Do I have your attention? Shall we go deeper? See Split Decision: election 2000Right now, I need to tend to chores and I need time to organize my notes.
Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Scott Ready.
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10/14/2000: It's been a busy week for foreign affairs as the world continues
dow the same ruts it has been in for too long. Here are some thoughts to shift
us out of old habits and towards a new vision.
As the Middle East heats up again, a few thoughts on the Arts of Peace are in order.
A lasting and profound peace is more than a truce or a cease-fire. It is a wholly new
way of thinking and relating to what is different from oneself. It demands a new heart.
Consider Luke 11:23
"He that is not with me is against me:
and he that gathereth not with me scattereth."
This statement is from the old habit of dividing the world into opposites. It is
virtually a declaration of war. The Koran also makes the error of insisting
"you are either with us or against us." Forked language as such inevitably causes
hatred, crucifixions and false divisions. It is founded on a belief in shallow
dichotomies that are mistakenly taken literally, bones and all.
Before one splits the world into a black and white rendering of those who are
"with us" and those who are "against us", it might have a blessed wholeness that
transcends such distinctions. There is a physical basis for this possibility.
The quantum physicist Neils Bohr had a glimmer of it when he extended his
complementary way of thinking and wrote about a peaceful and open world.
Bohr's approach has deep roots in the scientific tradition of seeking knowledge
that is independent of our minds and free of beliefs.
Neutrality is not an option for military planners and strategists just as it is not an
option in Luke 11:23. In a recent "debate" between Gore and Bush, no one expressed
any reservations concerning our bombing of Yugoslavia, Iraq or even Vietnam. In each
case, we blew up bridges and disrupted the lives of millions of people up and down
essential rivers. The civilians that we impacted wanted nothing more than to be left out
of the conflict. Meanwhile, the despots or dictators that were the actual target of our
wrath escaped unharmed.
Gore and Bush think they know how the USA should apply its military force, and yet neither
can empathize with the majority of world citizens who don't want to pick a side in each and
every conflict. The vast Switzerland of neutral terrain in which one lives with differences is
beyond their imaginations. They are blocked by the pre-WWII notion of isolationism. We need
to overcome the habit of reducing the world to black and white caricatures of those who are for
us and those who are against us. The pinheaded desire to blow up bridges has its symbolic
ramifications. Other foolish strategies have included the destruction of water treatment plants,
sewer systems, electric grids, and medical systems. Where are the James Bonds who can do the
secretive and precise work? A bomb that destroys a peoples' means for basic sanitation can't be
any smarter than the people and advisors who deploy it. These failings in the Arts of War could
be avoided if we were more advanced in the Arts of Peace.
There is strife in the Middle East because opposing sides think their neighbors are either friend
or foe and nothing more. They can neither respect nor tolerate differences. They are blind to the
vast middle ground, the demilitarized zone of love and peace, wherein one is open, unbiased and
serenely above the fray. One need not take a hard stand on everything. An impartial God rains and
shines on the "good" and "bad" equally. There is war outside because there are conflicting elements
inside. Divided we fall. We need to get beyond simplistic notions of one group being on one side
and the rest being in the enemy's camp. In addition to being right or wrong, one can be just "different".
There is strength and virtue in diversity. We need not fear that entities that are not specifically for us
are necessarily against us.
Where blood has already been spilt, there will be revenge and retribution.
It takes generations for such angers to subside. The cycle will not be broken
until we stop dividing what in reality is whole and connected. To break this
habit we need a strong and compelling vision of an alternative.
Do I have your attention? Shall we go deeper? See Split Decision: election 2000
Right now, I need to tend to chores and I need time to organize my notes.
Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Scott Ready.
Send a comment, be heard ... or jump to Main Menu .. or .. What's New ... or ..
.. Split Decision: election 2000 .. or .. Magic without Magic .. or .. Bit by Bit ...