Moral Peaces

Moral understandings of peace are organic. The material world and everything in it is perceived as an interconnected whole, but the realm of the divinities is separated. 

While the initial observation of living in a world of polarities coincides with that of energetic peaces, the conclusion derived in moral approaches is quite different: polarities are interpreted as dualism between true and false, good and evil, right and wrong, strong and weak. In the face of those polarities, whether in nature or society, the question that arises is how to achieve peace via doing good and overcoming evil? For reaching such a decision, absolute norms of conduct and values are provided by a single, personified (male) creator God, who brings the universe into existence, yet Himself stands apart from it. He is an acting agent and peace shall be the reward for the ones following his rules. The rules, in turn, call for institutions and experts to authoritatively interpret and explain His law to the people. 

Such moral conviction can be found in the great cultures around the Mediterranean, in Christianity as well as in Judaism and Islam.

While true peace remains a transcendental matter to be realized by the ones following moral norms, it creates a further division between ‘us’ and ‘them’. In this case, ‘us’ refers to the group that correctly follows the true norms, whereas ‘them’ refers to those who fail to do so.

Based on the above, we can draw a further thematic tendency for moral peaces: the question of Justice. Peace through justice is not perceived in the present, but postponed to better future, leaving the present a place of misery. Once the linear understanding of social time inherent in moral approaches is connected with the material aspect of justice, the ground is laid for an ideology marked by: revenge for past injustices, envy in the present, and hunger for justice in the future, which develops an explosive concoction that easily justifies wars and violence. This way, peace out of justice can look right and beautiful to those included in the ‘we’ and, consequently, the cry for peace out of justice can be detrimental to those excluded ‘others’.