Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End

by Deepak Chopra

“There is no way to peace, peace is the way.”

This statement has never been more true. Now, Deepak Chopra expands on A. J. Muste’s insight, teaching us how to expand awareness, stop reacting out of fear, and reject war—one person at a time. As Dr. Chopra says, “Violence may be innate in human nature, but so is its love. The next stage of humanity, the leap we are poised to take, will be guided by the force of that love.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Philosophy, Self Help, Buddhism

304 pages, Paperback

Published December 27, 2005

About the author

Deepak Chopra, MD serves as the Founder and Chairman of The Chopra Foundation, and Co-Founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.

As a global leader and pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine, Chopra transforms the way the world views physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social wellness. Known as a prolific author of eighty books books with twenty-two New York Times best sellers in both fiction and non-fiction, his works have been published in more than forty-three languages.

Chopra’s medical training is in internal medicine and endocrinology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Dr. Chopra serves as Co-Founder and Chairman of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, Founder of The Chopra Well on YouTube, Adjunct Professor of Executive Programs at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Assistant Clinical Professor, in the Family and Preventive Medicine Department at the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, Faculty at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization.

GlobeIn acknowledges Chopra as "one of top ten most influential spiritual leaders around the world." TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as "one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century and credits him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine."

Reviews

[Jacqueline corkish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this, it's the first of Chopra's books i have read and it certainly will not be the last.

Compassion and respect are a must for humans. We need to lose the mindset of us and them otherwise they will always be the enemy (whether that is a family member, neighbour or terrorist).

Politicians should read this and choose another career, we need to neutralise the powers that are behind our leaders until then they will never truly lead us to where we all need to be...one with each other human being in PEACE!

[Dariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am deeply moved to have been able to participate in the reading of this book, to participate in it because whoever reads this book will be so profoundly touched that they will become part of the world wide movement to peace, not just peace in the physical world, but peace in our souls. Namaste and Thank You.

[Karen Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed that he kept harping on about negative examples from Muslims when terrorist acts by Muslims make up less than 4% of global terrorism. There are plenty of examples of terrorists and fanatics from a whole lotta other walks of life.

I understand this was early post 9-11 and it's scathing enough of US policies pursued but making false statements like the majority of Muslims think... all Muslims think... was not only misleading but took away from the book's message.

What's worse is that this bias doesn't appear to be apparent to the author and was willfully ignored during the editing process.the bias has tainted the whole book for me.

[Moira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on Peace, without being religious.

[Puwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review begins with “What is conflict”, Karl Marx is the father of conflict theory stated because of competition for limited resources. The individual and groups within the society try to grip to expand their own wealth and power. The inequality is the main tool of the class struggle in the view of social and economic situations. It is the divider line between the proletarian and bourgeois ruling class. The author of “Peace is the Way” Deepak Chopra looking at this conflict in the eye of wisdom and he himself raises questions for national vengeance. Every day there is war in any part of the country in the world, at present approximately estimated around thirty military conflicts are being fought around the world. As the author says, “although humankind, explicitly or implicitly, seems to believe that violence is more powerful than love.” Indeed, death is more powerful than life, hunger is more powerful than death.

What is the peace summit going around the world every year, the heads of state and their delegates gather at one place (whether they are from rich or poor countries) spending lavishly and enjoying their time with delicious cuisine and finally signing some MOUs to close the forum officially and the net outcome is zero. It is a real joke by the jokers because the logic is very simple “There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” Then what is peace? I cite from the author’s narration three S-words in Sanskrit Seva, Simran, and Satsang (bring joy in order to satisfy the world having no enemies).

Peace doesn't mean protecting borders by silencing arms. Nourish a suppressed woman walking in the shadow of the Berlin wall at the stroke of midnight in the rain for a piece of bread, the idea that her suffocation to be free was more potent than the wall or border or line controlling by arms. The border issue is everywhere in the world and a few classic examples Israel and Palestine West Bank the current war tone, Attari and Wagha border line of control (LOC) between India and Pakistan, The line of actual control (LAC) between India and China, The non-man blank between Vanni and Omanthai until 2009 in the island nation of Sri Lanka are the lands under the time bomb and it is unknown time for war Tsunami, but, the vision of a world is without poverty, ignorance, and violence.

