What is Peace?
Is there a simple definition of peace?
Peace lacks a simple agreed definition.
That’s a problem even for its researchers. They see for example that “Peace is too important a goal to be without a firm conceptual basis for research and action." (From 'Measuring Peace', Richard Caplan, 2019) Clarifying what Peace means is critical to measuring and improving it.
So what is the word ‘peace’ taken to mean?
In everyday life peace has different meanings in different places, for different individuals and at their different times of life.
Young children may well think of peace as something tangible - a special place, a feeling, or an activity or event.
As adults many come to see peace as a social condition that meets human needs; or as a variable state of human relationships; or a commemoration; or a spiritual condition; or an elusive ideal; or even all of those things.
Others see peace as an ‘opposite’, for example to war, or to their own condition of poverty, loneliness or homelessness.
In those ways and in the absence of more general knowledge about peace no definition of peace is widely agreed.
Where did the idea of peace come from?
As an idea, whatever we now recognise as peace predates written history.
It was probably shaped then by human behaviours and experiences that we now call caution, co-operation, kindness, generosity and sharing. For another's insight on that read Alice Roberts' 'Wolf Road'.
Sounds such as ‘pax’ may have been a root in different places for the global variety of words used for ‘peace’ today. In 2025 peace is still commonly expressed in non-verbal forms such as smiles and open hands.
Over time, the idea has come to be expressed in tangible forms such as idols, pictures, sculpture, music, and symbols from nature such as Trees.
Talk about peace.
The lack of a formal definition places limits on everyday talk about peace.
Conversation often refers instead to ‘proxies’, approximations that are close relatives of peace such as ‘calmness’, ‘contentment’, ‘inner peace’, ‘peace of mind’, ‘peacefulness’ or ‘personal peace’.
Such ‘proxies’ relate also to more tangible entities, for example the things we need to stay alive, to make life good and to build a future: like having enough food, water, shelter, warm clothing, help when ill, and some less tangible things such as freedom and opportunities, to study, learn, form close relationships, move around and live without fear.
Using ‘proxies’ to explore Peace and make it stronger
‘Proxies’ are not precise enough to actually measure peace. They can be used though to make comparisons. A Global Peace Index uses them to compare ‘peacefulness’ from one nation to another and from year to year. There’ll be another Post here about that Index.
Another valuable use of ‘proxies’ might be to make Peace stronger by estimating and adding to them. So a short list of ways to make Peace stronger might include creating and preserving ‘proxies’ such as calmness and contentment, perhaps through more frequent use of behaviours like co-operation, kindness, sharing and smiling.
Are there more ways to make Peace stronger?
Many more ways come from a consideration of the experience of peace, its origin and its cultivation.
Practical insights on where peace comes from and how we can grow it are outlined in Posts here about The Origin of Peace and The Strength of Peace.
More will be on this site’s Action and Learning pages.
What about your own ideas for making Peace stronger?
Share any ideas you have safely by Email from this site’s Logo / Home page.