I tend to get a funny feeling when I see people with “peace” bumper stickers. Not because peace isn’t something I don’t want, but because I have a feeling most people don’t realize what true peace is. Most peace signs, or peace stickers tend to mean peace on Earth, i.e. no war. Although this is a noble cause, it’s not really possible. It’s not something that I wouldn’t want, I just know it’s not possible. The fact that I know and accept this is real peace.

How do I know this? It is mostly because I see the two sides to everything. The fact that “peace” i.e. no war, is just the yin to the yang of war. And because these two things arise mutually, one cannot exist without the other. This doesn’t mean that you couldn’t ever have no war, what it means is that if you did have no war, then you wouldn’t even realize that you had peace. Here is another example. Say you were blind, and all you could see what black. You wouldn’t even know you were seeing black unless you saw something different, say white.

Having this knowledge, that war and peace are just two sides of the same coin, can bring you to inner peace, which is what I believe to be real peace. When you can see what the Buddhists call “Non-Duality” of the world, then you have achieved a level where you can truly be at peace. When you reach a level where you can see the two sides of everything, the yin to every yang, you have reached enlightenment.

So this is why I don’t tend to think about “peace” in the same way as most. I tend to see the other side of everything, so instead of being in either the yin or the yang, i watch them exist mutually, depending on each other for existence. I hope that you can see this in your life, and understand the coexistence of yin and yang, war and peace, happiness and sadness, etc.