"PEACE IS..." has been read at the inauguration of the UNESCO Chair of Peace Studies, University of Innsbruck, Austria, on 4th July 2004.
Peace is the cool waters that flow between riparian states
Peace is the continents touching under the mantleof the depth of the oceans
Peace is the mountain passes through which the people course freely from one side to the other
Peace is the breezes travelling freely from country to country
Peace is the monsoons nourishing the fields of friends and the enemies alike
Peace is the moonlight scattered on both sidesof the imagined borders
Peace is the stars looking down on all humanity without discirimination in each twinkle
Peace is to call upon God by the name by which the 'enemy' used to call Him
Peace is the breath shared when two nations kiss and hug
Peace is to place all weapons in a Museum to Barbarity
Peace is every child on earth going to sleep with a full stomach
Peace is every child learning to recite the song of many nations
Peace is when you name any religion and every child as "that, too, is my religion"
Peace is God calling your enemy "My Beloved Child"
Peace is God calling you "My Beloved Child"
Peace is the enemy's God calling you "My Beloved Child"
Peace is you and the enemy calling each other over the mountains and across the rivers, "Brother, where are you?"
Peace is to contemplate, "Can I manage without this additional acquisition of goods?"
Peace is the Art by which all arts flourish
Peace is to call the scriptures of all religions, "my sacred book"
Peace is to abandon that which was acquired by power
Peace is to let the weaker one win
Peace is for the stronger one to bow in humility
Peace is women suckling children unthreatened
Peace is women continuing to civilize wild males
Peace is the philosopher advising all kings1 and the kings listening to the advice
Peace is trees, plants, grasses forever remaining green and lush
Peace is no more war inside any Continent of the Skull
Peace is diffusing anger with non-anger
Peace is the heart not missing a beat in love
Peace is a conflict-free mind immmersed in the contemplations of the beauty of diversities
Peace is to know the one soul in all bodies and forms.
Peace is the heart pausing in stillness between beats
Peace is the silent moment between breaths
Peace is the natural human urge to which we all give way after the warps and aberrations of conflict
Peace is the mind becoming a still abode of infinity.
1 The 'king' here is meant to indicate all who rule and lead with secular power.