Can We Create a World Without War? Can You Find True Peace?

Is world peace possible?  The key question.  My answer to that is when we each choose it.  The wars are not only in the military they are within us when we harbour feelings of resentment or we seek to judge others. I felt judgement this morning towards a friend it took great courage and honesty for me to explore my hurt feelings and see what thoughts I am believing, a sponsoring thought of ‘I am not loved’ came in. I could easily ignore that and project negativity onto my friend. Thankfully I’ve had some training. I recalled that I believed that thought as a child as my parents and siblings were not demonstrative of love.  When I looked and realised I was loved the feeling of judgement disappeared.  The truth always feels good the lie always feels negative, that is how you know it is a lie, our bodies tell us.

So the negative thoughts in truth are not true when you face yourself with truth.  The hardest question is – will you make peace with others or will you choose to hold onto your beliefs that separate you?  I am having to undo much conditioned thought that has not brought me happiness.  I think we have not been trained to question our thoughts and in a mind that can easily believe anything, it is very important we start. So why not now just go into your feelings and explore how you feel when angry, jealous, in judgement, not loved, someone is unfair and so on, you will feel negativity rise up in you.  Look at the thoughts that drive those negative feelings. That is investigating your thoughts it is really interesting that is how you find your insecurities and lack of self love. You can investigate what thoughts are driving your behaviour. The ego is very clever it really puts a convincing argument to you that you are the victim, that they are wrong and they deserve what you think and you will punish them in some way. If you can rise above the justifications and really seek for truth you will see that it is not true. Your negativity affects you (health, psychological, emotionally) and can affect others (rejection, violence, isolation etc.) if you believe it.  There are many walking around with mental health issues, that is my view is caused by negativity. When I was in London I remember seeing a woman on British Rail, she looked normal then I heard her speaking to herself, all negative talk. Another African woman, really beautiful was swinging this little mirror and ranting and raving, she was fighting with someone in her mind. That is not to say some don’t have chemical imbalances etc, but I believe most mental health comes from a dysfunctional society and increasing negativity. We get traumatised.

So I don’t think we are naturally violent (desire to hurt) at all, I do think we have fight and flight innately but I see that as wired in for hunting animals and survival. I believe we have been taught to be violent and in war it is seen as heroism not murder. I always find that interesting in light of the enemy has families, is young and also believed their government that they were fighting for the homeland or freedom. An interesting belief, how can you FIGHT for FREEDOM, freedom is free from negativity in truth, deeply reflect on that, it is true. The proof that we are not naturally violent or desring to hurt people is evident in warzones it has been reported that soldiers that are typically first time soldiers will shoot over others heads as they don’t want to hurt anyone. My ex partner was an Afghan soldier and he shot over everyone’s heads everytime, he refused to shoot as he saw their mothers in their faces. He felt empathy for mothers and for the so called enemy. In reality he saw no enemy. So men have to learn how to kill and be violent and then we get used to it, they adapt. That is what makes us robust, but no, war is not who we are.

Love is the true foundation to humanity and why we are still here, just. If we lose the love and become confused and disconnected then we may have more problems on our hands with people not feeling empathy for others and having no clue of their impact on others. You see evidence of this with pathological work mates or bosses and bullying in the schools. It is a sign of powerlessness and disconnect from feelings – own and others.

