Geopolitical Games in the Middle East in Search of Power or Peace?

I had an inspiration this morning to look at Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. I am not versed in shia/sunni politics nor the shifting alliances of the conflicts occuring in the Middle East but thought I’d have a look and see where intuition takes me.

As I listened to the video below words jump out at me like ‘vindictive’, ‘instigator’, ‘opponents’, ‘tension’, ‘insurrection’, etc. I am interested in learning about the alliances, the warning signals and the desire for a changing geopolitical map. I see a chessboard where the players are caught up in their own interests in a world divided on national, ethnic, religious, economic lines, all power chips as each seeks to further its own interests separately from the other. I find it interesting that those who have stated opposition to terrorism support groups labelled in this way that are overthrowing regimes and side with those who are either not of their religion or form of government, in other contexts are seen as the ‘other’, yet when our interests are served new partnerships emerge. The economics and power interests form the glue of those alliances not love or a sense of a higher calling. Yet some would argue they are responding to a higher call. I put the word ‘love’ in the sentence deliberately as it will never be mentioned, yet it is the greatest power, it is the pink elephant in the room that never is mentioned as it can’t be seen in these military/political dynamics. Yet love, virtues, values come to play when the fighting is over. Gandhi comes to mind in this moment his attempt to show that nonviolence and love was the greatest power. I also think of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a values document that emerged after the bloodshed of the Second World War. I smile when I think of religions and how they can be both holy and violent as they see god separated and always on their side. Yet beneath all conflict love is on every side. Yet when in a state of anger or cognitive analysis love is not present in the hearts and minds of people, the power of love is blocked in favour of winning and solving perceived challenges. The emotions are seen to get in the way or rational logic, but how logical is killing people and shifting allegiences and how does that bring peace and security as the stated objective of the United Nations? How United are Nations?

Interestingly, we have to separate or divide ourselves in order to see the other as ‘other’ or an ‘enemy’, it also gives us a false sense of power in numbers and/or resources. We need to feel justified we are fighting for a cause that benefits our side rather than working towards unity of the whole planet and using resources to restore the environment back to homeostasis. Yet few would realise the inner wars are the toxins that produce the outer environmental imbalance as we seek profit over wisdom or another way of seeing it is insecurity seeking security through money. Yet what if our true security rested on learning cooperation, diversity, adaptability and peace.

I wonder what unity would look like? I think of words actioned like ‘brothers and sisters’, ‘families’, ‘a future for children’, ‘preserving the planet’, ‘humanity’, ‘kindness’, ‘forgiveness’, ‘inclusivity’, ‘win/win’. These are the words from the future looking back at a world that still is playing out ancient power plays that change the chess board but never leave the game to discover there were other more exciting vistas worth exploring. Yet in the future we will either learn to work together for the greater good, realising that all win when all win or a future where it is a fight to the bottom. A positive future can be hard to see from a position of competition, division and unquestioned thinking, yet those who do understand the power of love can see the children fighting in the playground and come into help them to see it is only a game. The key protagonists are pulled aside and told that the purpose of the game was never about winning (identification with ego, division, violence) it is how we play the game (fairness, enjoyment, expanding skills and friendship). Sportmanship, or call it the Geneva Conventions or international law, sought to bring some rules to the game, to find fairness and dignity that we can indeed play together, as we are in truth a world family.

I always remember Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyed series where she divided her class by eye colour. She told the primary school children that blue eyed kids were superior (we could put white or pink in there, Europe, US, Australia etc.) and that brown eyed were inferior (put in brown, we can see Middle East, Africa, Asia) were inferior. She proved it with evidence and then watched the children slide into conflict as they battled each other as one side was better than the other. Even when she gave them tests to do the blue eyed kids did better because they believed they were superior. Then she decided to swap the groups and said she had made a mistake that really brown eyed children were superior and blue eyed inferior. She spoke of the recessive blue eyed gene and the dominant brown eyed. She spoke of the birth of civilisation out of Africa as the original people. She divided the class again but in opposite directions. Again the children divided and the brown eyed picked on the blue eyed and in the playground they fought. Then a test was applied and guess what, the brown eyed did better. The children were interviewed years later as adults, they never forgot the lesson on discrimination they were taught. Jane Elliott went through her own experience in the South of the United States were racism was rapant, she was ostrocised, her children were ostrocised as she showed the people the truth of their own discrimination through the eyes of primary school children. She later on became well known and continued her work with adults showing them discrimination through gender, looks, race and so on. It helped reveal people to themselves, it assisted in helping them see their own projections that were placed on others and calling them ‘less than’. The conflict continues if people believe it.

