Peace on Earth is Possible...
Wishful thinking or not a positive enough affirmation?
I made this image a long time ago, back when I was still engaging in desire-for-perfection hand-lettering in an effort to compete with actual fonts. Or something. I outgrew that desire. If I draw letters now it is to make something I can’t make with a font.
This was created pre-computer, so everything was different then. The fancy border around the edge of the image is border tape—a transparent tape with a repetitive pattern.
Is Peace on Earth Possible?
I have heard both these comments in response to the design above:
Bullshit! Peace on Earth is not possible…
That is not a positive enough affirmation.
I don’t know if Peace on Earth is possible, and although I think positive affirmations can be helpful, let’s not get our knickers in a twist here. What would the next level of positivity be? Peace on Earth is Coming… Get Ready! Peace on Earth or Bust. Peace on Earth: Love it or Leave it.
Here’s a positive affirmation for you. Probably too positive for people in the midst of acute suffering. It’s aspirational. Like I’d rather be here now…
This is a complicated world, and we are a complicated species. However much I can envision Peace on Earth, I see that there are times when pushback in the form of physical force is necessary to stop someone or someones, who won’t be stopped in any other way, from causing harm. But that needs to be a rarity; not your go-to solution for everything.
We are so in love with violence as a solution. With the exception of a few rom-coms, practically ever movie or TV show I watch presents violence and killing as the way to resolve the situation. And we are supposed to think that when the good guys do it, it’s fine. I admit I get a thrill when ‘goodness’ is combined with ‘overwhelming power’ so that the bad guys get creamed before they know what hit them. Unlimited power is such a seductive fantasy.
I appreciate the ten second forward function of Amazon Prime and Netflix that allows me to easily fast forward through fight scenes which I find both disturbing and boring.
Too many people think guns are a solution, weapons are a solution. Too many people think power, the kind of power that allows you to overwhelm others, to force them to do what you want, is a solution.
What is the actual path or process by which a critical mass of humans could acquire the wisdom to see that violence and force are almost always a short-term solution to a misunderstood problem?
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Tis the Season...
For what, exactly? I'd like to say for Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All, but lately, good old Peace on Earth has been looking like a unicorn, or pie in the sky…
The holiday season is an expansion of our usual attempts to get on with our lives, to get by, to try to be happy and useful, against a backdrop of brutal wars and rumors of wars and rumors of dictatorships and extreme weather events that signal worse weather events to come and the pall of idiocy we are subjected to every day in the form of social media, regular old media, advertising, craven politicians, capitalist overlords driving a culture of insane, unsustainable values, and fear that shows itself in so many different ways—guns, self-righteousness, the urge to dominate. Do I sound cynical?
The expansion of this season is that we try extra hard to be happy; to have fun, to celebrate, to get together, to honor those we love with gifts, to bring light into the darkness of winter, and into our hearts. See, not so cynical...
Does the light of all this merrymaking and gaiety cast an even darker shadow on our awareness of sorrow and suffering in the world? I say no. We would be better off if there were a perpetual nondenominational holiday that signified light in the darkness, the birth of something new, and an overt recognition and celebration of each other.
This would help us to remember that not only is there always room for an expanded vision of what we can be and do; also that living into that vision makes a difference. A big difference. I'm talking about the vision and faith in mystery that makes art, life art.
Cognitive Dissonance
Sure, there is always going to be cognitive dissonance between our happiest moments in the present and our awareness of harm and suffering in the world.
There is always going to be cognitive dissonance in being alive. I hope that you have as many happy moments as possible, and I am sure that you will suffer, because we all do.
Enduring (even embracing) cognitive dissonance helps us. It gives us real power; the power of awareness, maybe even courage—the courage to feel and respond to the challenge of complexity.
Here’s how I see it… of course we need all kinds of cognitive boundaries just to walk down the street. We can’t be on LSD 24/7. But the more space we can tolerate inside ourselves for what we don’t know, or understand, the more deeply we can perceive and feel. The more deeply we can be and become ourselves.
I’ll leave you with this…
Here is a draft of a poster I’m working on. It will be available at some point. I don’t know if it’s finished yet. I wrote the words a long time ago, and used them in a black and white design. This is a new iteration.
Best wishes to you, dear friends, for joy, in spite of everything, and all the other feels, in this season and in the New Year.
“ The more space we can tolerate inside ourselves for what we don’t know, or understand, the more deeply we can perceive and feel. The more deeply we can be and become ourselves.” This, Janina!! How beautifully and wisely said. Thank you for being you!
I'm hearing back from a whole mess of people, of many stripes, solids, & polka dots, who felt nourished, inspired, & comforted by your notecards this past week!