1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:08,039
No one cries like a mother cries
for peace on earth. 

2
00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,440
She never got to say goodbye to 
see the colour in his eyes. 

3
00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:18,360
Now he's in the day. 
Peace on earth. 

4
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:23,680
Hello and welcome back to the 
Tiny Pod. 

5
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,320
This week I want to talk about 
peace. 

6
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:33,120
Today we are are sitting between
Remembrance Sunday and 

7
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:39,720
Remembrance Day, a sacred space 
of reflection days devoted to 

8
00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:46,200
honouring sacrifice, war, loss. 
A time to remember those fallen 

9
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:52,000
and meditate on what peace 
actually means, personally and 

10
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,280
collectively. 
The origin of the word peace 

11
00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,320
comes from the Latin word packs,
meaning treaty agreement. 

12
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:08,760
The word often implied a pact of
peace imposed by power. 

13
00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,440
It is a state of order, of 
power, of who gets to define 

14
00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,880
calm. 
But true peace is not merely the

15
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,920
absence of war. 
Peace requires addressing the 

16
00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:26,680
root causes like injustice, 
inequality, and lack of good 

17
00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,440
governance. 
War is big business built into 

18
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,360
the system and peace therefore 
requires the dismantling of 

19
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:41,240
these systems of oppression that
those in charge benefit from. 

20
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:47,800
The UK in the last year has 
spent over 60 billion on war and

21
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:53,240
when you add in hidden extras 
like other overseas operations 

22
00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:58,400
and industry contracts, that 
raises the spend significantly 

23
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,160
higher. 
And it is rising, with the 

24
00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,880
government planning increases in
spending on war while public 

25
00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:10,759
services such as education, 
welfare, mental health are all 

26
00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:14,440
squeezed and only incrementally 
funded. 

27
00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:20,440
War centralises power, 
concentrating money, industry 

28
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,400
and surveillance into the hands 
of the powerful few. 

29
00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:28,680
Every war becomes a funnel for 
profit for arms companies, 

30
00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,720
energy giants and data and tech 
firms. 

31
00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:38,800
Governments and big businesses 
use war to move money, erase 

32
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,040
accountability and to expand 
state surveillance under the 

33
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:48,600
guise of national security. 
Governments use war against us 

34
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,960
to justify their machinery of 
control and to expand their 

35
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,800
powers to survey and control us 
through digital IDs, mass data 

36
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,560
collection, censorship and 
militarised policing. 

37
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,480
Peace doesn't usually attract 
the same financial investment 

38
00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,680
because it doesn't promise the 
same power structures. 

39
00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,480
The structures of power and 
governance globally have been 

40
00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,800
historically built on violence, 
colonialism, oppression and 

41
00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:25,880
empire expansion. 
Fear politics feed war machines 

42
00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,400
and distract from building true 
safety and equity. 

43
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,760
Security, peace, national 
identity have become weaponized.

44
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:41,000
If peace is well-being, why is 
it so ignored? 

45
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,920
Why is the war machine louder 
than the human machine? 

46
00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:48,800
Because governments thrive on 
war. 

47
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,880
The word peace literally meant a
pact imposed by power. 

48
00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:59,120
Peace on the victors terms. 
The defeated obeyed, commerce 

49
00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,000
resumed, and the Empire 
profited. 

50
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,560
The Romans would literally bring
peace to conquered lands by 

51
00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,760
enforcing their rule. 
So peace was a management 

52
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,240
strategy, not a moral state. 
And that legacy continues. 

53
00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:17,880
Peace has become an industry 
itself. 

54
00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:22,560
Peacekeeping, reconstruction and
humanitarian aid have their own 

55
00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,480
economies after wars, as we are 
seeing now with Gaza. 

56
00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,440
Contracts flood in from arms 
manufacturers. 

57
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,920
Private security firms construct
companies, NGOs, consultants, 

58
00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,280
think tanks. 
Billions are spent on 

59
00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:42,120
stabilisation. 
The same corporations that made 

60
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:46,960
money supplying weapons make 
money rebuilding the countries 

61
00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,360
that their weapons destroyed. 
Peace becomes monetized and a 

62
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:56,680
cycle of destruction and repair 
keeps economies turning. 

63
00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:03,880
War never ends, it just changes 
shape, Eisenhower wrote. 

64
00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:10,280
Every gun that is made signifies
in the final sense, a theft from

65
00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:12,800
those who hunger and are not 
fed. 

66
00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:17,640
What if peace isn't about 
winning? 

67
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:24,680
This war metaphor of winning and
verses opposition and 

68
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,200
competition is built into the 
matrix of everyday life. 

69
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,120
But peace cannot be found in 
performance. 

70
00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,360
When you observe your own life, 
your own nervous system, your 

71
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:42,000
body, what brings true peace? 
Not performing, not striving. 

72
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,600
So why as a society are we tuned
into the opposite? 

73
00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:52,240
This hustle culture of striving,
proving, marketing, ring lights,

74
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:58,120
competition creates a war like 
energy and none of it produces 

75
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,000
peace. 
The constant grind. 

76
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,520
You fight for attention, you 
battle against algorithms, you 

77
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,920
arm yourself with content, you 
win likes. 