The author’s analysis of the factor of enemy constructed formula invariable in the social consequences (Pp.14). and the dream the world expects with truth additional factors for the birth of new world entangled with the norms of social behavior. The book talks about emotion and relationships, which is very vital for me in my recent life experience, people use their emotions for discharge, feeling carries truth but the mind difficult to rationalize the stress of living in the contemporary culture. Relationship for maintaining solid peace with trust to ensure confidentiality with self-discipline but perhaps the over self-confidence demolishes trust between the individuals and divert to uncertainty, and here the breakthrough give a glimpse of light, a turning point actually alters the shape of time. Does the world ready to wipe the military stockpiles, and why the world unable to implement peace right now there are around 23 million soldiers are serving in tri-force around the world.

Compromise vs negotiation, it is a tool to reach a mutual understanding or conclusion. Compromise involves acceptance for a successful resolution in a situation choosing a dinner and movie between individuals would categorize as their first choice. Negotiation is a complex process employed in many forms of problem solving especially conflict resolution at high-end institutional level. So, the best hope in compromise between parents for the betterment of their children, friends for trust and growth, politics for democratic policies and principles, and the countries in diplomacy for world peace. However, “the common excuse for the politician’s façade of unwavering strength is that the public demands strong leaders (Pp. 222).” Therefore, discussion is an important tool for any matter to salvage the situation in a democratic manner in order to break the silent suffering to a new beginning.

My understanding of the victim’s belief system from the author’s narration, the socio-psycho technology mechanism is the recovery from the problem for a society or a nation. How to construct peace with the internal and external technology exchange to deserver for nothing from blame to wish, unfair to justified, tolerance to acceptance, stiff to soft, and ambiguous to confidence. This staging transformation will wipe the darkness and despair and make order in the nation to sustain peace.

Democracy intoxication by the pressure groups mislead or undirect to the future lead to globalization. It’s a moment to think about common ground issues global warming, poverty, pandemics, and more devastations how could be able to close the gap between the rich and poor, for any of this happen, however, the brand of nationalism and the brand of democracy would have to be stop and being to be healing (ref: Titans Cup Debate 2011 Hindu vs Stephen's). Politics is the ancient sequential source of conflict that causes freedom versus tyranny. The diabolical creativity form and spread within the politics is a trauma of peace. My focus is that unilateralism could control the diabolical formation rather than thaking bilateralism and multilateralism for reaching a common goal and safeguarding democracy.

The author confines the “human behavior is governed by animal behavior”, my assumption may be dependent of the conscious mind or the ego for materialistic greed. The distinguished behavioral chemical reaction of the human brain produces the best of reason over irrational impulses in the gender mainstream. However, the way of peace is a new laboratory, it should be tested in a different form of experiments and revamped and updated for the current and the future perspective without leading to the ICU by handling incompetently. The safeguard is vital and important in the politics of the soul and it is in the hands of the modern thinking pattern and “the way of peace needs to replace the current style of negotiation, which has obviously provide futile.” Thanks a lot to my colleague/friend Yasodhara Kapuge for lending me the book and all the best for your future conflict and peace negotiation endeavors on the earth.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a fan of Deepak Chopra's writing, not the overpriced meditation/self-help seminars & seminar products he hawks, and so/but I am deeply impressed with his book, "Peace is the Way", which, sadly, both of the municipal public libraries which I have possession of cards to use at, have since discarded this book, and thus, I can no longer re-read this title. I do not suspect Donald Trump had anything to do with this, however, because my first municipal library offender in question got rid of this book in 2011 and the other one shortly after I stopped volunteering with it late this year. Anyway, I digress.

