Peace/War: A Spiritual Perspective

As American’s we literally live in a culture of fear that is perpetuated by the media and our own government. Rather than ask ourselves if we are going to fight back or not, we need to ask ourselves specifically what we are fighting against and if that fighting is ethical on our part. I do not take the words of the media or of our government blindly and I think the path to evolution is paved with awareness First of all, we hear the media tell us that Saddam Hussein is a monster and that we must attack Iraq in order to protect our safety. Granted, the man is a completely negative energy that has perpetrated countless crimes against his own people BUT is it necessary for our safety to go in and wipe out Iraq? Before 1990, when he was serving US interests, Saddam Hussein was not painted as a “monster” by the media. It was in this period that his most despicable crimes took place. His invasion of Iran, his use of chemical weapons and his campaign of slaughter against the Kurdish population. At this time Washington did not call him a monster, rather it provided him with economic aid, military intelligence and equipment that could have been and probably was used for his weapons of mass destruction that we are hearing so much about. So what is the real reason why the US government wants to go to war with Iraq? Well, if you do you research, then the answer is instantly apparent. Iraq is the world’s second largest reserve of oil, which the US government wants to control. There is so much more to this that it would take an entire novel to explain. Basically, when you see protesters holding up signs that say No Blood For Oil there are a lot of reasons behind it. It’s not just an idea that somebody pulled out of their ass on a Saturday morning. What I’m saying is that we need to look beyond what that flickering living room box is telling us. I don’t take anyone's story for granted, but I especially don’t take it for granted when it’s coming from the government. The Bush Administration has enough underhanded and “unethical” agendas to last us for another hundred years. It infuriates me that the fear tactic is being used to convince the American public that this war is necessary to protect ourselves. North Korea has weapons of mass destruction so why aren’t we carpet bombing North Korea? Simple...because they are not capable of serving the REAL interests which are oil and the pushing of so-called American superiority. Make no mistake. This will be another Vietnam. It will be a mess and we will have the blood on our hands for the next hundred years. I can’t tell you how many Vietnam Vets I have talked to who are so completely shaken by what they experienced back there that they can’t even function in day to day life. There seem to be an abundance of them here in San Francisco and whenever I see them on the street it rips my heart out. That a government could do this to it’s own people is beyond my comprehension. That a government can force it’s people to go overseas and kill people is something I will never understand. You can list all the reasons you want but there is NEVER a reason for taking out a village of women and children. I do not want to see my cousins sent off to war and come home shell-shocked. If we are going to disarm one country for safety reasons, then we need to disarm them all INCLUDING OUR OWN...and while we are at it let’s impeach Bush, because he and his religious right-backed administration are probably the biggest threats to human rights that we have had since the Mcarthy era. What I am saying is that if it’s safety we are concerned about then the problem doesn’t dwell in Iraq, it dwells in our own country first. And if you want to take it down to the deepest root level, it dwells in each and every one of us as an individual. Let’s just say Sadaam Hussein is going to drop a big chemical weapon on the US. A meteor could drop down tomorrow morning and wipe out half of the East Coast. The West Coast could fall off into the sea. If it is the collective US karma for it to be obliterated, then it’s going to happen either way (which by the way, the US has accrued some pretty heavy karma thus far). For me personally, it is not worth the killing of innocent civilians. It is not worth the death of our soldiers. It is not worth racking up yet even more tokens in the US karma bag. If you get your news from beyond the mainstream media, you will come to realize that Saddam Hussein is not such an all-encompassing threat as the media and our government would have us believe. It’s not time to be fearing for our lives..it is time to fear for the life of our collective civilization. That we would even have such things as “weapons of mass destruction” anywhere is the issue to be most concerned about. That there are children dying of starvation at the age of 5 in Africa while we throw away tons of food on a daily basis is something to be concerned about. If we are to become aware, we need to think for ourselves. Forget the television and what “people are saying”. Get out there and read a million different perspectives, piece things together and then sit still and quiet for 15 minutes and listen to your inner voice. Draw your own conclusions and find the common sense in a situation. Look at what the media does and how it is capable of distorting our views. After September 11th we were all gripped by