Spiritual Perspective on War
In the world there exists a universal consciousness that connects all of us in spite of our differing religious and political beliefs. Our individual fear ultimately combines to influence politics and religions. The things that we judge negatively in other people, their beliefs, their cultures or their countries are reflections of our own individual fears. The false ideals we use to define ourselves are fragile and often easily threatened. The pain we carry is constantly looking for a channel to express itself. Our collective pain ultimately releases itself when our beliefs are threatened. Belief in what? Belief in the dramatized news stories being broadcasted, the wars being fought or belief in the lies that we long to believe are true. Political propaganda is constantly being used by opposing political parties to herd public opinion like a flock of sheep. The same media drama that attracts viewers and sells advertising is also polluting the minds of those who are vulnerable to fear. Fear breeds extremism. Americans are not immune from extremism as seen in the unjustified preemptive war on Iraq. The so-called American dream became threatened by what turned out to be an illusion. For some reason Americans were temporarily drawn into this illusion. The American government even pulled other countries in to ultimately form a coalition. Unjustified fear of terrorism haunted us and the war on terror became an excuse to release our collective pain. As the bombs fell on Iraq many of us felt vindicated and entertained by the so-called war on terror. Why?
Human spiritual weakness causes people to strongly identify who they are with specific religious belief systems and political views. When one is enmeshed with religion or politics their individual identity becomes threated by opposing views. God is great. God does not need religions or governments to defend Him. Now the real question becomes what are these extremist defending anyway? Extremist are really protecting their identity when they go to war over religious or political beliefs. Extremest construct an identity by defining themselves as good and those who oppose their beliefs as evil. By creating an enemy or opposing force their false identity is born and reinforced. The battle of good verses evil uses the end to justify the means actually justifying evil behavior in the process. For example American authorities suddenly declared torture was justifiable because they were protecting good people from the evil people. Muslim extremist justify suicide bombing. Christian extremists justify favoritism toward the so-called holy land of Israel. The end result of the last 8 years is today America has more enemies, our economy is struggling, our status in the world is suffering and we as a super power are causing the world economy to falter. Human spiritual weakness breeds increased hatred and in the case of America breeds increased risks to our own national security. Unity requires equality. So how do we reach equality?
In the world there are two opposing forces these forces are love and fear. Love brings people together while fear divides people. Love breeds collaboration and increased creativity, while fear breeds hatred and destroys potential. The real enemy to a country, a religious belief system or an individual is fear. Fear is having more faith in evil then you do in good. In the case of religious and political extremism the underlying fear is that God cannot defend Himself or that your individual beliefs may be proven wrong. Extremists fear that they have based their entire life and all that they are on a lie. During the Bush administration the ideals of the average American traveled to insanity and back again. Today a completely different type of American president reflects the lessons learned by the average American. Love is a force that awakens people from insanity. True love creates awakening pain. America lost the lives of young soldiers, created more enemies and division in the world. Through the Bush administration we declared America as the good hero and many other nations as the terrorist enemies. I will be the first to say that Obama is not our Messiah or Saviour. My prayer is that through the Obama administration we will send a different message to the world, a message that rises above fear, religious and political beliefs. The only way to cure the problems that are dividing the world is to overcome fear with love. Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9
