Written by: Saskia Harkema, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Peace is of paramount importance for humankind. The estimated cost of war amounts up to more than 13 trillion dollars a year. War destroys: lives, communities, cities, countries, the past and future of people.
The history of humankind is marked by war. Somehow we have come to believe and justify that aggression should be retaliated with violence and force. Supposedly it has to do with human nature. The epic book of Nobel prize winner James Goulding, Lord of the Flies (1954), stands symbol for this idea about our tendency to resolve conflict with aggression and violence. It tells the story of a group of boys that got stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashed, and the sordid consequences it had and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves in a civilized manner.
In a recently published book by Rutger Bergman, Humankind (2020) this idea that we are violent by nature, is refuted. He unearthed an actual incident of shipwrecked children to challenge the narrative created about human nature in Lord of the Flies: In 1965, six bored schoolboys from Tonga, ages 13 to 16, took a small fishing boat out on a lark, but they were caught in a sudden storm and drifted for days before washing up on a desolate rocky islet, where they were stranded for more than a year.
He learned that, far from falling prey to barbarism, the inventive teenagers had set up a functioning democracy and communal economy. They split chores into teams of two, built sleeping huts and a kitchen, tended a garden, stored rainwater, created a gymnasium, fashioned a badminton court and got a fire going (taking turns protecting it so it never went out).
So what does this tell about us, human beings? In my view a lot. What is defining about humankind is the fact that we connect, work together, form networks and work in groups. This is how civilization progressed in time and we were able to unchain ourselves from feudal systems, which hinged on inequality and an uneven distribution of power and wealth.
We have created systems which somehow justify war as a means to resolve conflicts and give access to resources which are scarce. The problems lies at systemic level. Human beings detest and abhor war. It destroys everything: their livelihood, their neighbourhoods, their loved ones, their past and their future. Human beings by nature are peacekeepers in my view and not warlords. Why? Because it destroys the essence of what makes us human.
So how can we become peacebuilders and make it our mission to work on peace in any way we can? It all starts with us – our mindset and behaviour. We have to break the so-called cycle of violence. Do we choose for generosity, empathy and respect to reconcile differences, or for anger, revenge and retaliation? The challenge is to replace the latter through dialogue and the objective to de-escalate.
Four important values are at the core of this approach: trust, respect, integrity and empathy.
Let me talk about each one of these values briefly. Trust is a source of power and security. If we want a safe world, we must start with trust. There is a clear distinction between ‘power over’ and ‘inner power’. The former dominates, is about hierarchy, authority, physical strength. The latter is about self-mastery, controlling the ego and deepening integrity through self-awareness, and regular practice of reflection and journaling.
Through empathy and respect we are able to look beyond our shadow and step into the shoes of the other. Of course this is a challenge if we are facing someone who we see as our enemy. But it is crucial to develop an understanding what motivates the other and gives clues as to find ways to revert the cycle of violence.
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To achieve this level of self-consciousness and self-awareness, one must embark on an inner journey of discovery and exploration. The aim is to eventually find what Steven Covey calls our ‘greatness’ (the eighth habit of excellent leadership): our ability to act in the interest of something larger than ourselves.
Saskia Harkema, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Saskia is an academic, trainer, coach and human rights defender. She has also authored several academic and non-academic books. Saskia has a long-standing career in both the private and public sector. She is an international acclaimed goodwill ambassador for peace, empowerment of marginalized and disenfranchised groups and a passionate teacher and lecturer on entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation and peacebuilding. As a Global Ambassador for Female Wave of Change, she also advocates to integrate a more feminine approach in all systems of society. Her mission is to support people to tap into their potential and become the hero of their own life journey. She unconditionally believes in the power of people to overcome, to rise above themselves and ability to do great things. Her quest is to unleash this human potential to serve humankind and work on building a world in peace, which she believes is not a utopian goal, but a necessity.
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