According to Osho, as much inner peace as possible—the more you cultivate, the better. War is only a symptom of the inner noise; only countless 'pools of peace' can dissolve humanity’s compulsion for violence. This isn’t indifference, pacifism, or withdrawal, but a vibrant, creative silence—living compassion, grace, and understanding—that radiates love and makes war increasingly impossible.
Grow as much calm inside as you can and live kindly with it; that calm stops fights better than shouting against them or running away.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Peace of mind can be gained by withdrawal from the world, by stilling the vortices of the mind. But how much inner peace is appropriate in a world that contains attica, vietnam, johannesburg, biafra, pakistan and sub-sahara africa?
Withdrawal is escapist. Withdrawal can give you a kind of death, but not peace. Peace is very alive. Peace is more alive than war -- because war is in the service of death, peace is in the service of life. Peace is very alive, vibrant, young, dancing.... Withdrawal? -- that is the oldest way escapists have chosen. It is cheap. It gives a kind of peace -- remember, I say 'a kind of peace' -- the same kind as you see in a graveyard. You can go to a Catholic monastery -- there is a kind of peace, the same that exists in the graveyard. You can go to the Jaina monks and you will see a kind of peace -- the same that exists in a graveyard. These people are dead! They have renounced life. The day you renounce life you renounce responsibility, you renounce all kinds of commitments.…
Osho, if everyone moves toward inner peace, won’t industriousness be lost?
The suffering in the world—if everyone were to attain inner peace, the problem would dissolve, and action would only become better. A peaceful mind can act far better than an agitated or deranged one. Peace is not opposed to action; restlessness is opposed to action. Whatever a restless person does will be unskillful, because restlessness obstructs action. Whatever a peaceful person does becomes skillful, because peace supports action. So in my view, if peaceful people increase in the world, the world’s efficiency will increase. Take Kabir—he kept weaving cloth. It is said no weaver ever made such cloth. When he brought his fabric to market, people would rush to it as if mad. To purchase Kabir’s cloth was itself a joy. People would say, “No one has ever woven cloth like this,” and Kabir would reply, “No one has woven, with such peace and for God, as I do. What…
Beloved Osho, I seem to have heard you say that people are attracted to war because it is exciting, whereas peace is boring. In my own experience I seem to enjoy indulging my personal dramas and traumas, and when I'm not indulging them life is a bit flat. Is it possible to be attracted to peace? Will the new humanity find peace, rather than war, exciting?
It has never happened. Man has never found peace exciting. It seems that the way man is, war certainly will remain exciting, because the peace that you know is not the real peace; it is the peace of a cemetery, not the peace of this mandir! No war is going on, everything is silent -- do you think it is flat? The new man will know this peace twenty-four hours round the clock, waking or sleeping. And the peace that is not only absence of war but a positive flowering within you, a positive wordless song within you, is totally different. Up to now man has known peace, but that peace was only preparation for war. History can be divided into two parts: the period when people are fighting, and the period when people are exhausted, tired, ruined, preparing for another war from scratch. War or preparation for war: these…
Do you call this peace? Peace cannot exist between two wars. It is not the gap between two wars. Any gap between two wars is simply cold war -- simply preparation for the other war and some time is needed, so the fighting stops. There will be peace only when after a war there is no other war. Not between two wars, but after one war, and the next war never comes -- that is peace. And my understanding about peacefulness is that it is not a question of being peaceful with anybody. The basic question is being at peace with yourself. Out of that, peace arises for everybody. So whosoever is ready to receive it, whosoever is ready to synchronize with your peace, there is immediately a meeting point, a merging and the fragrance of friendship. I don't want the peace of the cemetery.
Osho, you know that right now the world is abuzz with talk of war. What can each of us do to avert this danger?
In one sense this is good, because we will have to decide. Only in moments of such danger do people decide; otherwise they don’t. When life itself is at stake, then decisions are made. Now life is at stake. Before this century ends, the world will have to decide: if you want war, let nations continue; if you do not, bid nations farewell. Once nations are gone, India need not keep an army—against whom would it keep one? Pakistan need not keep an army—against whom? And right now armies are devouring everything. Seventy percent of the world’s wealth is eaten up by armies. This world could become a paradise. Just imagine if that seventy percent were invested in productive work, and these idle people who do nothing all day but drill—foolishness! Left turn! Right turn! What is the point of left turn and right turn? Why on earth are you…