More bombs?

So it seems yet another nation is about to go and drop some bombs in another part of the world in the name of democracy.

Do we not have any idea or understanding of what it is like for the ordinary non-fighting people of the area that is bombed? Have we become so in-sensitised to the horrors caused by our own actions?

Perhaps we have become so dislodged and separated from each other that if they are far enough away and culturally different enough we don't mind what we are doing to people and their already fragile infrastructure.

We are not British, American, Russian, Chinese, European, Turkish or whatever first, we are human beings first living on an organic planet that sustains us so far. How have we set ourselves so adrift from the simplicity and whole of life?

If we conquer the foe and decimate the planet do we think we will have peace?

The insanity of life as most of us live it now is that we seem to think that we should be ambitious as individuals and for our nation, and therefore conquer everything in our way and take what we desire for our own selfish wants. This we call "in our interest" as justification. Do we think peace will be the outcome of this kind of action?

We have let our leaders fool us into stupefying thinking and behaviours because they are trapped in it also therefore we can only destroy peace because we know only how to be competitive, with our conditioned beliefs and self righteousness.

When will we stop listening to the powerful and those in high office because we live in fear of their ability to control the superficial things of life we have become so attached to and dependent on? When will we start listening to ourself beyond the conditioning we have allowed to be distilled within us because of our own fears, uncertainties and desire for psychological security.

To go beyond our conditioning and act completely peacefully cannot be done if we are not free, and if we use will and force to impose a new state of unconditioning upon ourselves. If we can understand our conditioning as it is at the deepest level we may see the truth of the illusions of it, and then it may dissolve so we can act correctly, peacefully and with real compassion in the world.

 

Response to the polarization of arguments about rights and wrongs in the Middle East.

Surely if anything is truly sacred in this world and universe it is all living things and nature rather than the organised religions, nation states, global economics, corporations and our own selfish desires that we so often worship at the cost of all life and nature.

War, and our part in its creation

Listening to the world news one hears again about the ceaseless wars in the middle east. Both sides sight right on their side and so the death and destruction continues. This is not an intellectual discussion this is a fact is it not?

Both sides are loosing as suffering is taking place and this will continue as one side tries to quash the other. There is no victor in conflict, there is only conflict and all the insecurity and fear that that brings.

It is too easy to take sides however supposedly rationally one comes to ones decision. In fact taking sides is surely the root of the problem. To decide that one side is right and the other is wrong is almost certainly based on ones own beliefs and conditioning which is rarely based on fact.

Do not all human beings irrespective of nationality, religion, ethnicity, tribe, culture and society have the same rights?

 If we cannot destroy the opposition, and this is not being recommended, how are we to resolves these conflicts wherever they exist? Firstly in the human sense how are they created? Surely they are created by the will of the individual being exerted outwards. The individual who wants power, who wants their way of life to continue, to prevail over others ideas of how they would like to live, and they, in turn, are doing the same.

This comes from our sense of individuality, of having what we want for ourselves and following our own desires. In most societies this is encouraged; to pursue our own interests, or the interests of our group, be it family or nation etc, without much concern for others needs. This activity of reinforcing the self, forcing our will and beliefs on others causes the conflicts that eventually lead to death and destruction.

It is therefore self centred activity that ultimately causes war and that selfish activity is the action that leads each one of us to to take sides and therefore create enemies.

Without enemies there is no war so perhaps the first thing to do is understand that it is each one of us who creates enemies when we choose a side that suits us according to self centred preferences.

In defence of the realm

Words like realm, kingdom, majesty, sovereignty, supreme power and authority seem to conjure up such images of solemnity and seriousness that have tremendous weight and overrule words like humility, integrity, sensitivity, forgiveness and awareness. It is no accident that those in authority use the words that conjure the images of solemnity and seriousness when motivating its members to action.

At times of stress we get angry with the gentle words. Our patience is thin and we want resolutions and external actions that support our rationalised cause irrespective of the facts and the others views. We see a solution, not in the modification of our own behaviour but in the modification of the others.

Our nations and religions behave as we do for they can only be an extension of what we are. They are not a separate entity; they are a reflection of or own contradictions, fragmentation and hypocrisy. We defend ourselves, our egos, with all its self centred desires, against others who have a different point of view and lose contact and communication and this is what nations and religions do in time of disagreement because there can be not other outcome or course of action if we ourselves are in conflict and fragmented. What is inside is outside, it is one. For the concerns of the world to be remedied the internal concerns have to be deeply understood not externalised so we can blame somebody else for our problems.

The fear of losing security, whether it be ones partner, one’s home or job has to be understood not just blindly defended because it is a personal possession, the tradition or ones conditioning.

