Cultural Disarmament: The Way to Peace

Panikkar's passionate argument that the way to peace is, more than military disarmament, a disarmed culture originally appeared in Spanish in 1993. It is the result of many years of research and teaching on peace at the University of California, drawn together for publication when Panikkar received the Antonio Machado Foundation Prize. The fundamental thesis of the book is that victory never leads to peace; peace is an active receptivity that synthesizes freedom, justice, and harmony--not only among human beings, but also between human beings and the earth. Panikkar insists that the widely held maxim "If you want peace, prepare for war" be transformed to "If you want peace, prepare yourself for peace." The desire for peace, he says, is pacifying in itself. This gentle call to dialogue is a most appropriate prescription in an age of fanaticisms. Steve Schroeder