fear, naturally. The media took that fear and milked it for every drop of blood it had in it. Next we were hearing that to be a true American we had to go out and buy things. Go shopping, be a good consumer they said. As if going to the local shopping mall would prevent us from further acts of terror. Then out came the “commemorative” coins, cups, dolls, hats, flags and toilet seat covers. If our government and our media would take advantage of the deaths of our people and our collective fears...then what makes you think they wouldn’t use the fear tactic to get us all rallying for an unjust war. A war for oil. A war for avenging the guy who pissed off Georgies daddy? It really doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Watch the pattern repeat itself: Instill Fear and it will have people rally around the cause. Just look at the terminology that they use on the news Sadaam’s Reign Of Terror, Showdown With Sadaam, Are We Safe?, America’s New War, Terrorism in the US Just this evening they had a poll on CNN that asked who posed a bigger threat to the United States, Osama Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. What kind of poll is that? How do we know? They are milking it for all it’s worth. The statement of soldiers dying for our safety is irrelevant to me simply because I do not believe that we are unsafe (see first few paragraphs). But I do have the utmost respect for someone who would put their life on the line for their country. Whether they believe what I believe about safety and protection is irrelevant and I have to distance myself from that personal view for a moment and look at those souls as very courageous individuals who are doing what their soul needs to accomplish in this lifetime. That is their path and they are to be applauded for taking their own personal actions. Whether I believe or don’t believe “IN” what they are doing.. I believe “WITH” what they are doing, which is following the path to peace in the way that their soul chooses to. The personal path of the army and it’s people is to try to protect and have peace for it’s country. The personal path of myself is to protect and have peace for the earth. The path of another may be to protect and have peace for their children and families. The path of another may be to protect and have peace for animals. The path of another may be to protect and have peace for themselves. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. As a collective, war does not represent peace but if you break the components of it down then we have some men out there who are true peacekeepers. When I applaud them I applaud their individual fire without taking into account innocent civilians lives because they are caused by the collective “war machine”...which is comprised of people who are searching for peace and is comprised of many people who don’t even want to be there in the first place. Asking what we really *Do* is an important question that we all need to ask ourselves. It’s one thing to talk about things but it is another thing to get out there and effect change. I think part of the answer is in the individual paths of peace I talked about earlier. If we can start looking at ourselves not as individual “personalities” but as a collective circle of energy then we will realize that each path no matter how small, long, winding or crooked is going to eventually connect and lead to the same thing. Realize that we don’t end where our fingertips do. The only thing separating me and you from Saddam Hussein from George Bush is a different set of thoughts and bodies and life circumstances and karmas on the physical plane. When you take it up 2 or 3 levels it is just a light. Get enough lights trudging down a path of peace and goodness and we will be Aurora Borealis. It will take thousands of years for that evolution to happen....but it will come. That is, if we don’t blow ourselves and everything else to smithereens first. Did anyone see the movie Happenstance starring Audrey Tautou from Amelie? It is an amazing film that illustrates the chaos theory known as the “Butterfly Effect.” A butterfly flapping its wings over the Atlantic ocean can produce a typhoon in the Pacific. It all has to do with cause-and-effect or what some people would call Chance, or Fate, or an Act of God. Regardless of the terminology, chaos theory plays a key role in human interaction, as well. I urge everyone to see this film. It has actually surpassed Amelie as my favorite film because it is so true. So I suppose the best way to sum up all of these paths to peace is indeed with the butterfly theory. Every action, no matter how small has the capacity to make a difference. It doesn’t take going off to war or staging a peace march to do that. If you have a child and you love your child with every fiber of your being, and you raise that child to be an aware and loving person...then you have changed the world. You really have. If you are a mother you can answer that question of “What am I willing to do?” just as easily as I can with all of my groups and marches and causes...just as easily as a teacher can....just as easily as anyone who stands for peace can. How can you believe in peace and not do anything? Even if on a spiritual level, we are all doing something. If we are simply willing to evolve then that is a HUGE step and no act of war and no fire from a cannon can compete with that.