The inevitability of World Peace
When I was growing up in Townsville, my parents owned a restaurant which they worked at in the evenings, along with their day jobs. In the take-away section of this restaurant, there was a waiting area with a few seats, a counter from where my siblings and I would take customer orders, a TV hanging from the ceiling for waiting customers, and on the wall directly across from the counter, was a sticker that read: “world peace is not only possible but inevitable.”
When waiting for customers in those few hours I would help every now and then, I would mostly spend my time staring at the wall ahead of me, and it seems those words became emblazoned in my mind. Only now, almost 30 years later, can I look back and recognise how profoundly that perspective impacted my life, and just how much that awareness has had a hand in everything that has happened ever since. This belief has been at the foundations of my thinking, and this whole time I have taken it for granted. In recent years, however, I have come to realise that this sentiment is not as commonly shared as one would have hoped.
For those interested, this quote came from a document published by the Universal House of Justice in 1985 called ‘The Promise of World Peace’, and the full quote reads: “world peace is not only possible but inevitable, and it is now within reach for the first time in human history.”
This belief in the inevitability of world peace and how close it is, and everything that that implies, has allowed me a type of thinking and a way of being that inspires solutions and brings me a sense of clarity amongst the confusion of a world in the midst of a restructuring. With this vision of an inevitable outcome that is unquestionable, everything else simply becomes part of the journey to that destination, nothing is an insurmountable obstacle, every challenge is seen as an opportunity, and every setback as a moment of learning. I can’t even begin to imagine the fear, the anxiety, despondency and the hopelessness that one might feel when looking at the state of our world, without an unshakable belief in this glorious eventual outcome of world peace.
If one holds firm the belief that the world is moving towards unity, harmony, oneness and justice, then Covid-19 and all the suffering it has caused can be seen as a disruption to destructive global patterns and an opportunity for millions to reassess their lives and question the status quo and prevalent social norms. Without that unifying perspective, it would be easier to believe that Covid-19 is the beginning of the end of humanity, or a ploy by our governments to control our movements or just another random event in an altogether unpredictable and unfair world.
With the belief that humanity is moving (ever so slowly) towards unity, harmony, oneness and justice, climate change is seen as a wake-up call that, however late, will eventually force the hands of the world’s governing bodies to act together as one and in unison for the sake of the safety and security of the collective. Without that foundational belief, climate change could easily be thought of as an unstoppable threat that will wipe out human society, part of some de-population conspiracy, or again as just another random event in an altogether unpredictable and unfair world.
When we believe in the eventual oneness of humanity and the establishment of world peace, then we can recognise blockchain as a pioneering technology that will allow for the economic justice that we seek to establish, the transparency and incorruptibility of governance that we advocate for, and the unrestrained ability to share data and information in a way that we have never ever been able to do until now. Without a mindset that recognises the eventual goal of human civilisation as complete unity and socio-economic oneness, blockchain technology becomes a scary unpredictable bubble, or a means of getting rich quick, or another tool of financial trickery designed to fool people out of their hard-earned money.
It is only as I speak more and more about the trajectory that we are on as a global society, and my belief in the inevitability of world peace, that I realise how uncommon a thought that actually is, and this only acts to reaffirm how strongly and firmly I stand by this belief. Not only because of my faith in this inevitability and a desire to plant this belief is more hearts, but just as importantly, because I can recognise how it has impacted how I see, think about, and react to the world around me.
If this belief has allowed me to frame my experience on this planet as a minuscule part of a collective progression towards the betterment of the world, and that has empowered me to respond to the world’s needs in a proactive and hopeful way, then why not share that perspective, and help seed that belief in others too. Why not allow this perspective to allow others to also engage and interact with the process of social change from a position of certainty, hopefulness and proactive world-building, rather than from a place of reactivity or despondency.
Without taking much more of your time, I ask that you take a moment to imagine this world, inevitable or not, and just imagine how the world you want to create looks and feels like, how does it function and what mechanisms have we implemented to ensure the safety, security and dignity of all humans? Linger in that thought for a while, now, and again every other day, and allow that future outcome to guide your daily actions. Focus your energy on the world you wish to create rather than the one you wish to dismantle, bend your energies towards the justice you wish to see rather than the injustice you want to fight. And see how this way of visualising a just and equitable future world that is united and free of conflict frees your mental, emotional and spiritual powers to actually do more good in this very moment.
Erfan Daliri
About the Author
Erfan Daliri is a social change author, educator and consultant with a Masters Degree in Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland. He has worked for 20 years in a diverse range of areas, including participatory community development, social justice advocacy, cross-cultural communication, youth engagement and empowerment, refugee and migrant settlement services, sustainability and systems thinking for social change.
He is the founding director of Newkind Social Justice Conference, programme coordinator of the National Unity in Diversity Conference, and consults and advises on communication and project design for organisations such as Amnesty International and the Australian Red Cross.
Erfan is passionate about empowering organisations and communities to address issues of social, environmental and economic justice and to help them build a more inclusive, cohesive, sustainable and equitable society.
His most recent book Raising Humanity discusses the underlying causes of socio-economic injustice and covers the themes of ecology and economy, resilience, resistance and what it takes to be an effective changemaker.
Continue Reading
The idea that unconscious bias exists in all of us is no longer a question to be asked but rather a scientific matter of fact. And because it is costing the business world $64B dollars annually in the rehiring process alone means that companies are finally ready to talk about it and understand how their human resources and diversity & inclusion staff can mitigate its impact. The true cost of unconscious bias includes the human resources to rehire, decreased productivity due to low employee satisfaction, as well as the loss of potential talent unwilling to even apply to work for employers with negative diversity and inclusion reports. Beyond these business indicators, the social and emotional cost of unconscious bias on our world is far too great to even hypothesise at this stage.