January 2, 2013

• Peace

  As is typical near the end of December, I was frequently bid "Merry Christmas" or "Peace to you and yours" by Christmas cards. I don't know what "peace" is, other than it's something that I think know I want.

  ***Disclaimer: too long; don't read UNLESS you're a hardcore word nerd (like me). ***

  

  As I often do with formidable abstractions, I looked it up. Why forge new ground when the history of humanity and its capacity for language may reveal an instructive meaning? Maybe I can find something that pieces my notions of "peace" together.

  The history of peace is tied strongly to its martial meaning: a cessation or void of war. In fact, there's an uncanny resemblance between the Latin "pax" and "pactum," which often ended a war, the vestiges of which we still use today when we make pacts or agreements. Our word "peace" came to English through Old French and reflects French's Latin heritage: "pax" to "pais" (Old French) to "pes" (Anglo-French) to "peace." In modern French the word is "paix."

  What I find curious is how the Anglo-French word completely displaced the Old English word, "frith" (transliterated spelling--the final sound was the older letter "eth," which sometimes I think we should bring back to the English alphabet, but I digress). This is a gross oversimplification; but, in the English language (generally), things that are necessary and essential to life and society preserve their Germanic roots. This category includes things like: water, heart, food, love, kin, friends, sight, help, etc. I would think tha

  So...in trying to understand "peace," my question becomes--what does "peace" embrace that "frith" does not? and why? Why trade in a perfectly good word for another one if there's not a difference in the meaning.

  One explanation is that there is no difference in meanings--one just became more popular than the other, especially considering that the scribes who accompanied good ol' Guillaume after the Conquest were better versed in French and Latin than in the language of the rude Anglisch. It's easy to see how the Frenchier version prevailed. But, I find this explanation boring and lazy--even if very plausible. So, I continued looking.

  Building on my basic understanding (and how I've used it), I reasoned that peace is the absence of conflict--but not all conflict. (Mild) Conflict and tension are what make life interesting. And, in wanting "peace," people aren't looking for boredom. Rather, they're searching for a certain, dependable level of relative comfort where they can build a life. Still, that understanding is so abstract to be almost entirely devoid of meaning. So, to the Web I went!

  In the search I came across this Website. There, it points out that "frith" is related to the words for "free" and "friend," those two being related by the idea that a friend is one with whom another has a free association. The gist of "frith," according to that page, is a friendly obligation to certain others (primarily: kin, lords/leaders, gods, and guildmembers). These relationship existed in peace, not because of any wartime obligations. And here, mayhaps an instructive--if exaggerated--distinction can be made: where "peace" denotes an absence of compulsion (as in war), "frith" indicates the presence of obligations. There, "peace" seems like the broader word, while "frith," the stronger...and more telling.

  This, ironically, incited a profound battle within me. I recently decided that I only felt "at peace" when I was alone--and not just alone, but on the verge of loneliness--so that I wasn't worried with/about others. And when that grievous twinge of emptiness lighted within me, I remembered all my clamorous experiences with friendship and "otherness," and knew that loneliness alone-ness is the best I can do. The source of the clamor was my inability to navigate the sea of expectations, obligations, and the like that relationships bring--and the unsettling realization that there is neither map nor GPS to aid the journey. (There may be a variety of compasses, but that's a blog for another day!)

  Here, there is a need for reconciliation between these peace-pieces. On the one hand, there's the "Latin" sense--the absence of war, strife, and conflict, which is closer to my own sense of "peace." In the other hand rests the Germanic notion of frith--free association without external compulsion. That association, though, I feel robs me of the peace that I want for my life...

  Maybe, to live a peaceful life, one merely needs the ability to choose what stressors touch his or her life. In this sense, the hallmark of peace is choice/control. Not subject to the wiles and grapples and powers of an enemy, there is room for security and refuge and solace in the choices you make. Perhaps peace is the simple, internal acceptance of one's external freedom and realizing the ability to flourish there.

  "Peace" in that sense isn't helpful if the perpetual source of turmoil comes from within in you--as is the case with me. But, resolution of that dilemma may turn on the difference between being at peace and being at ease...Idk. Id have the time to look it up either.

  Do you have peace in your life? How do you know?

  • 11:20 pm
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