How to Resolve the Middle East Conflict

I don’t have a television so I wasn’t aware of the latest killings in the Middle East.  I would like to send my love to those families who are suffering due to their loss.  I found myself observing more activity around the conflict on Facebook.  I found myself being drawn to look at the Middle East, Israeli/Palestinian conflict, in particular.  I am in the middle of putting together a presentation on conflict resolution and wellbeing.  As I look over the various videos and documents available on the internet I remember a poem I wrote on this issue and the importance of forgiveness.  What if I was to propose the thought that all negativity is untrue?  What if we were to explore conflict as the very nature of separation where one party believes they are right and the other wrong and visa versa.  What if both were wrong? what if both were right?  What then?

What comes to my mind is values, not cultural values, but universal values.  The values that are inherent within humanity always unite.  Why is it that they always unite?  It is because it is the nature of humans to unite not separate for their very survival.  Their security, their community, their children’s future is connected to unity not separation.  As groups united there are many benefits in the sense of belonging, in the sense of trust, security, economies of scale and so on.  From a universal perspective it is natural selection that we unite not separate, as the latter leads to our mutual destruction.  Some could call it MAD, mutually assured destruction.  The moment the energy of fear becomes the dominant arbiter then destruction naturally flows as fear will break down, push away, resist and destroy that which it fears.  If fears are inherent within a cultural story repeated infinitem, then people will believe the fear is true and that then leads to polarised positions unable to move, unable to find a new story.  Imagine if Jesus and Mohammad were in the same room.  Imagine how they would see conflict.  I am sure Jesus would speak of loving each other, love thy neighbour comes to mind easily.  Mohammad would speak of mercy, how could anyone harm another if mercy was there mantra.  So how is it that politics or the intent for power over or influence controls the hearts and minds of the many?  I would venture it is because universal values have not been taught.  If people on both sides came into the understanding of values such as empathy, responsibility, honesty, love and compassion imagine how they would respond to violent events?  If people understood that all violence is a call for help, that it is most definitely driven by fear not power (within) then how would they respond to violence?  If people understood that division is untruth, that we are one humanity and anyone promoting division was speaking untruth, I wonder how the people would respond?  What if people had an awareness of international fear, such as the fear of not controlling oil, beyond that the fear of not being able to fuel economies, beyond that the fear of not having material wealth, beyond that the fear of poverty, beyond that the fear of no power, what would people then realise about fear?  What if the people knew that they all had power, they had the power to envisage a new future that their thoughts were powerful and that they could come up with a new story, a new future for all their children, a place where they play together rather than fight?  Perhaps the wisest ones who have come to teach would say to them that is the promise of love and mercy. Would they work for that new future or would they remain stuck in negative emotions which perpetuate the suffering?  What if they knew they had the future in their hands, that no-one could decide for them?  I wonder what they would choose?  There was a saying ‘Suppose They Gave A War and Nobody Came?‘  When Gandhi stood up to the British he didn’t hate the people, even though they were treating the Indians as second class citizens, some had to crawl on the road when a British person came.  Gandhi chose nonviolence which is the same as the statement above.  He chose not to fight but chose to speak truth to power.  He did it without hatred and eventually the British left.  Some may say that happened through the natural course of events but in my opinion he garnered the will of the people to not participate in laws that were unjust.  He moved the nation through truth and love.  Nonviolence was used in the second Intifada.  I recall interviewing the Women in Black who were a peace group in Israel, academics who had used nonviolence and undertaken vigils to raise awareness in Israel of the issue with the politicians.  I remember one of the women telling me there was a woman who was very brave who would talk to people.  She believed in dialogue even if they hotly disagreed.  Nonetheless, she didn’t lose her cool but felt that reason would work.  They did this vigil for years and still are going today.  The Jerusalem vigil is held every Friday from 1 to 2 pm at Hagar Square (listed on maps as Paris Square). They are based across the world http://www.womeninblack.org/en/vigil

There are many lights for peace.

To keep the candle burning much depends on seeing conflict and violence differently.  Much will depend on healing the past and envisaging a new future.  Much will rely on people understanding they had the power all along, and no-one is powerless.  It is not hard to see the most powerful persons in history (and her story, not recorded as much) were the ones who lived universal values and kept on speaking it as a truth.  Others came to them not because of their charisma, but because something within them recognised the truth.  It is no mistake many of these teachers were driven by a desire for peace, reconciliation and love.  They lead by example and did not seek to manipulate truth for self interest, they sought best interest as they saw themselves as one with the people.  They lived in a unity consciousness.