I have seen endless examples of people seeking harmony, particularly women and the desire to resolve conflict and relate to others. Sorry to bring in gender here but I am saying it generally and it is part of my own experience and observation. I have also met the most wonderfully peaceful men and by contrast aggressive women, close to home. So take this as a general statement given we are raised by stereotypes – not our fault. Men on the other hand have mostly not had father’s there as strong role models of peace (only 10% are close to their fathers in Australia) they tend to look to the popular media to discover what it is to be a man. They are mostly depicted as big, strong and violent. In society wars are commemorated but not the peacemakers, I find that curious. Lest we forget the violence and sacrifice, why not lest we forget how to make peace and avoid war. Yet these movements show men with metals as heroes, the murder aspect is put to the side in favour of when they saved someone, saving is peace of course but it is marketed as heroism in war. That reinforces, in my view, violent stereotypes in men as protectors and killing for Queen and country (Australia’s case) but does not depict the gentler, wiser and innovative side of men. It is just brute strength and if they win they are winners, if they lose there is silence. Recently there has been an announcement that rape in war is a war crime. In the past any women who have protested at rallies were ostracised by some of the old soldiers as irrelevant to their parade. One woman I knew in a peace group raised this issue and was threatened by a soldier at the rally and the government arrested them. Raining on their parade by bringing in some reality. There are many rapes in wars and conflict and it is indeed power issues it has nothing to do with sex, it mirrors the power issue of war in reality. War engenders hate and creates an enemy it does not solve the problem at the political level or business level. I include business as there is evidence of their involvement in respect to expanding arms sales or opening markets etc. So that is a powerful and unquestioned aspect of our government that is depicted as showing young men that they can be men, get some discipline and obey orders, learn to kill. My friend’s son just recently said he needed discipline and flirted with the idea of joining the French Foreign Leagion. He had no idea of the horrors he would face and who he would become. He thought it would help him with discipline. So innocent.

This image of big and tough is probably innate to some extent in that it ensures he scares off would be attackers. You see animals expand their size to threaten, but they are not violent, they scare off, form bounaries and territories etc. The games peddled to children (a drug in my viewpoint) have shown boys that men are big, muscly, superhuman (larger than life) and impassive pitching their behaviour as strength and courage. Rather then teaching boys to solve problems through games and learning the power of acknowledging their true feelings (god forbid). To cry would be a no no. The games encourage competitive actions, they have weapons (an array) to kill and to fight the enemy, this is pitched as being a powerful man who has no fear. I do think men seek risk and do wish to confront fear in the physical, they tend to avoid the emotional fear as it renders them feeling weak. This has been projected onto women who express their emotions usually quite readily.

I recall the US New Earth Army engaged in psychological pursuits. The head of this unit Major Jim Channon (ex Vietnam veteran) fell out of a helicopter and had a vision of an asian woman telling him that strength is gentleness. He taught the soldiers yoga, meditation, psychic powers and healthy eating and exercise for mind, body and spirit. They saw a connection to the planet and saw themselves as one with it. I am sure the military hierarchy didn’t expect this nor desire a peace unit as they were only responding to the Russians who started their own program for psychological warfare. However, this unit saw themselves as Jedi and used power from the universe to develop their effectiveness as peaceful warriors. They had codes of conduct and integrity. They believed they were warriors for peace and engaged in conflict resolution to prevent war (novel idea). There were individuals in the unit that developed their powers to a point of being able to remote view (see where someone was in the mind) and locate missing persons. There was mention of bi-location, that is travelling to locations and materialising, believe that? So there is an alternative vision of man and power. Not just sitting in front of a television or playing a game but actually engaging in the game of life which is far more fun.

I do not believe for one moment violence and aggression is man’s true nature. My husband was a gentle man and never would harm anyone, I saw him no less a man, in fact I saw a gentle side of men that I really loved and admired, to me that was more attractive. When I see aggression I am turned off. My husband also lived equality and we shared everything, I respected him more for that as we were able to live in harmony and fairness. He used to go out into the bush as a young child and hunt but didn’t have a fixation on guns, he was interested in innovative engineering. The US gun laws come up in this moment. Incredible that the public think they need to bare arms to be safe when the arms kill people, they make the society unsafe. I walked the dog late at night imagining the US (have just visited there) and thought about the dog sniffing in someone’s bushes as a shadow. What if they had a gun thinking we were prowlers trying to look in (misjudgement) we could be shot at. That is my rational that guns should not be put in the hands of fearful people, period. On my visit there I saw plenty of fearful people. I am a clown I can sense it. I’ve been on the streets many time and talked to people, they feel typically safe with a clown but they are suspicious of strangers and don’t make eye contact normally. This is a culture of fear, and it is present in Australaia but less so.

