been dealt with?
10. If God exists, what is His view of violence for self-defense?

I wish Chopra had addressed these in more detail.

This book must be read with an open heart and mind for one to realize the spontaneity, sensibility and conviction that peace is the way despite or maybe because of a narrowly owned media message and our complex human psychological baggage that includes primitive and obviously destructive habits of violence. The peace message must raise its voice and we must respond, regardless of who's collecting royalties or quoting whom.

In the early part of the book Deepak presents the Tangled Hierarchy of Fear/Greed/Unsustainability and shows us then how and why this must be replaced with Tangled Hierarchy of Love/Sharing/ Compassion/sustainability/ peace consciousness. I found this a valuable framework first because it's more realistic than the current black or white myopia that the media and political systems are helping to maintain (whether intentional or not;) a narrow focus on issues limits our interpretation of problems and then therefore limits our ability to provide solutions. An example of these important `peace linkages' in our time can be seen in the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari, a lifelong environmentalist, who has taught women, the primary victims or caretakers of victims from war, to plant trees, helping themselves and their communities. The other concept that I agree with in this framework is the focus on peace and all its origins versus saying `not war.' Deepak then shows us how we each need to realize and choose the sustainable ways of peace consciousness in our own lives, hoping and working toward the tipping point; when the majority of us have accepted and projected peace, we change humanity toward this pattern of peace.

I love the hopefulness presented in this book, the affirmation to hold on to the hope for peace and the absolute necessity for committed peacemakers to do so. There are many great affirmations throughout for further exploration and to lead us toward the tipping point such as "What you resist, persists; what you can feel, you can heal,." to further the requirement for transformation that begins in each of our hearts, a common theme throughout Deepak's writing. The promise for peace resides in each one of us creating a reality of peace, living responsibly within that reality and leveraging the systems so we can change them. (Deepak suggests that the aware vote has more power!) Pick your path to peace. While the world may seem far from peace maybe we are rather approaching this tipping point such that what we see around us then is the last ditch attempt for the greedy, fear mongers to get their last fill because they too know at some level which they may not even recognize, that the times they are a changing; peace.

It was Dr. Chopra who said, "The Seth books present an alternate map of reality with a new diagram of the psyche ... useful to all explorers of consciousness." Chopra's is a sane, calm voice amidst the fear-driven rhetoric of our times. Comparing the birth of a new world to the growth of cells in a fetus until it is ready to be born, he says, "The real answer to why we don't see a new world yet is that it isn't ready to be born. It won't be ready until the building blocks become stronger."
He then goes into detail how we can bring peace into our private lives so that we each become a beacon for peace which, combined with others will then bring the light of love and understanding into the farthest reaches of our world: each one of us a cell for peace.

Surveys constantly reaffirm to us that our number one desire is for world peace - yet we also feel powerless in our efforts to create it. If ever there was a time and a real place to form a "global community of conscious peace makers", that time is now and the place is now described in detail in Deepak Chopra's latest masterpiece, Peace is the Way.

This is the time to take the important steps in the direction of personal evolution. Our chosen way of being in the world has more than a personal consequence: it is truly the power necessary to create the peace we desire both personally and globally. We're not talking about an anti-war movement. We're talking about a peace movement as in moving with peace.

With much-needed insights on why we are NOT creating peace, Chopra writes on The Myth of Security, The Metaphysics of Terror and The Chemistry of Anger; he delivers the solutions in Putting the Body at Peace, God is Revealed in Stages and Seven Practices for Peacemakers. Chopra clearly outlines how each one of us can end war one person at a time.

Take this important book to heart and make practical use of it. Each of us has our own individual wars within ourselves, our families, our communities, etc. Our contribution to ourselves and to humanity must be to "be for, think for, feel for, speak for, act for, create for and share for peace". There IS something you can do. Start with understanding how.

This is an outstanding masterpiece of literature. Deepak, gives you knowledge and understanding of "Peace" into your own daily life. As well, showing how "Peace" can truly happen within the world we live if we all put our actions towards that ultimate goal. The concepts and lessons through each chapter, gives you enlightenment on how truly "Peace" can be transformed one individual at time for a world of "Peace". This is an amazing book which I am definetly sharing with my family and friends.