I see the same games played out on the international stage. I see a playground that we call a global market where money is the aim of the game and power. We seek the power as we feel powerless if we don’t identify and accumulate materialism which is the symbol of success. We follow the media chants or political rhetoric as we divide and suddently see the ‘other’ where neighbours once were. It is so easy for the people to allow themselves to be divided. Yet in truth they are equal and they all have equal wisdom and power. No colour, race, relgion or creed is superior to another.

If you see the one energy behind the game plays call it love, god, nature whatever, you will notice we are a species on a planet amongst billions of other species spinning in space around a central sun. Yet in our worlds on the ground what others say becomes our god and we believe it blindly. We don’t critically appraise and ask ‘will this bring unity or divide us?’. If it is divisive where one is pitched against another you can tell it does not come from truth. If you seek truth you will find freedom. It was Gandhi who said God is Truth and Truth is God. Perhaps what he is saying is simply seeing ‘what is’ and reflecting the mirror back nonviolently. I prefer ‘loving what is’ these days as I am learning to see there is no enemy only my own thoughts about something. So when I wade into the Middle East dynamics and imagine who reads this blog they will sift for whose side are you on? I’d have to say the side of love which seeks a win/win for all. That can only happen when you see the other as yourself. The only way I can make that clearer is do you identify yourself as a body or do you see yourself as a spirit living on earth? Yes that is cosmic but after doing my own near death research I realised we continue after death. I was told clearly that people on passing over realised that there purpose on earth is to love each other. They described an experience on the other side where they were met with a love that was unimaginable. Does that change the chessboard of your life? Does that change how we see ourselves and the importance of learning love? How do we treat each other, the environment and what systems do we create when love is the purpose? Are we ready for that new civilisation or do we play this game out to learn the hard lessons that we all lose when our environment and economic systems collapse? We took our eye off the ball and started fighting the other team forgetting why we are here. Do we choose to sit together and work out conflict and find ways to co-exist in ways where all are served? Can we truly govern through service? (placing selflessness ahead of vested interest), can we truly represent god’s will or higher intelligence, nature etc. by learning to love your enemy? can you step into those shoes or is it easier to just follow and say you are not responsible? Those would be my questions as I watch the geopolitics play out on the chessboard of power which in truth is the game of powerlessness in search of power not peace. For no individual, nation or group can ever achieve power or peace when they see themselves as powerless and seeking to form alliance to feel the power for short term interests.

In my view you can only know your power when it comes from loving all and a desire to see the best outcome for all. When you really find power you can only love others, it is called unconditional love which all religions promote and is encouraged in parenting to produce healthy balanced children. I think finally and slowly I am understanding peace. I am still working on it and not perfect but as a clown (love throwing that in) I can see the humour in our folly. I can see the joke is on all of us until we truly seek the truth that we are here to remember who we are. But just note it won’t come through thinking, you have to feel it in your heart as a knowing. That is when truth sets you free and you throw down your weapons and laugh. Those weapons can be arguments designed to win, where you are right, where you demonise the other, where you find ways to make them wrong, where you hate and criticise and so on. When you see you didn’t need to defend yourself against false ideas, that the only truth was you are fighting yourself and thinking it is the other you are fighting, that is when clarity re-surfaces. The negativity driving the conflict exists no-where but inside people who are fighting and believing divisive thoughts. Peace can only be found in a peaceful heart that cannot know all the reasons, Byron Katie calls it the ‘don’t know mind’ and states it is the beginning of humility. I teach that in peace education as the most intelligent statement ‘I could be wrong’. It is intelligent as it makes room for possibilities and for you to re-examine your position and realise there are many sides and ways of seeing. Those who have dictatorial dispositions cannot see the other side, we can also label that as a bullying approach. When the mind is rigid and inflexible it will see that it is being attacked rather than an opponent as a teacher. The story will be created to justify why the other is wrong. This type of mindset comes from great fear and separation and manifests as defence then war. This can play out in personal relationships or geopolitical conflicts. Byron Katie says all war in not intelligent, you cannot force others to change, it is hopeless to try. All war can only be resolved on paper, she advises to fill out her worksheet of 5 questions which help people examine their thoughts for truth. I suggest any who are touched by this flow of thoughts go to www.thework.com and open your mind to another way of creating peace. By questioning your own negative thoughts and transforming yourself. When you change, the world changes. Of that I am sure. I am not saying this is easy as we so want to blame the other, but it takes courage to look within and see the enemy as yourself. Myself included.

Here is one commentary of how the game is played out in the Middle East. May we transcend the violence and find the real peace within.

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/08/17/319137/saudi-arabia-after-destabilizing-mideast/