You might be right, perhaps it is odd in the first glance. But there is a philoshophy behind, if I may say so. There is method to my madness... Well, let me try and explain, why a pacifist is interested in warfare, and why most of them should also be in my opinion.
La la laaa... you're not thereeee!
The conflict is there, whether you (or I) like it or not. It is vowen to the fabric of universe at a level so deep, we can't just undo it by ignoring. Living beings consume one another to survive, to get the life energy they need. We do that ourselves. Even a vegan is still consuming organisms, or their products which weren't necessarily formed for them to eat. At a very base level, even particles have anti particles, which annihilate one another if they contact. And yeah, annihilate is the actual physics term for it :). It is almost poetic in a twisted way! I do believe these may eventually be overcome, but we are not nearly close to that. That said, synthesised/lab grown food, or digitalized "life" may eventually end up not needing to take other lives to sustain its existence, eventually, hopefully. Looking forward to that becoming a reality at some point, almost certainly not in our times though.
I am legitimately sad at the fact that we have to eat other beings, sad because strong will oppress the weak, and countries will compete, usually leading to wars and/or poverty.
But that just is the way it is, and the way it will be for foreseeable future. Regardless of me lamenting the need for violence, need for individuals or institutions overpowering others, competition at the other party's expense, immense consumption at a level that throws away any sustainability, they will continue happening. More importantly, there will be at least as many, likely more (as in a lot more) people who feel more than alright with them. Who thrive in, and through them.
As said above, we can't quite change it by ignoring it. What we can however, achieve with ignoring is, at least two-fold. First, we will enable those who do not possess such reservations over non-peaceful ways of universe to, essentially trample over those who do. Secondly, we will remain ignorant by choosing, well, to ignore. We will not understand how and why of that which we dislike, we avoid, and we want to reducde.
What leads to conflict? What is the purpose of conflict? How can it be avoided (spoiler: understanding the reasons behind, and dynamics of is involved quite a bit I'd say)? And, when it is absolutely necessary, how to make the best of it with least possible damage?
You can probably tell, I mean, it is the name of this place, but I am a rather big fan of the adage "Si vis pacem, para bellum". The old Latin saying that translates to "if you want peace, prepare for war". That, in my opinion, is the only realistic and truly honest way of being a peaceful person. By being mindful of conflict, and understanding it. Understanding its dynamics, its perpetrators, and yes, understanding how to apply it efficiently. Only by extension, can one truly understand how to avoid it as much as possible, and to come as clean as possible out of the ordeal when it is unavoidable.
There is an ever present trend among people. It goes roughly like this: "holy crap that's horrible, thankfully neither me, nor my loved ones would ever descend down to that sort of evil". Alas, many also, somehow, extend that to "nor my neighborhood, nation, social caste, favorite sports team's supporters, and also those that like the same dog breeds as myself" etc. The abhorable is almost always an external thing. It comes from the outside, from "those", from "others", or even the "enemy". We, and ours, are beyond such vileness, naturally.
Similarly, there is another tendency. One that believes someone who is against something, some concept, or idea, should not know much about it, and should have no interest in learning about it. If someone is seeking knowledge of such things, they are seen as potentially "fouled" somehow, and even not trustworthy.
This last one extends into another dimension. Somehow, someone who has followed one path, or had character tendencies for such, but then turns another way, is somehow not quite as pure as another who categorically rejected former's earlier ways and never engaged in them. A person who was a devoutly religious human may turn an atheist for example, and someone else who has never been religious would see themselves somehwo morally superior because they were "always right". Same could be say with an exact reversal of the roles of course, an atheist may turn religious, and their always religious friend would see themselves morally superior with same exact reaosining as before.
Sadly, all of these are fallacies.
All of them. And the acceptance, the unshakable belief of masses in them, enables easy repeating of historical tragedies within just a generation or two. The kinds they refuse to know, or worse, refuse to understand even if they know them. The kinds "they, or theirs would never stoop down to anyway".
Let's say... A hypothetical SS or Wehrmacht soldier who kicked an elderly couple of Ukrainian villagers down a ledge. This may seem so far down the line, so abhorrent, they can't possibly be done by a normal human being in their right mind. They must be so extraordinarily evil and wicked, that we, and ours, are thankfully above and beyond that. Sadly, while the former part is true, the latter, probably, is not. There is a thin line that separates our civilized states of existence from a callous and brutal one. One that much more of us than we like to believe are likely to push, or get pushed past, given the circumstances. And one, once passed, can be harder to step back into the other side of.
I consider myself having what seems to be less common among most of us, if I may say so. And that is the ability to understand things, reasons, feelings, even if I do not approve or agree with them. I do not want to sound pretentious as if that is, and by extension I am, something too special. Far be it from me... But I am, if anything, a decent observer, and have not observed this feature in the majority of people around this Earth. I can kind of understand, or rather imagine, how through circumstances those people may have come down to that state of reckless callousness. I can understand (and, alas, at times see) how our hive societal mind, which is a lot more primal than that of individuals, can push seemingly crazy things on individuals, and make horrid things appear not only normal, but seemingly "righteous".
And without an understanding of these phenomena, it is nigh inevitable for us to fall into these traps. It is hard for individuals to stand in the way of the tsunami that is the "societal mind" as I tend to call it. But said society is, after all, made of these individuals. Thus, the more understanding, strong, and of sound reason these individuals are, the less primal that societal mind may eventually be.
If we want to be able to have any real say on these matters, we should have an understanding of violence and callousness, the drive to dominate, and how what we think of as normal can melt away, and what people who had theirs melted away can do. Only then, can we have some hope of resisting going past that line, or properly resisting those who did just that.
