The Culture War on Peace; A Poet’s Perspective.
Some argue that the comforts of modern Western society have sowed a generation lacking resilience, shielded from the harsh realities of the world, from the innate ruthlessness of nature.
While acknowledging ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the devastating wars between Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, and the poverty that plagues many third world countries, this musing addresses nations where we are privileged with comfortable conditions. Nations for which our ancestors fought blood and bone in recent centuries for peace. They fought for so long, that we do not seem to know how to wield it.
Perhaps it’s intergenerational succession; we inherited the fighting spirit of preceding generations. The remanence of our ancestors' battles reverberate through our veins; a legacy of conflict between divided forces. Perhaps polarisation is an inevitable part of co-inhabiting with humans who are each unique concoctions of DNA. In a way, we are each like our own micro-specie within a collective species…
For centuries, humankind has fought for survival, land, and resources. But now, our battles have been inverted; an epidemic of psychological warfare. We inflict wounds with abusive self-criticism, or turn on others for their perspectives, wasting our invaluable time and attention on trivial matters.
Countless lives were sacrificed to consummate this gift of peace. And we don’t have the wisdom nor the maturity it seems, to, as a collective culture, live in peacetimes.
Peace is not an external accomplishment alone. It cannot exist environmentally without adopting it simultaneously as a state of being. We must recalibrate and reprogram our minds so peace permeates every fibre of our being, over-riding our more primal, animalistic instincts - Not oppressing them, they have their place, we are, after all, biological robots, but not allowing them to run the show when the stage has changed for most of us from one of deprivation and danger to relative stability.
Instead of using the expanse of our intelligence to consciously rewire our minds for equanimity, we start cultural fires by arguing over whether gender is real or a social construct, become militant about sensitization and censorship, and obsess over every injustice as if it is a personal attack. Inclusivity and conscientiousness are important, but is it serving its purpose if it’s not only forced, but forced with a tsunami of violence, creating further fissures of division?
It’s a strange time to be human.
Equality and acceptance of all forms of diversity is essential for a peaceful world. But with every cause we attach ourselves to, it is also important to check whether we are identifying from a place of victimness and anger, using it as a vessel through which to channel our own oppressed rage. When we bring all our personal baggage into a fight that is not necessarily ours, that’s when things get messy. Acceptance is the natural state of those who have weeded out the cobwebs in their mind and reached unconditional accept of themselves.
Being united by a cause that is bigger than ourselves can be a powerful feeling. Having something to fight for gives us purpose, which is healthy for a balanced, productive life. The blue zones of the world all share a common thread of valuing purpose; small or large. They each have different words for it;
Ikigai “reason for being.” Plan de vida “why I wake up in the morning.”
Purpose does not have to be grandiose, like revolution or cultural war. It can come from supporting a family, creating art, taking care of someone who is more vulnerable than us, contributing to natural preservation, volunteering for a country less privileged than ours, ect.
But the motivation on a global scale still seems to lean towards hate and division. Self-hate. Racial hate. Hate of racial hate. Hate of hate of racial hate. Division between the two extremes that exist on every spectrum. Magnified polarisation. We castigate our political leaders for falling short in their duty to safeguard our world, all while remaining complicit in the very systems that perpetuate its destruction. What kind of a world could we create if we redirected all of that power within us to instead confront the shadows of our own mind that keep us locked in negatively-charged patterns? Frames of thinking and behaving that limit our potential for truly contributing to something meaningful in this world.
Now, it seems we are so discontent with peace that World War III — something that, just a decade ago, was an insane prospect because of the availability of nuclear weapons — is back on the cards. Is World War III what it is going to take for peacetime generations to learn resilience? Resilience can be cultivated in other ways; extreme temperature switching, fasting, setting disciplined tasks each day that require focus and attention or physical endurance, and giving ourselves no choice.
Is it that humans are innately violent? A question many great thinkers and artists have contemplated for centuries, Tolstoy being but one. Or are we investing our warrior spirit into unintelligent causes?
Must the inevitability of polarising characters, perspectives, belief systems, and religions in the world rubbing against one another always lead to conflict — either of the mind or sword? Violent thoughts and ostracism are also destructive forces. Can we be wiser in how we navigate disagreements? Or is that an innately naive feminine question?
I know it is possible for humans to live with equiniminous minds and generous hearts, and create constructively cooperative communities. I have witnessed it. I live in one. And it is more beautiful than words to describe. It’s not a hippy commune or a ‘tap out of life free’ card. It is a group of intelligent, high-functioning humans who prioritize inner peace. And their care, patience, and compassion for the people and environment around them are the natural result of their own internal stability.
If it is possible on this scale, is it possible for the collective? From my perspective, it would take a giant leap up the ladder of collective consciousness to achieve.
Utopia on any scale, starts with each individual choosing it for ourselves.
By cultivating a peaceful mind, an open heart, and a mentality of aquiescence we contribute to the possibility of a peaceful world. Just because others are fighting, does not mean we must join the fight.
Staying equanimous and true to our individual desire for peace takes immeasurable power and strength. It takes courage to refuse to support superficial trends and fight for what is right and in alignment with the fundamental fabric of existence; which is oneness, rather than what one army of thinkers, one side of a culture war declares worthy of our time and energy.
Most often, the bravest fight is the fight for freedom within.
Freedom from all limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns. Freedom for all self-criticism, self-loathing, self-comparison that restricts our potential. Freedom from the dream that we are worthless. Freedom from the dream of what we have been presented as reality and discover the true, unbiased and unjaded undercurrent thread of consciousness that governs all life, silently, exquisitely.
Put down the swords and become a warrior of the heart, my meditation mentor would suggest. Rebel against the world and all its nuanced brainwashing dogma that obscures true vision,
Until we dissolve the filters that obscure our vision and influence our thoughts, we are sheep in a field, surrounded by fences, ignorant to our own imprisonment, shepherded by hands that are driven by greed, and minds that are products of the brainwashing of their forebearers.
The blind are leading the blind, and we all contribute to the web of lies.
The path of the modern, peacetime warrior may be an inward path.
One in which we heal our pain, instead of projecting it onto others, and work to expand our consciousness, so that we embody peace first, and then decide what to do with it.
There is injustice in the world. It is a plague that lives under almost every rock we unturn.
But we cannot invest our energy into every fight, and if we are only investing energy in the form of mental rumination as opposed to action, we are wasting it.
Our time and energy here is our most precious resource.
Is it time to reclaim it from the external sources we invest it into, if only until we have a coherent intuition on what is most valuable to us from a place of true internal integrity?
When we lay the foundations of our minds by cultivating clarity, contentment, stability, and unconditional love, and work to expand our consciousness beyond the limits of primal programming, we give ourselves a far vaster bandwidth to work with, and a clearer vision of where our unique abilities can be best served.
It may feel selfish for a time.
Any master who has reached into source and found Nirvana would say that a period of devoted self-inquiry is a prerequisite for self-mastery and the discovery of true peace.
And the value of walking through the world with true and unshakable peace in one’s heart has a ripple effect that is, in the long run, incredibly constructive.
Yes, I am a fantasy author. I have a visionary mind. But what I speak of here aren’t ideals. As mentioned above, I have seen profound proof in the people around me. The Buddha was not an imbecile for declaring;
“Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” — Buddha
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” — Buddha
Most of humanity just has not invested the time into self-mastery over thought and mind with the intention of cultivating peace.
“All know the way, but very few walk it.” — Buddha
With Love,
Sita X
