Searching for Peace

 

Searching/studying peace, the focus of my interest rests in the interplay of the individual with society. Questions such as how personal peace relates to societal peace and the impact of society on the individual.

To do this I am looking at situations that individuals who have/are gone through war and those who have and are transitioning from jail back into society. From there I will seek to understand the societal experience with the struggle to transition through violent and unpeaceful moments towards peace.

 

A sample of questions that arise from that focus are:

What do each describe peace to be?

What are the barriers to achieving that peace?

What strategies do each use in that pursuit?

How do each see their impact on society as being?

How do each see the impact society has on them?

 

In the answers I am thinking there will be a universe of elements that factor in the equation to build/destroy peace. Racism, culture, religion, environment, education, economics, where a person lives, job/career and gender are some examples off the top of my head.

 

From there I am wondering how to collect data.

I will have to seek out those who are currently experiencing the situations described. I will ask similar questions as stated above. These questions can be in person or in a written format.  I can also develop a rating scheme for each such as a 0 to 10 scale. For example, on a scale of 0 to 10, zero being negative and 10 being positive. I can also ask on a similar scale how much effort each are putting into their goal of peace with 0 being no effort and 10 being every thought and effort possible. If I were to give an example of such efforts, I would have to get participants to pick who they see as those being on that scale (either real or fictional) just to get a “sense” of the markers.

To gather the societal information, I can send out through mass media similar questionnaires as well as gathering data from reports on global indexes such as the Human Development Index.

 

Why am I looking at these two (war and jail) realities as opposed to cancer patients or just the average person who is also struggling with peace? I have chosen these two for personal reasons. I have lived both and struggle to ensure my own path stays peaceful. I am striving to understand the mental paths that help others remain on the path to peace and what pulls a person towards the reality of destroying peace. However, I do believe/hope that what I will discover will relate to anyone who is struggling with building peace.

At this very moment I am wondering if a case study is also a method I should pursue?

 

I am searching for peace within my own mind as well as for society. I can not do this alone so I made it my research.