Right after Depeche Mode’s first single ‘Wrong’ (from the ‘Sounds of the Universe’ album), which sings of intense indignation to a disturbing video (see https://moonpointer.com/new/2009/04/whats-wrong-with-wrong) comes the second single – ‘Peace’. It is the polar opposite in style and emotion (See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHLJK_4Q8U&). Arguably, it’s DM’s most uplifting and jubilant-sounding song since ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’! (See http://youtube.com/watch?v=RA-Lx9UDkro for a video of their live performance 27 years ago!) I think ‘Peace’ marks a watershed of DM’s spiritual growth. They have come to make peace with themselves over the years despite the band’s turbulent history. E.g. Martin Gore, who writes most of the songs have given up alcohol and Dave Gahan, the lead singer, had given up drugs, which almost took his life. The band renown for their darkness is now less dark.
The video of ‘Peace’ is one of their best made ones – with superb acting, shooting and a realistic storyline with a twist in the tale. It sent shivers down my spine, because I could identify with the angst of the character. Though the video’s poignant, it paradoxically sings of hope too. A young girl who was a soldier (presumably assigned to Iraq) returns to America(?) She is worn and weary, fretful of re-adjusting to life after war, because she has yet to make peace with her bloody experiences. Her obvious physical scar betrays a deeper wound within her mind. She feels out of place and struggles to live normally. She tried to escape from violence of gunfire in the warfield but tastes it in her hometown through thugs too. As subtle painful symmetry, the final scenes mirror the first. We become unsure if she left home in exasperation to join the war or returned from it in exasperation, if she returns to the war zone to find peace, or whether she returned from it to find peace.
The video made me reflect on the Samsaric cycles of violence that we subject ourselves to, that we trap ourselves in. A scene showed her working in a restautant cutting meat. Though not killing per se, it is linked to the supply and demand for meat. As taught in Buddhism, violence is perpetuated not just by humans upon humans, but by humans upon animals too, who might be reborn as war-hungry humans. Thus is this world a violence haunted one. If we do do not even make peace with helpless animals continually sent for slaughter, how can we truly make peace with one another? Let us now look at the lyrics of the song (with comments inserted between) –
Peace will come to me
Peace will come to me
Comments: Will peace come to us, or do we go to peace?
Peace comes to us only when we make peace with ourselves (e.g. via meditation),
though going to a peaceful place (e.g. a spiritual sanctuary) helps make this possible too.
I’m leaving bitterness behind
This time I’m cleaning up my mind
There is no space for the regrets
I will remember to forget
Comments: Wherever it is we leave, we should not leave with bitterness.
Now is always a good time to clean up, to purify our minds.
Make no space for regrets by repenting well,
but without forgetting the lessons learnt.
Just look at me
I am walking love incarnate
Look at the frequencies at which I vibrate
I’m going to light up the world
Comments: Be the embodiment of loving-kindness
to make peace with ourselves and the world.
Radiate vibrations of loving-kindness to all directions
and light up the world with the torch of wisdom.
Peace will come to me
Peace will come to me
I’m leaving anger in the past
With all the shadows that it caused
There is a radar in my heart
I should have trusted from the start
Comments: Leave all negative emotions behind and never look back.
Walk to the light to dispel their shadows.
Listen to the heart of your heart,
which is Buddha-nature from the start.
Just look at me
I am a living act of holiness
Giving all the positivity that I possess
I’m going to light up the world
Comments: Be a sacred shining example of peace for all to emulate.
Be and give of nothing but positivity and purity.
Peace will come to me
Just wait and see
Peace will come to me
It’s meant to be
Peace will come to me
Just wait and see
Peace will come to me
It’s inevitability
Comments: Don’t just wait for peace to come;
for it might take too long.
Make peace well and peace will truly be eventual.