78
00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:13,640
But what if peace isn't about 
being seen or winning wealth? 

79
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:19,440
What if peace is about being, 
having rest, aligning with 

80
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:26,320
purpose and letting life flow? 
Governments often declare peace 

81
00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,720
initiatives to signal moral 
authority while maintaining 

82
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,480
control. 
It looks good diplomatically, 

83
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,120
attracts investment and creates 
an illusion of progress. 

84
00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:42,200
But the root inequalities remain
poverty, racial injustice, 

85
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,920
exploitation. 
This so-called peace is just 

86
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,360
managed calm. 
It is profitable calm because 

87
00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,840
markets like predictability. 
Investors need peaceful 

88
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:59,680
additions to extract resources, 
build pipelines and stabilise 

89
00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,200
currencies. 
So peace again serves power. 

90
00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:10,760
Peace built on silence, denial, 
or inequality is counterfeit. 

91
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,920
True peace starts with truth, 
seeing what harms, naming 

92
00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,520
injustice, acknowledging 
history. 

93
00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:23,400
And that is why activism, grief 
and peace often coexist 

94
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,120
together. 
It is integration of truth, not 

95
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,920
avoidance of it. 
Inner peace is not the absence 

96
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,520
of emotion. 
It is the alignment of our 

97
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:40,800
heart, mind, body, and soul. 
When our nervous system shifts 

98
00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:46,720
out of survival, when you feel 
safe enough to rest, that is 

99
00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,000
peace. 
And peace is relational. 

100
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:55,200
It is choosing cooperation and 
compassion over comparison and 

101
00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,880
competition. 
Peace is presence instead of 

102
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,840
performance. 
And at the deepest level, peace 

103
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,160
is trust in God, in the 
universe, in the unfolding, in 

104
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,720
the truth that you are held. 
It is the opposite of hustling 

105
00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:15,080
for worth or safety. 
Peace is the still quiet, 

106
00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,160
knowing that nothing real can be
threatened. 

107
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,480
Even the Wellness industry tries
to sell peace back to us. 

108
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,680
Meditation apps, mindful 
productivity. 

109
00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,680
It can keep us cycling in 
consumption rather than 

110
00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,679
transformation. 
You can't buy in a stillness, 

111
00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:40,080
you can only remember it. 
I have clients who are waiting 

112
00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:41,880
for peace. 
They'll say I've been waiting 

113
00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,320
for our session, or I'll feel 
better after yoga. 

114
00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,560
I can't wait for my holiday. 
Like peace only exists in those 

115
00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:51,320
moments. 
But peace isn't postponed. 

116
00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,320
It isn't external. 
It isn't found later, or in 

117
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:58,760
time, or when. 
Real peace is not about perfect 

118
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,960
conditions. 
It is about internal coherence. 

119
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,000
It is now. 
It is in the stillness 

120
00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:12,320
underneath the noise. 
Peace for me came through 

121
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:17,360
discomfort, change, and moments 
of real material scarcity. 

122
00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:23,840
I found clarity, freedom, and a 
deep knowing of what truly 

123
00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:28,240
matters, in aligning my life 
with my values, in choosing 

124
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:32,920
integrity over ease, and in a 
commitment to witness the beauty

125
00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,960
of life and all its contrasts 
fully and awake. 

126
00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,960
It was in the tension between 
cost and reward, material 

127
00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:48,200
scarcity, and spiritual richness
that I found real peace. 

128
00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,720
When we stop outsourcing peace 
and we stop waiting for 

129
00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,720
permission to feel it, we 
remember that peace has never 

130
00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,080
left. 
And that is the remembrance that

131
00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,400
truly changes the world. 
Not just remembering the wars 

132
00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,520
that ended, but remembering the 
peace that's been with us all 

133
00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,720
along. 
As we remember the fallen, we 

134
00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:14,320
remember peace itself. 
Not the peace government sell, 

135
00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,360
not the one bought through 
treaties or imposed by power. 

136
00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,480
The peace that lives with us. 
The peace that cannot be bought,

137
00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:27,840
won or fought for. 
If war is loud, peace is 

138
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,560
listening. 
If war is profit, peace is 

139
00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:36,320
presence. 
And if war is control, peace is 

140
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,360
surrender. 
We do not create peace by 

141
00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:42,160
winning. 
We remember peace by being. 

142
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,960
And so I love that we take time 
to remember. 

143
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:51,240
As we are remembering those 
fallen, let us remember peace is

144
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:55,760
within us, not bought, not won 
and not fought for. 

145
00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:01,240
And that is why we keep 2 
minutes silence. 

146
00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,840
Because in silence we find what 
we have been looking for all 

147
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,040
along. 
That is where peace lives. 

148
00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,440
That's where remembrance becomes
real. 

149
00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:15,240
As we remember the war and the 
price we paid, let us also 

150
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,600
remember the peace we owe 
ourselves and each other. 

151
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,720
Not the peace that is given to 
us by uniforms, but the one we 

152
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,960
create through stillness, truth,
rest and dignity. 

153
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:34,760
As William Gladstone said, we 
look forward to the time when 

154
00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,960
the power of love will replace 
the love of power. 

155
00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:45,000
Then will our world know the 
blessings of peace. 

156
00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:47,320
I'll see you next week.