It is possible that this series has continued to raise questions instead of bring on any definitive reasons why we should bother believing in, or seeking peace, especially since the “best minds” and strategists seem doggedly intent on doing it by bribery, coercion, intimidation, demonstrations of military might and war waging. In the now famous Dr. Phil-ism, I’d ask the question. “How’s that workin’ for ya?”
Waging war for peace makes as much sense as poisoning a diseased body in order to heal it. And yet, “search and destroy” methods have been included among “best practices” in such matters throughout history. In both cases, the “seeds” that created the environment for the conflict, remains intact, for both strategies are born out of the same mindset; that of duality and polarism. In other words, they do not acknowledge that the problem, and the solution involves a singularity. It’s not the “evil” vs. the “good”, it’s a whole battling against itself. Casualties of war, as well as of disease, are born by both the victor and the vanquished.
In the dualistic mentality, any element that is acting in a harmful way is judged as not desirable, “bad” or villainized, and then marked to be “taken out” by any means necessary. A holistic view would see others as extensions and expressions of “us”, acknowledging an implicit connectedness that warrants, and even allows a restoration of balance, as well as an increase in harmonics. In the absence of this understanding, imbalance, dissonance, and tension remain present, maintaining fertile ground in which political unrest and disease may fester and grow.
If we do not see our own intent as evil while we destroy someone else’s land and kill their people in the name of justice (or God), then it is insanity to label the intent of those who are shooting back at us as evil, just to to justify our actions.
Even if others are labeling us as evil and trying to destroy us, the only way that for us to fulfill their expectation of us, is to act like them, by doing as they do. If we really want peaceful coexistence, then we must be peaceful, even in our approach to justice.
We need to project to others the principles and traits we claim to embody within ourselves and our ideologies. This isn’t happening in the Middle East, which seems to be Ground Zero for many apocalyptic and “dooms day” scenarios for humankind. But this is the perfect place to consider embracing a holistic strategy, one that acknowledges and honors the kinship of all who live in the area.
We don’t have to be of the same ethnicity, race, or religious belief to be kindred. We are all kindred, whatever our belief about “others”. Seeing others as separate from who we are is the essence of duality, which gives us room to judge them as we would judge ourselves… if we had the courage to do so.
Finding Our Peace Threshhold
I’m going to suggest that we raise the bar of speculation a few notches, and probe around, searching for the location of our peace threshold. I believe we have one; a place where it no longer makes sense to fight and kill. A place where our love for living is strong and great enough that we cannot fathom taking the life of another, even if we understand that true life can’t be terminated. Our hearts don’t call out for peace for nothing. There is a reason, even if we wonder if it will ever happen… even if we wonder if enough of us will simply let it be.
As long as we deem it okay to take another’s life in order to “ensure” the perpetuation of our own, we’ll remain enslaved to fear… fear of having our lives taken by an even greater force. The fear will remain because something inside us KNOWS that dualism and polarity is not the best way… that destroying and removing bodies do nothing to address the state of mind out of which the unrest or disease was born. When we act against our Inner Knowing, fear is a natural residue, for it is dissonant, unbalanced energy that we become “one” with. Fear is not our natural state, and certainly not the natural state of God. So if we live in fear, we’re going to be hard pressed to feel the presence of God, much less the transformational power thereof. The transformational power of God is known by all in the simple word, LOVE. Finding our threshhold of peace means opening to, taking in, expaning our channel, and expressing LOVE, in any and every situation.
Imagine an area on the planet where gravity was conditional; where it was at one level in one spot, and a different level somewhere else. Or perhaps if it changed according to our ethnic, religious, or other affiliation. How destablizing would that be? We take the carefully conceived and brilliantly implemented forces of nature so for granted that we no longer appreciate the great Intelligence that MUST be behind this stage we call life on Earth. Yet, the forces apply on, and to, ALL. They protect and serve ALL. We apply the force of our favor to SOME. We protect and serve SOME, and I might add, for reasons that are often quite arbitrary. But I suspect that here is a place wherein each of us may consider a change; that is, when we choose to step out of the web of fear, by being the LOVE that we want to receive.
I think that it is relevant to look at the natural world when we are assessing human capacity for peace. Animals will fight over territory. Animals will invade, or attempt to invade, another’s territory if theirs becomes overcrowded. But what an animal will NOT do is hunt down and systematically exterminate all of it’s competition for food. It will not enslave another population and force that population to grow food for the dominant species.
So, while our genetic programming will predispose for squirmishes over territory and food, acts of war and exploitation are cultural dictates. They are not natural. Something is wrong with our culture that allows this.