What would it take for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to change its dynamic.  It would take a powerful intention on both sides to envisage a new future for children.  It would require a return to all love based teachings to remember that fear is the only enemy of Israelis and Palestinians.  That they are all family and have feuded for years because trust and fairness was not at the table.  It would have to be a round table where equality is the voice heard loudest.  For no person is superior to another and all have equal wisdom when they tap into universal truth.   When people see that the ways of the past do not work and will not work, they will start to move slowly then quickly towards that new future.  I sense it is not too far away as the world starts to communicate more, and we start to realise that the very evil we see is the shadow side of humanity that denies truth and seeks to make enemies of others.  What if all enemies were within you.  Where do you think you have the power for change?  You only have power over yourself, when you change the world changes, is a truism.  Yet I know how hard it is to look at the self and really examine our true intent, our real fears and the dialogue we’ve told ourselves.  But when we start there a real peace process begins.  For only you can be the change, no-one can make peace for you.  No-one has the magical answer.  You can only return to the truth that has been said by those who know to tell the blind horseman on the blind horse that he/she is heading for the abyss! It is to know that what you see in your world is a reflection of self.  That we are all one, one species, one family and one energy and we are physically here for a very short time.  Yet what we say and do sends out a ripple of who we think we are.  Imagine if we knew we were unlimited and that each of us creates the world we see.  I think no-one would need a saviour to return.  They would see they are their own saviour.  That is good news.  For each person has the power to choose love over fear and that is a very powerful statement of change.  I’ve practiced it in my own life when it has been very tough, and what happened was when I learned to love myself, there was no guilt.  To love another that appears tough to others, as they see them as having no good in them at all.  Is that true they have no good?  Can you be absolutely sure they have no good?  How do you feel how do you react when you believe the thought?  Who would you be without the thought.  Then turn around your projections to the other, opposite and self.  This of course is The Work of Byron Katie (www.thework.com).  All conflict starts within us and is perpetuated when we believe our negative thoughts.  When we are in denial always it will appear the problem is outside ourselves, in truth it always is within us, as we are all one. 

What I am sharing will be the future of conflict resolution.  There are many new teachers here such as Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle who are reminding people that if they wish conflict and pain to end all change starts from within and to live in the present moment.  All suffering comes from our thoughts which original from the left hemisphere of the brain where the separate ego exists.  I recently saw a wonderful video of Jill Bolte Taylor who is a brain neuro scientist who had a stroke to discover intimately how the left/right hemispheres work.  Can you believe when she was in the right hemisphere she felt the unity, the oneness, the love and the peace of humanity and herself as unlimited.  The left brain was non stop chatter and fear based, it was the experience of the separated self.  This is her video – a must see if you want to know what peace feels like http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight .  Most of us are taught to think not feel, we are given preference in society if we develop our intellectual capacities.  The feminine feeling side is minimised, and beneath that, is a belief that it is weak.  We tend to weaken when we ‘feel’ as we naturally move to unity not separation.  We are likely to share, give for free or discount something, it is harder to get more money when you love others.  That doesn’t bode well for self interest.  Yet all artists know that peace can be found through creativity.  A great speaker who inspired me about the power of creativity was Sir Ken Robinson, here is an excellent video where he speaks of the importance in educating children in creativity http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity  All schools kill creativity in favour of the intellect as we see work prospects there, we do not value the development of our our humanity as our purpose in life. 

So the real problem the Middle East conflicts demonstrate to our world mind made wars.  The fact is we intellectualise life and we seek to dominate others rather than address our real fears and insecurity.  Instead we project onto others the enemy and we fight that, it can never be resolved until truth sits at the table.  Truth is like the image of the blaming finger pointing, truth is the three pointing back.  For always real truth leads you back to yourself for inner resolution.  It cannot be found in peace treaty’s or negotiation.  Conflict is never outside ourselves we feel it within and it is based on how we think.  No human being is completely bad, as Marshall Rosenberg says it is about understanding the real needs of the person.  When he interviews people in conflict he is always sensing their feelings and identifying what they need.  Imagine if all conflict was dealt with in this way rather than some form of risk management where the person who appears threatening is contained, jailed or removed.  We still don’t have the skills to deeply resolve issues and learn how to share power fairly.  If a person is affecting anothers life they do indeed have a right to say something, as they are affected. When we open our minds to others and see ourselves, conflict dynamics will change.

Here are some interesting thoughts of wisdom:

The Way of the Heart… is that pathway that begins with a commitment to healing and awakening, and is founded on the premise that you are perfectly free at all times. And everything that is experienced has been by your choice. And at no time has there been any other cause.

It is the way unknown to the world. It is a way unknown to many who would call themselves spiritual teachers, for it is not a way of resting on, or becoming dependent on, magical means. It is, rather, that pathway which cultivates within you the decision to turn your attention upon your own mind, upon your own behaviour, upon what is true and real for you, moment to moment so that you may study it, consider it, feel it, and breathe the Light of Spirit through it, with this one goal: to constantly retrain the mind so that it assumes complete responsibility in each moment.

It is that way that brings about the reversal of every thought you have ever had about any one or any thing. It is that way, alone, which allows you to pass back through the eye of the needle, and to come to rest in the Perfect Peace from which you have sprung forth.

We are all peace when we return to the truth of who we are, you will be smiling at your enemy to see you are looking in the mirror.   Yet love was always the answer.  There was never a question about that.  May I have the strength to forgive all those who have hurt me, may I forgive myself for holding negativity and believing it was true.  May I start a new life where I shine my own light and refuse to judge anyone.  May I start to examine every fearful thought within me and transform it into positivity.  May I find the courage to love, honestly and without attachment. For as I change the world changes, as I am linked to all that is.

With that I would say to you ‘our happy destiny is unavoidable’.  I am you and you are me.  What we really want is love and peace.  Of that I have no doubt.  When we tire of the drama we will choose it.

May this bring you peace and start a new narrative, where we live we are one.  This is the greatest gift you can give the next generation.