War

Sleep is generally regarded as a good thing. We all need to sleep. But it is also extremely important in life not to be so asleep that your life is a failure. But what has this got to do with war?

War is the basis of what we understand to be the economy. I don't even have to mention the C-word here (capitalism) because one of the main tasks of the government is purchasing, supplying and distributing weapons and arms. 'Smart' bombs that can be launched miles away and which can enter someone's home through a kitchen window and blow their house apart leaving the occupants dead. Just how smart is that? But billions of pounds or dollars are spent year in and year out on war. We are now in 2024, a quarter of the way into the 21st century, and there has yet to be a single week of peace in this century.

War makes its way into entertainment and there are plenty of war movies and movies which contains violence, guns, weapons and which glorify war. But as war rages on in places such as the Middle East, Gaza and the Ukraine many of us are more than happy on the sidelines eating popcorn and taking sides. But how would that popcorn taste if you were directly involved in such a war as in the Ukraine or on the Gaza strip and members of your family were being killed, imprisoned or tortured? But I guess when it's all happening far away to other people, where you can be involved and not face any direct conflict yourself, it's all somewhat entertaining and engaging, isn't it?

I mean it's great to have an opinion on the inhumanity and cruelty shown by others and the suffering and death of innocent people, but see it's not just the cruelty, inhumanity and bigotry that perpetuates this culture of death, of war, of conflict and destruction, it's also the apathy and indifference of the bystanders. Terence McKenna once made the point that half the world is asleep and only half the world is awake with nobody ever being fully awake and nobody ever being fully asleep. Sleep is a conscious choice and it makes no difference whether you choose to sleep in a bed at night, or you choose to sleep when other people are being persecuted, killed, or suffering great injustices all around you, you are still making that all important choice to sleep.

The image above is that of the 'Never Again' Holocaust memorial in Dachau, near the site of the World War II concentration camp, erected in 1945 together with the creation of the United Nations and other organizations created to establish world peace. I'm also giving you a song quote from a 1984 song by Frankie Goes To Hollywood titled 'Two Tribes'. I remember when the song came out quite well. I was 18 years old and going on marches quite regularly to demonstrate and protest at US military nuclear bases in Berkshire, west of London, such as Aldermaston and Greenham Common conscious of the fact that it was the Cold War and nuclear missiles in what was then were aimed at us, and the missiles at the sites I was protesting at were aimed at millions of Russians and Ukrainians.

In a few months I turn 58 and I have to ask just how hollow are those words on that memorial in Dachau? Does the word 'peace' mean anything anymore? Does the word 'peace' mean anything to you personally? If so, what?

You know sometimes I take a step back and ask myself "Is this all really meaningless?" It's not like World War II or the Cold War, or even the Holocaust has really ended, is it? Even today you can find plenty examples of fascism, nazism, summary executions, genocide, terrorism, slavery, warfare, military occupations, bombings, and people living and breathing their ideology and hating others for it. It's all a case of the same but different. Many of those who went to war and fought have died, those involved are different and of another generation, the locations are different, but the cruelty, inhumanity is the same. The same number of those asleep and choosing to do nothing, anything, to bring peace or change is still exactly the same.

I didn't start to figure it out until I entered politics some years later both s a political candidate and also hoping to become a political advisor. It all started to make sense. See the memorial at Dachau is just that - a memorial. Have you ever wondered why war is something we remember but never seem to learn from?

I'm going to quote a song by Sting released in 1985 titled 'Children's Crusade' because it reinforces a point I wish to make. It lies within the reason I eventually decided to quit politics altogether. You see when you enter politics you would do so probably like I did, to do something for other people, for a community of people, or even to be that one person who stands up and speaks truth to power. This is why I entered politics. Out in society there are people, the poor, the destitute, people with disabilities, the elderly, who have no voice and no real political representatives. Nobody seems to be prepared to stand up and advocate on their behalf.

But then I learned why. Now this was a few years ago. I was about to put myself forward for selection as a political candidate for a third time, for a new area, one where I had a chance of winning and being elected. I backed out and decided not to stand. I did this because I came to the realization that in order to be successful I would have to betray someone and perhaps go against my principles. You see some of you might not know this, but when you're a candidate in an election for a political party you have to go out and meet lots of people, and do some campaigning. But then, about a month before the actual election, you start to get lobbied by various organizations and quite often you are coerced by your party into giving your support to certain organizations. This is in addition to the bullying, harassment, and mindgames you get from the other (bigger) political parties.

This is the ugly truth about politics. being successful in politics often comes with betrayal and having to surrender your personal integrity for the interests of your party or favoured lobbyists. In fact I would even go as far to state that betrayal in some form is as common in politics as sexual intercourse is in prostitution. It's very difficult to avoid unless you are that sort of person who can somehow express yourself eloquently and stand your ground. But see politics is also about people, it's dogs and fleas, and even if you aren't compromised, you come across other people who are.

But see sending young people to war to fight for some ideology or ideal - or today purely for corporate profit - is part of that betrayal. This is not going to change so if you're ever hoping for world peace, forget it. It's not going to happen. Modern warfare is a major form of geopolitical engineering and population control, a means of plundering resources outside trade, control of territory, creation of refugees, asylum seekers, wage suppression and so on and so forth. It's part of the system, a fundamental tenet of that C-word, and there's nothing any one of us can do to change society or culture on that level.

But there is a point I wish to make here to wrap this up. War is just as much about betrayal as politics is. That what is going on out there in society is in reality no different to what is going on in the minds of individual people. Just how many of you can place your hand on your heart and state with complete and total honesty and integrity that you are living a life of peace and humanity?

Or are you actually at war?

War is a state of mind

But there is something I do want to point out here. One of the biggest misunderstandings or misconceptions we have about war is that it is something entirely separate from us going on in some country which is far away and which involves other people. This is buying into the major false illusion of separateness. What's going on outside of us and even all around is isn't really any different to what's going on in our minds. Mind is essentially space, it's environment, it's relationship. There is no separateness whatsoever between what's going on 'out there' and what's going on in our minds. It's all mind.

Therefore if you are clinging to hate for another person, especially if that hate is fuelled by some kind of ideology or belief system, then you are at war. If you perceive other people as being lesser than you, then you are at war. If you have some belief in your power over other people, then you are at war. If you are cheering on the State or some authority while some individual or social group are oppressed or persecuted or having their rights taken away, then you are at war. These are just some examples.

If there is no peace, no humanity and no solidarity in your mind, then how do you expect to find peace, humanity or solidarity anywhere else?

That what is happening out there, in this collective phenomenal experience known as society, is simply a manifestation on a different scale of what is going on in the mind. I've written about this before - it's a matter of dimension, scale, and field. What does it say about us as a species that the best and only possibility of world or global peace is human extinction? Have you ever thought about that?

But see this is where we get to the issue. I personally can reject war as a state of mind and choose to live peacefully with everybody else. You can do the same. So too can other people. This is how it works. You cannot make other people reject war or be peaceful. You cannot make society more peaceful or indeed the world. These are just words. Pipe dreams. You can wish all you like for peace in the Middle East, or the Ukraine, but until the people themselves who are involved also reject war and try harder for peace war will continue.