We carry the responsibility of preventing the domino effects of violence becoming deeper and irreversibly more complicated. But no one, no matter how idealistic, expects a miracle of sudden peace to manifest itself in the world. However, the fundamental global task of peace is before us. The foundational work of the Second Enlightenment would be to push for the establishment of ‘ministries of peace,’ instead of ministries of defense in our respective countries.

The idea of personal peace cannot be extricated from global peace. Addressing the combative mind which stems from anger, pride, fear, self-righteousness, a sense of superiority, and irrational and impatient emotions requires great fortitude in the heart, a willingness to domesticate the combative mind. It also requires stopping this mind in a timely fashion before it goes on to inflict further damage on itself and others. This mental apparatus in an individual’s mind can be broadly applied to warring nations. It starts with a dogmatic mistake or a political miscalculation, and the conflict sprouts from there, sometimes turning into an open and unstoppable war.

In the animal world, when two animals get into a fight for domination or status, at some point one of them recognizes the wise time to withdraw from the fight before it gets uglier and ends in death or severe injuries. Homo sapiens, the ‘wise human being,’ should know better than animals. But do we? In human history, wars have been far bloodier than any other animals’ fights in nature and unlike animals, humans sometimes don’t seem to know or have the ability to walk away and carry on with life.

Peace actually means having the wisdom to see and understand causes of conflict and stop the tragedy before it actually happens. Peace as the opposite of violence means individuals and nations do not abuse or intimidate others verbally, behaviorally or physically. Peace also requires us to abandon the destructive compulsion of revenge. The mentality of revenge perpetuates war and animosity, and therefore it ignites the path to destruction. As Confucius put it: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Perhaps revenge is indeed a very human reaction. But this is where we not only need to transcend emotions, but also need a system of laws there to provide justice in a way that stops the cycle of revenge when our emotions cannot be controlled.

This leads us to the proposal of ‘ministries of peace.’ Peace requires effort, awareness, and hard work – peace both domestically and internationally. It requires a constant maintenance of those dangerous emotions, healthy communication, and creative problem-solving. In other words, the work of a ministry of peace would be focused on the work of developing healthy relationships within a country and with other countries.

In contrast, modern nation-states are very committed to maintaining a ministry of defense, (which is actually a ministry of war), by supporting the arms industry and keeping the possibility of war open at any given time. The threat of invasion and bullying of weaker nations by more powerful ones is real and unending. There are many other problems with this old mode of operation as well: control, domination, unequal power. It also makes it impossible to build trust among countries, etc. This is where the paradigm shift comes in by making peace our goal, not war. The claim that more arms are required for more peace is nothing short of preposterous. This is like saying the louder you yell at your enemy, the more peaceful the relationship will become.

Peace Requires the Unwiring and Rewiring of Our Brain … As Well As Overhauling Our Current Policies

The unwiring of the impulse for confrontation in our brain may be challenging, but we eventually need to unlearn the old strategies, and resort to new approaches for building peace. One of the most challenging and demanding part of the brain is to forgive and make peace when the brain is fired up with its neurotransmitters and anger is escalated. In the Second Enlightenment we can no longer condone combative and competitive behavior, the kind of behavior which led people and nations to much suffering and catastrophic wars such as witnessed during the time of the first Enlightenment.

The paradigm shift is to turn the ministry of defense into a ministry of peace. The goal of a ministry of peace would be to promote dialogue and understanding between cultures and humanize our perception of other communities rather than make enemies out of them by demonizing and de-humanizing them. The usual military budget for war preparation can instead be used for humanization of other cultures and ethnic groups through organizing travels, intercultural dialogues and exchanges. Rather than making propaganda movies that glorify war and the military such as Top Gun, etc., a ministry of peace can sponsor a movie industry dedicated to developing audiovisual experiences that strengthen understanding of, and respect for, cultures and nature. And it would also do the regular hard work of maintaining positive relationships with other countries.

The budget of a ministry of peace in wealthier countries can partner with poorer countries to establish clinics, universities, theaters, parks and language centers where people can learn and speak foreign languages and be introduced to other cultures around the globe. This ministry should also be responsible for human rights, animal rights and environmental protection. It should also be the primacy ministry in charge of climate change adaptation, since climate change is becoming a great source of global tension and conflict.

Although we are still far from global peace and establishing a ministry of peace, an interesting experiment has been carried out in the small Himalayan country of Bhutan. In 1972, the country established a governmental department called ‘Gross National Happiness’ (GNH) which was later incorporated into their 2008 constitution. It was a philosophy of peace aimed at sustainable wellbeing that compelled the Bhutanese to conceive such an innovative approach in their government. The components of GNH are: good governance, equitable socio-economic progress, conservation of nature, and preservation of culture. Gross National Happiness has been a philosophy that the UN has supported, and has been an inspiring model of a peace-based government for the world. Although this country with its exclusive Buddhist and Bhutanese ethnic approach has not always been free from criticism and is not a perfect model, it is taking a profound step forward that focuses on the philosophy of peace rather than profiteering and war. The countries that do not have a military are another inspiration for peace, including the Central American country of Costa Rica as well as 30 other smaller countries around the world. They are the brave pathbreakers in our weaponized world. We yearn for a world with no more bullets.

Demilitarizing and denuclearizing our world cannot depend on one country alone. An unbiased and egalitarian World Parliament without special veto power could initiate the process of demilitarization and collectively oblige the powerful nuclear countries to denuclearize. We are only one step away from the solution – to demilitarize and create a monumental initiative of global cooperation. The first step is usually the hardest, but it can at least begin with the establishment of ministries of peace in as many countries as possible. True advancement and a real Enlightenment lie in human peacefulness, not in its advancement of its military.