Do you also feel nauseated when hearing the word ‘Syria’ and ‘chemical attacks’? A nausea that comes, not only from feeling appalled by what is happening, but from the fact that it is happening again and again and again? Do you also think: “but what can I do about?”.
When I have heard about Syria, I’ve experienced a ‘silence’ within me, like there is nothing left to say, because this is yet another war, another tragedy on top of many others that I have read about in history books and watched happening on TV throughout my life.
With previous wars and especially when I was younger, I would get furious and angry and I would yell at the TV and I would talk to people about it and have long conversations sharing my opinions and perspectives on who was at fault and who was responsible or the victims of the wars. Now – when I look at the point of Syria within me…. Nothing. Complete silence. The experience is one of not having the strength to fight anymore, not having the gusto to even pretend like I care or muster up an opinion about chemical attacks and the role of Obama and the US in the entire conflict and debacle. I haven’t gone into the details of why there is a war in Syria or who used chemical weapons or why someone would do such a thing.
With previous conflicts I had opinions and perspectives and I would feel better about myself when I uttered these, when I yelled at the TV. Within this there was a form of a hope that I somehow with my analysis was partaking in sorting this war or conflict out, that I was taking a stand through showing my disdain for the abuse being accepted and allowed. However this time, with this hopelessness – there a realization that nothing is going to change and that the situation on earth is getting worse and worse without any sign of improvement. The ‘funny’ thing about wars is that they’re made out to appear ‘temporary’, like war is the last straw in a conflict and that after this war, “everything will be alright”, because the conflict has been solved, the bad guys have been punished and brought to justice.
But when in the history of the earth has there ever NOT been a war? Even when there hasn’t been ‘great wars’ with nations fighting each other, there have been thousands of civil wars with horrific genocides and crimes against humanity. There is even so many of these ‘small wars’ happening that most of us don’t know half of what’s going on, on this planet. And this is not even including the war carried out by humans against wildlife, nature and animals in general.
So here with Syria, history is repeating itself and I realize that me speaking about it, me having opinions about it, yelling at the TV – is absolutely and utterly pointless. So there is a silence within me. A silence saying: “What’s the point? It’s all going to continue anyway, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
And then what do we humans tend to do? We lull ourselves into ‘light’ ‘positive’ forms of entertainment and preoccupation like hanging out with friends, watching comedies on TV, spending time with family, shopping or going out partying. Because we feel like we have a right to do that, because what’s happening in the world is so gruesome and since we can’t do anything about it any way, we might as well enjoy ourselves and have a positive outlook, feeling like we’re being dragged down into the mud were we to focus on what’s really going on in the world.
What we don’t realize or admit to ourselves in self-honesty however – – is that the stance of recoiling is a part of the creation of war. We are thus a part of this war, of this genocide, this tragedy whether we like to or not. Because we’re co-inhabitants of this earth and everything that happens is intricately interconnected, even though we don’t see and realize this and go about our business.
But the solution is not to recoil, the solution is not to give up in apathy and retract into a state of blissful ignorance and the solution is certainly not to yell at the TV and believing that sharing our opinions is going to make a difference.
So what is the solution?
I cannot tell you what the solution for Syria is, because this requires an intricate understanding of all the dimensions involved which I simply don’t have and won’t pretend to have. Obviously at the end of the day all these conflicts are about money and territory and world domination.
However what I can share is what I’ve seen for myself and that is first and foremost what I mentioned before: that everything happening on this earth is interconnected. The world works similar to a human body, where all parts are co-existing interdependently. And if there’s a ‘war’ going on somewhere in the body, the rest of the body is affected by it and can have contributed somehow to the situation, even if indirectly and subtly so.
I therefore cannot say that how I live has no impact or influence for example on the situation in Syria, I cannot say that how I live is completely isolated or separate from the situation in Syria, even though it seems so ‘far away’ and there aren’t any immediate connections. Because at the end of the day my life is also contingent upon money and I participate in consumer capitalism every day of my life and by the very fact that I believe that it is someone else’s responsibility to sort the wars out and that my life has no connection to what’s happening – I am accepting and allowing the war to continue. Why? Because I am not taking responsibility for this world, for stopping the wars, for creating peace. Now you might say: “but I’m only one person, what can I do?” – Well, all the soldiers fighting in Syria or Iraq are also only one person + one person + one person. The ‘casualties’ of children are equally one person + one person. The UN and the US government consists of one person + one person. And it is the individual actions by all these one person’s that is creating the totality of the situation, each playing their part in either creating or subverting the problem.
And here an important point to note as well is that we often here in the West and especially in Scandinavia where I am from, tend to boast ourselves on being ‘industrialized’ and ‘developed’ and ‘democratic’ countries causing us to see countries of war as ‘barbaric’ and ‘uncivilized’ – thereby giving ourselves a justification for accepting the existence of war. Because we say: “see, we can co-exist in harmony – so there must be something wrong with them over there. It’s a good thing we’re doing in stepping in and punishing the dictators.”
But if you have a look at your own life, the life of your circle, your family, your colleges and culture. Isn’t there a constant ‘warfare’ going on between people? Is your head not filled with thoughts of revenge and judgment and resentment towards specific people? Isn’t it a kind of social warfare going on between colleges, ex husbands and wives and even towards ourselves in our own minds? We’re no better than those declaring actual wars or those in positions of responsibility such as the UN or the US government – we are exactly like them and it is therefore war exists. It is not systems creating wars – it is humans. And we’re all exactly the same.
As such, a part of the solution is to turn the reflection of what is going on in Syria back on ourselves – and to investigate in self-honesty how we are accepting and allowing warfare within ourselves, because it is that same acceptance and allowance that is the reason why we accept and allow war in Syria. And make no mistake – we ARE accepting and allowing the war in Syria, even if we say that we’re ‘against’ it. Because we’re not taking all possible steps required to stop the wars, becoming active, get to understand the situation – or by placing ourselves in positions of influence to make a difference. Obviously we’re not here talking about being martyrs. And it is also obvious that one ‘activist’ or a couple hundred or even a thousand can’t make a difference by themselves We’ve seen that with the ‘Cove’ in Japan and we’ve seen it with the Occupy Wallstreet Movement. Standing in opposition to the powers that be is not going to change anything. But what can change what is going on is if we, if each of us as One person + One person makes a decision to stop accepting warfare within and as ourselves first and foremost – to start there. This also because, understanding our inner warfare, why and how we accept and allow wars within ourselves with each other, will contribute to us understanding why and how wars are created at a greater scale and stopping the wars in ourselves will assist in understanding what is required to stop these wars at a global scale.
This is what we have dedicated ourselves to do at Desteni. This is why we are here on the internet, writing blog after blog, making video after video – to assist and support ourselves and so each other to stop the inner wars, the inner deception, the inner greed, paranoia and self-interest, so that we can stand next to each other as One Person + One Person + One Person who becomes an example of a different way of living together on earth.
This is a start –but it is not the totality of the Solution. Because we obviously also require changing our world-systems from being based on the exact same premises; self-interest, greed, paranoia, deception and war – to systems based on the principles that we commit ourselves to Live – based on the basic principle of a Common Sense consideration for all life on earth as that which is best for all. Investigate Desteni, the Desteni I Process and the proposal of a Guaranteed Living Income System – for a solution to end all wars and the establishment of a dignified and peaceful way of co-existing on this Earth.