Wars of Ideas

“Obviously the present crisis throughout the world is exceptional, without precedent. There have been crisis of varying types at different periods throughout history--- social, national, political. Crisis come and go; economic recessions, depressions, come, get mollified, and continue in a different form. We know that; we are familiar with that process. Surely the present crisis is different is it not? It is different first because we are dealing not with money nor with tangible things but with ideas. The crisis is exceptional because it is in the field of ideation. We are quarrelling with ideas, we are justifying murder; everywhere in the world we are justifying murder as a means to a righteous end, which in itself is unprecedented. Before, evil was recognized to be evil, murder was recognized to be murder, but now murder is a means to achieve a noble result. Murder, whether of one person or a group of people, is justified, because the murderer, or the group that the murderer represents, justifies it as a means of achieving a result that will be beneficial to man. Therefore, the implication is that a wrong means will produce a right end and you justify the wrong means through ideation……. We have a magnificent structure of ideas to justify evil and surely that is unprecedented. Evil is evil; it cannot bring about good. War is not a means to peace.”

These are words by Krishnamurti. I was moved to use them for this blog simply because they are true and are worth repeating.

Let’s explore a little bit. Let’s say that on 9/11/2001 radical Moslems masterminded the attacks on the World Trade Center in NYC. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers of people that were involved, and those behind the ones that carried out the act all added together are extremely small, likely to be in the thousands. They had no national identity as a group and were funded from a variety of sources who again, had no particular national identity. In fact while they had similar religious affiliation they were a small number within that context as well and did represent the greater numbers. Accusing all Moslems for the attack would be like accusing all of Judaism for the crucifixion of Christ.

As is stated above, if the means to produce a “noble” result is evil, no good can come as a result. Left on it’s own account, these attacks would have stood, through time, as a testimony to harsh brutality in the eyes our collective world. In fact, at the onset after the attacks, that is just exactly what occurred, world outpouring of grief and condemnation. The grief soon turned to anger and was amplified many fold as ideations began to flood with the possible responses. It is here at this point in the cycle lies world patterns. They are world patterns simply because enough individuals in the world have provided precedent in ways to respond to aggression similar to the 9/11 attacks. In each of our individual lives, how many times have we been “attacked” emotionally, verbally, mentally even physically and found that after a brief grieving period we got really angry and wanted revenge. Getting such revenge may provide some moments of resolution, but in the end what is perpetuated is the cycle of violence and the justification of all levels of violence.

I am sure there are those might read this and say “If we had turned the other cheek with the Nazis we would all be speaking German” or “With that type of reasoning Don, murderers would be walking the streets, there would be lawlessness, no one would be safe”. I would pose the question then, that each one of us look a little more deeply into our hearts and ask the question, and make the honest inquiry; Do you feel safe now? Have all the wars really provided the safety they intended? Is the price of evils cost worth the goods it returns? It’s return of course is more of the same. Brutality, like greed is magnified by its use. Similarly integrity, humility, connection, understanding, respect, honesty and truth finds itself in abundance when it is given expression.

If one wanted to make a collective evaluation of the state of mankind, who would take exception with the growing violence, greed and deception practically everywhere you take notice? Add to that the amplification of events by our “news” sources; our direction as a species is well defined.

No, I am not a pessimist. I would call myself a realist of sorts, because I understand that individuals are making choices in each and every moment creating the world’s that they inhabit. This understanding makes me an optimist. Why? Because the means to changing the world does not rely upon governments, corporations or churches. It relies solely and completely upon the choices each one of us makes. Here is real power. Each one of us, whether we choose to believe it or not, has created the world we inhabit. It has been created as a direct result of choices each one has made. There is no way around this fact. Struggle with this Truth and you struggle against the laws of the universe. I know the next round of queries to this line of thought is; “But Don, how can you say this? What about the innocent child that is abused, what about babies born with deformity? How did they create those worlds? How could they have been responsible for that?”

We, each one of us, enter this world on the invitation of the ones who brought us here, our families. Their individual worlds, a world created from their choices. We inherent something when we come here into this world; good, bad, ugly, beautiful. If we survive beyond our initial dependency, we find ourselves in the place of making choices, just like the ones who preceded us. Who among us is awake enough, alive enough and strong enough to make our journey here one of discovery and victory over limitations and primitive psychological urges? Who is capable of moving forward with a destiny that reaches beyond an eye for an eye mentality, and actually embraces understanding?

Consider the monetary costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Reaching into the hundreds of billions, what is there to show for it? This abundance is the abundance of our collective national identity. What is to show for it? Death and destruction, greed and malfeasance. There is nothing noble about the intention or the result of “justified” murder. Each one of us has a higher calling, a more noble purpose to apply our taxes to! Imagine the hundreds of billions that have been squandered being applied to achieve a noble healing, a deeper understanding of why the attacks took place on 9/11? Imagine the use of our collective resources directed toward reconciliation joining together in what binds us all.

I am not a blind optimist either by the way. Many do not want healing or reconciliation. Many want war and aggression. So I return to the message contained in this collection of thoughts. We each have the power to create our own experience. That is, in fact, all one can truly be responsible for or with. If you are deeply happy with your creation, there is no need to change. For the rest of us …………………………