There are many types of men and the violent man is the archetype depicted in Hollywood e.g. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood and so on. They are tough, cool and are in control, is this the real image of men? I walked around Hollywood recently reflecting on the violence produced from this small area trying to get my head around why this is seen as entertainment, perhaps it is the adrenalin rush of fear that people are addicted to or special affects or surge of power they feel or escape from boring lives. There would be many reasons, it would be interesting to do a study. For myself I just can’t sit through a movie that is violent. I deliberately do not watch violent television and am highly sensitized to violence and will stay this way. I know it is dysfunctional and does not solve any problem at the end of the day, it only fuels unhappiness.

The flipside in the films is the victimisation of women another disturbing mind game where you see the woman frightened and being chased. That so bores me as a woman. If I was approached by a man at night believe me I would face him. I’ve been attacked and I actually spent time talking to the guy explaining empathy to him, it was funny actually I walked him home and he kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for my advice. That was empowerment. I laughed I walked him home. That is the fearlessness of women that will not be protrayed in Hollywood or if it is the woman will be violent, seen that creeping in, a dysfunction women don’t want, believe me. My trip alone around the world showed me women are safe, I only received kindness and help if I needed directions. I found men as usual to be really nice and I have no fear of them. I am sure there will be no interest in Hollywood to talk about the real power of women (and men) in the state of consciousness that is loving and kind, that is not sexy enough, yet for me as a woman I see nothing more beautiful. The depiction of violence is more fun to make men feel they are heroes saving the women, how many women have saved men? Heaps. How many have pulled them back from self destruction, loved them to the point where they feel happiness and confidence to face the world, how many have really shown them kindness and created a home. I see so many female heroes but it is mainstream and again, not sexy from mindsets that look for addiction rather than truth. The false stereotypes are what drive confusion in gender, facilitate divorces and teach erroneous role plays so far from the reality of who we all are.

So for overcoming war within we must look at our negative thoughts that we have learned and in a spirit of kindness and truth and face our own lies about ourselves. You can take it from me, you are nothing less than a miracle and your presence on this planet is a gift to all that know you. You do indeed have a purpose if you can disconnect from technology, lift your head out of the iphone and actually connect with people and feel the sunshine. Some will find that statement of being a miracle uncomfortable but when you feel it with warmth you are on your way to peace. Making peace with yourself is learning to love yourself as you are, no matter your looks, no matter disability, no matter career, you are the most unique person on this planet and you are hear for a reason. To know thyself and be true is the greatest heroism you can achieve, it is the mountain few climb as they are busy distracting themselves, but when you do you will never be bored. Never forget what I am saying. I know its true as my feeling is warm and I feel it in alignment with truth. Find your true peace through honesty.

When we transform negativity into positivity all wars will end, absolutely.  Of that I have no doubt.    Go and look at Byron Katie www.thework.com she will show you how to question your beliefs.  There are worksheets  under community resources that will help you to see the truth in you.  She says all wars end on paper.  I know she is right.

 

Future Thinking | 12 November 2012

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Is world peace possible?

 

We have witnessed fewer and fewer wars between countries since 1945, and so there is no reason to doubt that they could disappear like other horrifying acts.

Psychologist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker at Harvard University thinks it is completely conceivable that wars between countries might go the way of slave auctions, debtors’ prisons and other barbaric customs.

He argues that while there is plenty of violence around the world, and more ways of killing each other, we have witnessed fewer and fewer wars between countries since 1945. Not only, is war is at an all-time low, rates of homicide are far lower than they were in the Middle Ages, and issues like domestic violence are no longer seen as being acceptable.

At the recent Singularity Summit in San Francisco, he told BBC Future about how  we are predisposed to be violent but how we are also predisposed to be peaceful.

There are some parts to the brain that impel us to carry out violence, such as the thirst for revenge, feelings of tribalism, or the quest for dominance. But packed into the same skull there are motives that inhibit us from violence, like empathy and reason that allow us to see violence as a problem to be solved instead of a contest to be won.

If you would like to comment on this video or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

 

Mohandas Gandhi

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

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