Imagination and Peace: On the Inner Dynamics of Promoting Peace Activism

The relations between peace activism and the Utopian, anticipatory, sympathetic, and compensatory functions of the imagination are explored, and the results of a group process using inner dialogue to help participants understand the dynamics of their relation to peace activism are analyzed. Social action is viewed here as arising in part from a successful negotiation between inner voices that inhibit progressing from the awareness of social problems into action and voices that encourage this integration of awareness and action. A revised group method to facilitate and sustain peace action in one's life is described, building on both my findings and Elise Boulding's work on imagining a peaceful future.