Customer Reviews

Seeking Peace: Notes and Conversations Along the Way

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I suspected I'd love this book from the humility apparent in the title phrase "SEEKING Peace": not "having" or "finding" but simply seeking. On the face of it, Johann Christoph Arnold's latest appears to promise less than the forgettable multitude of self-help titles which claim to offer easy methods of achieving peace--with their implication not only that peace is a commodity you can own, but also that once attained it will become a permanent attribute of your character. Arnold promises less, but what this book gives is something infinitely more valuable and original than a quickie peace fix.

This book offers and demands honesty with ourselves and others in our search for peace. Beginning with a section called "Paradoxes", Arnold recognizes that peace is a slippery concept that's easily warped by doublespeaking politicians, New Age gurus, or self-righteous activists. The center piece of the book is a section of fifteen "stepping stones" on the way to piece, including forgiveness, humility, honesty, conviction, and realism. The final section of the book expresses a vision of true peace: peace is creative force whose characteristics are justice, wholeness, and joy.

If I have one argument with the book, it is that the chapter on "Justice" might have been given a more prominent place in the structure of the book. A deepgoing meditation on the slogan "No justice, no peace", this chapter stands alone as an awesome statement of spiritual truth, which takes full account of the horrors of oppression while reaffirming the power of reconciliation. For me, this moment of synthesis is the heart not only of the book, but also of all sincere religious and social movements.

No one said it better than the author Jonathan Kozol, who is quoted on the back cover of Arnold's book: "SEEKING PEACE is a tough, transcendent envisioning of peace: neither fatuous nor sentimental, but arduous and courageous." Every person of good will, of whatever denominational or political stripe, owes it to themselves to embrace, and act on, Arnold's message.

True peace is controversial and hard-won, even attacked at times. The centerpiece for Arnold's book is the words of Jesus: "My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you." Unfortunately, the vast majority of us seek peace, happiness and fulfillment with a vengeance in all the wrong places. With hearts burdened by worry and care and a nagging sense of dread, our lives end up becoming a hectic morass of unpeace and disenchantment. The answer, says Arnold through the real life experiences of many friends, lies outside of ourselves. True peace is found by not trying to find it; by forgetting about oneself and devoting one's life to the service of others. Only the reading of the many personal accounts in this book will do these thoughts justice. Give yourself and others a true education, far above the din of saccharine self-help manuals and the watery spiritual soup served up in tomes everywhere. Read this book!