“ How to Restore Peace “

by Rahul Brown, Editorial Contributor, for Radheshwar.com

Oakland, California, March 23, 2003

As I hear about rising casualties in the war with Saddam, my mind goes back to the morning of September 11^th, 2001. Tears rolled down my face as I made my way back from an evacuating San Francisco that was in a quiet state of fearful disbelief. I wept not so much for the few thousand that I knew had lost their lives, but for the thousands upon thousands more whom I felt were certainly doomed in the coming months and years. I feared that we would have to find someone to retaliate against and that this act of terror carried out by a few handfuls of madmen would be the justification for the annihilation of many innocent people. In a flash, I felt as though our foolish reactive retaliation would be the spark that flares the inferno of the Muslims legitimate discontent with western economic and cultural imperialism. I had visions of escalating retaliation and aggression the world over as hatred ripened into militant fundamentalism and xenophobia intensified into crimes of hate. I saw the dawn of a new Orwellian state that would erode civil liberties along with a new society that would sheepishly acquiesce with the supremely misguided notion that their concession would secure them greater safety and peace. I only wish I had cried in vain.

The notion of peace itself has been a casualty of this conflict. Where was the widespread opposition to the bombing of Afghanistan? There were certainly smaller groups of people who were in vocal opposition to explosively redistributing the rubble of an already destroyed country, but many of those who so energetically express their disapproval for the present war with Saddam were supportive of the bombing of Afghanistan. The only apparent difference between these people and Mr. Bush would seem to be how long they hold a grudge. I urge this type of war protestor to engage in a thought experiment whereby they pretend that their friends and loved ones were killed by terrorists. Many would find themselves once again quite hostile and as ready to annihilate Baghdad as they were to annihilate Kandahar. Their position of support would be akin to that of many Israelis and Israeli-Americans who have repeatedly experienced terrorist attacks that hit close to home. This type of protestor does not understand peace, and snuffs the prospects of true peace every time they cry out for it.

Great personalities like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are often remembered in times like these as being apostles of peace. An examination of their actions in similar circumstances reveals clues as to how they understood peace, and how their understanding might differ from the popular conception that we frequently find in play. Contrary to what one might think, Gandhi supported the British during the Boer War, and again supported their efforts during World War I, despite being an adherent to ahimsa, non-violence, and being opposed to their colonial rule over South Africa and India. He refused to press his advantage during World War II despite the vulnerability of the British and the certainty of their withdrawal if pressured by the satyagraha movement during that time. Gandhi asserted that peace was not simply the absence of hostility, but the presence of love. Some people incorrectly assert that our admiration for these gentlemen comes from their ability to hold themselves to ideals that are so far outside of our own capacity, but this misses the greater point that they were living exemplars of their creeds and have shown us the practicality and superiority of their vision. We should strive to achieve their vision.

True peace, the type worth living and dying for, cannot be won by any number of protests or demonstrations of the type we have seen thus far (even if the administration cared about the wishes of its constituents). True peace can only come from ahimsa. The non-violence referred to by the Sanskrit word does not refer to abstention from doing harm, but rather the annihilation of the desire to do harm. ‘Harm’ is a much broader word that encompasses more than simply killing. Cheating and stealing are certainly forms of harm, as is exploiting, hating, shunning, berating, condemning, etc. Gandhi did not march to the sea and pick up salt because it would hurt the British salt merchants and the British government through lost tax revenue. He did not bear any anger toward the British salt regime. This lack of hostility and ill-will was the true peace demonstration, and not the act of defiance against the salt laws in effect at the time. Similarly, if we are to hold peace demonstrations, their basis should not be anger and hatred towards an administration whose decisions we disagree with. How can our anger and hatred of what Mr. Bush is doing diffuse his anger and hatred towards Saddam, or diffuse Middle Eastern anger and hatred towards Americans? If anything, we’ve simply added to the chaos of the world by expressing our disapproval in this manner, as never in the course of the universe has hatred succeeded in dissolving hatred.

Our demonstrations of peace should be personal in nature. We must attempt conscious acts of increasing our ability to broadcast understanding and affection towards those who disagree with us or act inimically towards us. We must remember that our true enemy in this situation is ourselves. The hatred that has developed in the Arab world for Americans is largely the result of behavior of American corporations, or the U.S. government acting in the interests of American corporations. We have remained mostly silent about these activities through a uniquely American mixture of ignorance and apathy, where we not only fail to grasp how we’re hurting others, but also fail to see how we’ve ‘benefited’ from hurting them. The blame cannot fairly be placed on our government, for it simply acts to protect its sustainers (taxpayers and campaign contributors) as a farmer protects and fattens a turkey in preparation for Thanksgiving. Our solution lay in convincing those who hate us of the error of their judgment by stopping our support for institutions that propagate the injustice that we are hated for, despite the costs incurred. We can’t do this with business as usual. We must have a grass-roots spiritual effort on the individual and community level to uproot the problem and undo the perception that is responsible for hatred directed at us. We must make ourselves so noble a people that none would seek to harm us. Contrary to the propaganda that our government feeds us, few people in the world hate freedom. The very human spirit itself is so intrinsically linked with the founding ideals of this country that their appeal is universal. No people can hate us if we choose to live out the true meaning of our creeds, and recognize that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not simply the rights of Americans, but the rights of all of humanity. If we still don’t live out the meaning of our ideals in our own country with our fellow Americans (or even our own families), how can we expect to extend this to the rest of the world? The spiritual transformation of society, beginning with the individual, is the only hope for lasting peace.

The work of this spiritual transformation will not be completed within the next few weeks. Nor will it be completed in the next few months, or even within the life of this administration. This transformation may not be completed even within our own lifetimes, but let us begin, and let us begin with ourselves.

 
- "Utopia must spring in the private bosom before it can
flower in civic virtue, inner reforms leading
naturally to outer ones. A man who has reformed
himself will reform thousands."
--Paramhansa Yogananda --