Besides the parts where he talks about telekinesis, which I must remind the reader of my comment is a pseudoscience and a superstition (telekinesis, which he calls a "spiritual technology", does NOT exist, and mentioning it as such always demerits a book's credibility), the book is good where it talks about how to make peace happen. It's a good book overall, with the exception of a blatant superstition pasted in the middle of it (I won't reveal any more about it - you'll have to read the whole book to know what I am talking about!).

I still have deep respect for Chopra & his writing. His seminar products? Pffft...

[Bhakta Kishor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably since the beginning of man human beings have had no peace at all. And there have been a great many organisations, including this organisation, to bring about peace in the world - pacem in terris. But there has been no peace. For various obvious reasons: nationalism, which is glorified tribalism, various opposing religions, divisions of classes, races and so on. There have been divisions on the earth from the beginning of time: the family, the community, bigger community, the nation, and so on. And also from what one observes, religion has been one of the causes of wars. One sees the Israelis and the Arabs, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Americans and the Russians - ideas against ideas, ideologies opposing ideologies, the communist ideology and the so-called democratic ideologies.

Why is it, after all these millennia upon millennia, why is it that human beings throughout the world don't live in peace? Why is it our society in which we live, whether it is in American society, the European, or Indian, or Japanese, that society has not given us peace either. That society, the culture, the tradition, is created by all human beings. We have created this society. We are responsible for this society, which is corrupt, immoral, violent, divisive, cruel and so on. We have created this, this society in which we live. We are the society.

[Jorge Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No hay camino hacia la paz, la paz es el camino". El libro está inspirado en la famosa frase de Ghandi. Para acabar con la guerra en el mundo debe de crecer el número de "hacedores de paz" con respeto al número de personas que están a favor de la guerra. Cómo mucha gente piensa, la guerra es la solución a muchos de los problemas de su país o sociedad, sin importarle el daño que causa esto en el "enemigo". Debemos empezar dejando de ser egoísta y ponernos en los zapatos de los demás.

[Lucille Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, Peace is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End, will definitely remain on my bookshelf.
Many ways have been tried in hopes of accomplishing peace; however, the methods have been overwhelmed by factors that prevent peace from becoming a reality. Chopra’s sentiment is that the vision of peace needs to come to the forefront of our individual and collective consciousness to become a reality. Peace is a vision and visions must grow on their own. Is peace possible? I wonder!

[Tami Belt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As relevant today as it was when written.

[Lisa Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book which is always relevant and true. One I have read many times and will continue to pick up and repeat.

[Shashi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been thinking about this book for over a year now.
It is a beautiful book, and I've decided that I do believe in Deepak Chopra's message,which is that we need to create peace within ourselves in order to manifest peace in the world we live in. With that said, in order to contribute to the well being of others, we have to do things daily toward that aim. Based on my own experience, I think that Deepak Chopra fans and fans of The Secret run the risk of getting so self absorbed in self improvement, that the well being of the rest of the world becomes an afterthought. Maybe that's part of the process, it hads been for me...

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing to hear an author read his work himself. I was touched by this book, and reinspired by the cause of peace - inner and outer. Though the political scenerio is slightly dated, Deepak's encouragement for all to take the way of peace is not. Most interesting are his comments about why various peace movements in the past have failed. It seems trite to say that peace begins with each individual on this planet, but it is the truth all the same. Any bitterness or resentment that we retain affects the larger picture. It's easy to give up when we look at the global situation, but Deepak suggests that the way of peace is attainable, slowly, one person at at time.

[Del Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chopra dice un mundo de cosas que son ciertas, que todos deberíamos aplicar o por lo menos considerar, sin embargo creo que él también cae en un fanatismo, y no solo eso, sino además una visión del mundo bajo un lente de ilusión y palabras. Sí, la paz empieza por cada de uno de nosotros, pero para que cada uno de nosotros entienda eso se necesita mucho más que una filosofía. Pero hablando del contenido en sí del libro, es fácil de leer, muy fácil, y lleva a reflexiones personales que aunque sean momentáneas funcionan. Otra cosa que me gustó es cuando aborda el tema del mito de la seguridad, de esa idea de creer que la seguridad tiene un vínculo inquebrantable con la militarización.

