Civilization or barbarism.

Michael Kember

23rd of June 2004

In one day one team has made a trip into space in one end of the world and in the other end of the world another team has cut off the head of another human. Scientifically we are in the space age and socially we are in the dark ages. We have cell phones and global positioning satellites in a world where we use our advanced technology to kill each other more efficiently.

We will continue killing each other in greater numbers until we learn to become civilized. If we don't want to descend into general chaos worldwide we will need to overhaul our social institutions. Our world is so full of antagonism that it is incredible that we have not become extinct long ago. We legislate adversity and embrace all these social habits that divide us. We have such a negative sub consciousness that we habitually say, "Don't forget" instead of saying, "Remember". We have been so brain washed that we can't imagine a world at peace. Talk about peace and people claim that humans are by nature violent and greedy and incapable of getting along without vast armies and police forces to control their animal instincts.

All humans have the equal capacity to act with violence or with love. It is always a matter of choice. The choices that we make are dependent on what we learn. When we live in a world of violence we learn violent choices and it is hard to return love to violence. When we live in a world of love we are more likely to learn loving choices and are less likely to return violence to love. We have lived in a world of violence for so many centuries that it is hard for most of us to even imagine that humans can be and act in loving and kind manners.

How many beheadings will it take before we decide that the paths that we have chosen are leading us to chaos? How many starving children will it take before we decide that we need to make some new choices? Our scientists can store whole encyclopedias of knowledge on tiny microchips and yet we can't learn to get along together and we spend trillions for wars. It is obvious that what we are doing is not working and more of the same is not going to work any better.

When enough of us are as mad as hell and decide that we are not going to take it any more we will decide that we need some radical changes. The major change that we need to choose is in our attitude. Once we choose a positive attitude we will be able see solutions that are invisible to us now. As soon as we decide to get rid of the hostility in the world and create a peaceful harmonious society we will find that it is easier than it seems now.

The majority of people in the world want to get along and help each other. It is a natural tendency and is evident from all the fundraisers and campaigns that happen for any number of causes. Channel that energy into creating harmony and dissolving hatred in the world and the change can happen in a flash. We don't need a long period of research to discover new technology. We have all the means of communication that we need from computers to the Internet. What we need are new thought patterns and those can be developed in a moment of inspiration.

If we were to spend on peace a fraction of the energy and money that we spend on wars we would realize that we live in a wonderful world that is the embodiment of what some people think of as heaven. We will still have all the problems that nature causes. We will have floods, earthquakes and diseases but we will be able to deal with them better because we will not be wasting the vast amounts of money and energy on fighting each other that we are wasting now.

Once we choose to create a positive attitude in a peaceful world we will start to examine our social institutions to decide which we want to keep and which we want to abandon. We will realize that all mandatory situations are a part of the problem and that we will want to develop voluntary solutions. We will want to replace the adversity with harmony. It should be obvious that anything that is mandatory creates an adverse reaction and resistance. We can find voluntary means of dealing with all our interactions.

It should be equally obvious that violence does not prevent violence. It is non-violence that is needed to neutralize violence. Most people equate non-violence with weakness and appeasement and need to learn that non-violence is a philosophy of strength and integrity. Learning to practice non-violence is about understanding how to avoid reaching situations that end up in violence. When people deal with situations appropriately there is no need for violence.

It should be time for people to realize that nobody wins wars. There are only losers in wars. We need to abandon our war habit. It is not an addiction and we can choose to live in peace.

Once people start to choose to create Peace on Earth we will begin to see that all kinds of people can contribute their creativity in proposing and implementing solutions. Those that doubt and say that it will never happen will need to get out of the way when the idea starts to gather momentum. Peace is the idea whose time has come.

MichaelKember@yahoo.[nospam]com

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