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The Holistic Mystic: |
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Do Humans Need Enemies?
by Lonny Brown, Ph.D. |
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It's the beginning of the Twenty-First Century and humanity isn't doing too well. As the world shrinks, the population explodes, resources dwindle, geo-politics destabilize, pandemics threaten, and the ecosystem chokes on our collective waste, a great vital question goes unanswered: why do we continue killing each other? As planet Earth's most "intelligent" endangered species, it behooves us humans to inquire into our own self-destructive behaviors, hopefully in time to change.
Some say fighting and killing are "human nature;" survival of the fittest.. it's in our genes. When it comes to human behavior, what you see is what you get, right? T'was ever thus.
True, the great Circle of Life includes death. In the natural world, killing is for food, and death is purposeful and impersonal. But why must we humans - unique among the creatures - have hatred, revenge and cruelty in our behavioral repertoire? Why is the history of our rise to planetary domination one of destruction, mass slaughter and brutal, wanton, intentionally inflicted suffering? Why - even now - are thousands of innocent victims being slaughtered, maimed, and rendered destitute around the world? How can we account for the what the contemporary spiritual teacher Eckart Tolle (The Power of Now) calls the mass insanity of human violence?
Despite a long tradition of inquiry into human aggression, (from The Naked Ape to Lord of the Flies), sociobiologists have yet to identify any survival advantages to torture, thrill-killing, terrorism, militarism, and their extreme extrapolation, modern geopolitical warfare. The dire consequences of these extra-vicious capacities are all-too evident on the nightly news, and begs the apocalyptic question, is humankind an evolutionary dead-end?
Do we really need enemies? The answer is, only as much as we need separation and isolation. Only self-importance makes others less. All the great world religions, wisdom traditions and teachers agree that the human ego's unique penchant for self-inflation - whether as pride, greed, fear, solipsism, hatred, aggression, and even self-loathing - is the root of all our ills.
Proceeding from the perfectly "normal" instinct to protect one's self, we are also will to fight for family, tribe, community, religion, or country. These are levels of ego, each justifying its battles more righteously, until dangerously-armed nation-states - always with God on their side - clash like enraged adolescents with badly bruised egos, hell-bent on mutual destruction. Tragically, warfare becomes equated with survival itself. The only self-killing species on earth must now evolve or die.
HOMO-ENLIGHTENEDUS
It's high time we replaced the dysfunctional old combat social paradigm with something a bit more enlightened. Human destructiveness will only be overcome through a great awakening to our commonality and shared destiny. When a critical number of people realize that humans are one family on a small space ship - that conflict resolution is more important than conflict - we may have a chance of surviving and leaving a sustainable world to our children. As time is of the essence when it comes to earth-saving, it behooves each of us caring citizens.. parents, teachers, lovers, brothers and sisters.. to contemplate how this world-transformation may come about. Where could the necessary shift towards non-aggression, understanding, and reconciliation begin?
The noted spiritual teacher, Thich Nat Hanh, a native survivor of the Vietnam war, says the solution to world conflict is in your own heart.. We cannot make peace.. we can only be peaceful, pointing to meditation and the contemplation of nature as ways towards such inner healing.
US Representative Dennis Kucinish, (D-Ohio) has long proposed the establishment of a Department of Peace, with a cabinet-level Secretary of Peace alongside the professional warriors that surround the President. Isn't it time for this kind of balance in public affairs?
Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, points out that all humans have in common the desire to be happy; and that compassion arises naturally from understanding this universal drive. In Buddhism, evil is understood as extreme ignorance. When we remember that we're all imperfect and scared and struggling in our own ways, forgiveness becomes possible. Our enemies are also our best teachers, because they reveal our weaknesses, including that most dangerous of human reactions, anger.
Indeed, His Holiness's response to the ruthless genocide of his people has been - in the tradition of the great pacifists from Christ to Gandhi, King to Desmond Tutu - one of spiritual patience and unwavering truth-telling. Through consistently bearing witness with an unbiased accounting of the Chinese destruction of his homeland, The Dalai Lama has made the light of world opinion more potent than armed resistance or invasion. This offers the most beneficial outcome for all, including the long-term perpetuation of the precious Tibetan cultural heritage.
After World War II, the United Nations was founded "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind." As the '60's folk anthem, Where Have All the Flowers gone so poignantly questions, when will they ever learn? Simply reading the UN Charter (http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/) is inspiring. Surely this ultimate international institution - with all its weaknesses and failures - is still one of our best hopes for achieving that elusive yet necessary condition called world peace.
When it comes to solving disagreements - whether personal, professional, political, or planetary - the old destructive weapons of competition, anger, fear, punishment and retaliation are no longer viable. Only cooperation, negotiation, mediation, arbitration - and yes, meditation - will engender mutual understanding and reconciliation, and save us from ourselves. Let's do it right, now.
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Lonny Brown,
HHC.
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Lonny J. Brown, HHC is the author of "Self-Actuated Healing" (Naturegraph, Publ.), and "Enlightenment In Our Time," (BookLocker.com/
LonnyBrown).
His writings on holistic health have appeared on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum and in Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and many other progressive publications.
Lonny Brown teaches holistic health, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US. His Web site also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources.
Lonny J. Brown, HHC is also the author of " ENLIGHTENMENT ONLINE - The Newsletter for Spiritual Cyberspace.
holistic.com/lonny
lonny@holistic.com
lonnybrown@aol.com
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