[Ligia Bonetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the title inspires you to calm down, breathe and think slowly. Life can make you run so fast you don’t even stop for a moment to ponder its beauty. Reading this book during my stay at Durham North Carolina where my niece was undergoing a stem cell transplant was a gift from heaven. Through thick and thin, tough or tougher finding balance and peace is definitely the only way. Highly recommended.

[Sorkunde · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very slow reading. Some passages bring up a delusional and biased standpoint that all Muslims are terrorists, whereas we know too well that terrorism is a widespread Western disease. The US of Aggression being the first one infected by it. And the zionist fascist colonial state that occupied Palestine is the second.

However, the book provides guidelines to embark in this journey called peacemaking, which perhaps has to start within ourselves

[HARTATI · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku Deepak Chopra yang anti perang. Menurutnya sudah menjadi kebiasaan pemimpin Amerika yang suka berperang. Dari penyerangan ke Afgahnistan,Kuwait, Somalia, Lebanon, Panama, Grenada, Vietnam, Laos, Kamboja, Nicaragua, Colombia dan Iraq.

Buku ini meyatakan Tuhan saja tidak menyuruh berperang dan dia berharap bangsa Amerika bisa memulai kebiasaan baru "Damai".

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Chopra book that is easy to understand and very motivating to work for peace by starting in your hometown, at your job, at home. The biggest point of the book is to be for peace, not against war. Focus on the positive, not the negative. And remember, by raising everybody's consciousness towards peace, the world can change.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a lot of practical advice for bringing peace into one's life. I didn't give it more stars because I felt it jumped around a bit and some of the stories given were unnecessary and unbelievable. Regardless, it makes very good points on why we aren't peaceful and how we can become more in our own lives, thus having the power to change the world.

[Christian Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information about how conflict as a whole is declining in the world. A bit soft, though, in that it advocates simply a renuncation of violence within the individual and that this is the way to peace. Unfortunately not everyone has the emotional intelligence or spiritual awareness to do this.

[Krys Gut · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems like Deepak's message generally is framed around Gandhi's various teachings, basically if you want to eliminate war, be a proponent for peace. Or in Gandhi's words, 'be the change you want to see in the world.'

The majority of the book seemed flat and fell short.

Sorry Deepak, you're incredible but this book is a pass.

[Marypoppings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peach is certainly the way - I am convinced of this, and always have been, AND because of this book I am able to explain to others WHY peace should be the only way. It helped my back up my way of thinking about War and Violence to "politicians" and mostly men (no offense; not all men) always come up with some "smart" business savvy material answer that goes against the belief of PEACE.

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was taken in by the title, as I love the quote from which it was taken:

THERE IS NO WAY TO PEACE, PEACE IS THE WAY

It was pretty good, but I get more out of Buddhist and Hindu spiritual literature.

[Adithye K N · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the malayalam translation of this book...Malayalam is my mother tongue...I loved this book and especially the 7 practices for the peace...But i had some problems to read some areas...

I Thank 'peace is the way',because It helps me to find out Deepakji...

[Lon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat predictable case for why we can and should move beyond our baser instincts for war and retribution. I found myself saying "Amen to that, Amen to that, Amen to that," when what I really wanted was something provocative that would force me to think of this in new ways.

[Gadeer Al-Shathry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the source for every peace seeker who wants to develop the awareness around the world. It includes a peace program with simple daily plans that can be shared with family, friends and every peace seeker.

[Annie]

Just bought it - bored at the airport. It is somewhat eveil that they sell heavy books at the airport...

[Cory Gimmestad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hear Chopra is fairly direct but I'll let you all know. I've started this book once before and got sidetracked but frmo what I remember it was intense.

[Kani · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. simple and to the point. an excellent reminder that "peace begins with me" and some gentle ways to blossom into the flower of that vision. blessed be. om shanti om

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another mind-opening book by Chopra