A friend of mine is keen on asking people this question.

Most people will initially answer peace. I wonder how much Tolstoy has to with this?

Are war and peace a true dipole though? War is a state in which two sides are directly competing against each other, trying to destroy each other. Trying to either gain what the other has, or hold onto to one's own.

Wouldn't the opposite of trying to obliterate each other be more like cohesion? The type of cohesion which actively works together to create a stable world for future generations?

Peace has a passive (albeit beautiful) feel to it. Like an after-image, it's a passing feeling that you have when war is over. The profound and deafening silence after a prolonged loud noise.

The opposite of war is not a passive feeling state.

So, I'll suggest that it is a word we've forgotten. Because most of us have also forgotten how to work together for the benefit of each other and for the planet, rather than for ourselves.

Who will be the first to remember (or create) the word for the opposite of war?