It is sometimes difficult to find the words with which to express oneself deeply with. Perhaps words are too full of imagery rather than real meaning, loaded with easy illusions that do not explain the truth.

What is trying to be said here is that our individual lives are in conflict and so too therefore must be our national and religious lives with their habits and rituals, dogma and controls. It is not being said that one should be against the individual, state or religion but one cannot be part of something that controls and conditions one into fear for in fear are the actions that lead to conflict, hate and war.

What is surely required is complete responsibility in relationship. In complete relationship there is no enemy; one is in discussion as with a friend.

To Join or not to Join - The World peace cup

How do we decide whether we are going to join or not to join an organisation. Do we weigh up the intellectual arguments using our personal rationalism and desires and then make a decision? Once the decision is made is it then final and so one pins ones metaphorical flag to it? It is then the right decision for you and other decisions and desires must then conform to the decision you previously made.

Can we see the dangers of the above, the joining of one thing precluding interaction with someone who has joined something different.

We may be born in a particular country and brought up in a particular style by parents who introduce you to their religious and cultural beliefs but do we have to fall into their way of life because it seems the most easy thing to do?

Here the danger is putting yourself first, your family, your community, team, country, religion, all of it, pulling you in the direction of self centred desires and beliefs. We seem to want to cling to these desires and beliefs for our identity and security but please ask yourself why pursuing you own desires and beliefs is so important.

Surely this drive to belong to one thing or another is separating us from each other; you in your organisation and me in mine. I must support my nation against your nation if we cannot agree on something. The facts are lost and belief and nationalism takes over.

There is currently a near global event taking place where nation is playing nation at sport. Such energy and resources has gone into the organising of this event that one is left wondering why this sort of enormous effort cannot go into basic resources for the poor, or education, or perhaps world peace. We seem to be very good at organising events for our pleasure and senses but woeful when trying to find inter-national solutions to our human problems.

Our self centred actions seem to know no bounds when it comes to our desires and our apparent need to cling on to what we think is our indentity and security especially when it is seen through nationalistic and organised religious eyes.

To join one thing is divisive however worthy. By being a member there will be an expected behaviour and adherence to the beliefs of the organisation so there is no freedom. Without freedom we cannot love and understand and without love and understanding there can be no peace. 

I heard the news today...

Someone speaking in this part of the world today said that the richest 85 people in the world had more wealth than 50% of the world's poorest people. That is 3.5 billion people.

Can this be justified, can capitalism, which we are all involved in, be considered a sane way for humanity to continue to conduct itself?

It seems we are all capitalist as we want more of everything for ourselves and the people around us. We crave attachments and acquisitions and build them up as trophies. Then we feel the need to protect them and so conflict ensures as everybody does the same.  

Where are the voices, and not just the words, of those who are really fundamentally looking into the factual problems of the human race: the killing, the poverty, the selfishness, the resentment, all of the conflict.

The media fails us because it is in support of the system that supports it. It will not bite the hand that feeds it.

If our leaders espouse national patriotism behind a flag and our religious leaders promote their faith ahead of other faiths then we have to be a light unto ourselves as others have vested interests to support and do not want to look at the facts of poverty, exploitation and all the rest of it.

As J. Krishnamurti has said "The world is sick and there is no one outside you to help you except yourself."

Can we understand our desire for ownership of relationships as well as material goods and perhaps really see that we are only concerned with our own self-centered security because of our fears and not the fact that ownership be not bring real security without conflict?

Only when we have resolved our deepest insecurities and fears can we understand and deal properly with the gross inhumanity of people set against each other whether it is because of our economic, nationalistic, cultural or religious conditioning.

No Violence

If we want 'freedom from violence' as the United Nations recently stated in a link to its web site, I wounder if the enormity of that statement is really understood when it appears such an easy statement to make and an ideal to pursue.

Do we not see that most of us are violent in our ambitions, our relationships, in our workplace, in the corporate companies, the nations and our religions. We may not call it violence but our fear of loosing what we are constantly accumulating makes us aggressive when we have to consider giving something up. Can we have a peaceful life for everybody on this planet if we do not see what we have gained at the expense of others?

Do we think we can carry on as we are, unwilling to ease off on our selfish consumption and magically have peace? That nation states will stop looking after their own interests and we, as self-centred individuals, will stop accumulating material and psychological attachments? Will we stop defending our individual and national possessions that have been acquired often through exploitation in this very unfair and unequal world?

To have no violence requires fundamental change within and without. It cannot be achieved through politics and force of will.

Perhaps we can have peace if we understand what it means to be conditioned by our respective societies and cultures and we can observe our own thoughts and behaviour factually so we can see the competitiveness, aggression and violence we carry out in our daily lives as we strive to achieve and gain what we think is success in our competitive and aggressive societies.