Finally almost all of us have one vice, that sadly makes all these darker sides of existence seemingly quite necessary.
Left to our own devices, we tend to do... well, nothing, or not as much as we would with a driving force. And by extension, we would just kind of languish. Unfortunately, looking at a great portion of the milestones and strides humanity took, they were stemming from a driving force, a threat, a need. Be it survival, protection, warfare, or an ambition for the betterment of self or loved ones... some driving force seems to be behind most of the discoveries, achievements, and great steps our species took so far. Sadly, they are often at the expense of others, or ourselves.
You can probably tell, I mean, it is the name of this place, but I am a rather big fan of the adage "Si vis pacem, para bellum". The old Latin saying that translates to "if you want peace, prepare for war". That, in my opinion, is the only realistic and truly honest way of being a peaceful person. By being mindful of conflict, and understanding it. Understanding its dynamics, its perpetrators, and yes, understanding how to apply it efficiently. Only by extension, can one truly understand how to avoid it as much as possible, and to come as clean as possible out of the ordeal when it is unavoidable.
Is ignorance bliss?
There is an ever present trend among people. It goes roughly like this: "holy crap that's horrible, thankfully neither me, nor my loved ones would ever descend down to that sort of evil". Alas, many also, somehow, extend that to "nor my neighborhood, nation, social caste, favorite sports team's supporters, and also those that like the same dog breeds as myself" etc. The abhorable is almost always an external thing. It comes from the outside, from "those", from "others", or even the "enemy". We, and ours, are beyond such vileness, naturally.
Similarly, there is another tendency. One that believes someone who is against something, some concept, or idea, should not know much about it, and should have no interest in learning about it. If someone is seeking knowledge of such things, they are seen as potentially "fouled" somehow, and even not trustworthy.
This last one extends into another dimension. Somehow, someone who has followed one path, or had character tendencies for such, but then turns another way, is somehow not quite as pure as another who categorically rejected former's earlier ways and never engaged in them. A person who was a devoutly religious human may turn an atheist for example, and someone else who has never been religious would see themselves somehwo morally superior because they were "always right". Same could be say with an exact reversal of the roles of course, an atheist may turn religious, and their always religious friend would see themselves morally superior with same exact reaosining as before.
Sadly, all of these are fallacies.
All of them. And the acceptance, the unshakable belief of masses in them, enables easy repeating of historical tragedies within just a generation or two. The kinds they refuse to know, or worse, refuse to understand even if they know them. The kinds "they, or theirs would never stoop down to anyway".
Let's say... A hypothetical SS or Wehrmacht soldier who kicked an elderly couple of Ukrainian villagers down a ledge. This may seem so far down the line, so abhorrent, they can't possibly be done by a normal human being in their right mind. They must be so extraordinarily evil and wicked, that we, and ours, are thankfully above and beyond that. Sadly, while the former part is true, the latter, probably, is not. There is a thin line that separates our civilized states of existence from a callous and brutal one. One that much more of us than we like to believe are likely to push, or get pushed past, given the circumstances. And one, once passed, can be harder to step back into the other side of.
I consider myself having what seems to be less common among most of us, if I may say so. And that is the ability to understand things, reasons, feelings, even if I do not approve or agree with them. I do not want to sound pretentious as if that is, and by extension I am, something too special. Far be it from me... But I am, if anything, a decent observer, and have not observed this feature in the majority of people around this Earth. I can kind of understand, or rather imagine, how through circumstances those people may have come down to that state of reckless callousness. I can understand (and, alas, at times see) how our hive societal mind, which is a lot more primal than that of individuals, can push seemingly crazy things on individuals, and make horrid things appear not only normal, but seemingly "righteous".
And without an understanding of these phenomena, it is nigh inevitable for us to fall into these traps. It is hard for individuals to stand in the way of the tsunami that is the "societal mind" as I tend to call it. But said society is, after all, made of these individuals. Thus, the more understanding, strong, and of sound reason these individuals are, the less primal that societal mind may eventually be.
If we want to be able to have any real say on these matters, we should have an understanding of violence and callousness, the drive to dominate, and how what we think of as normal can melt away, and what people who had theirs melted away can do. Only then, can we have some hope of resisting going past that line, or properly resisting those who did just that.
A need arising from... perhaps laziness?
Finally almost all of us have one vice, that sadly makes all these darker sides of existence seemingly quite necessary.
Left to our own devices, we tend to do... well, nothing, or not as much as we would with a driving force. And by extension, we would just kind of languish. Unfortunately, looking at a great portion of the milestones and strides humanity took, they were stemming from a driving force, a threat, a need. Be it survival, protection, warfare, or an ambition for the betterment of self or loved ones... some driving force seems to be behind most of the discoveries, achievements, and great steps our species took so far. Sadly, they are often at the expense of others, or ourselves.
And in nature itself, violence of hunting for self sustenance works as a balancing mechanism and a drive, a catalyst for the evolution.
So, we are not getting rid of conflict, duality, violence, and war anytime soon. Certainly not by ignoring or disregarding them. Might was well try to understand them huh? After all, many of us (often including myself), criticize others for disliking things without even trying to understand what lies underneath. Would be somewhat hypocritical not to extend the same to one of the biggest, and most influential things in our existence: the conflict, wouldn't you agree? It does NOT mean we have to appreciate or like it by doing so. I certainly do not. But it would perhaps mean that we would be talking with more than our rear quarters against it. It would perhaps mean, if more people understood these, they would be more aware of its approach, and better avoid it unless push comes to shove. Indeed, I believe, that the push would not come to shove nearly as often in that case.
Anyway, I may have "mused" (ehm, mumbled) a bit too much for a "hello this is my blog" article already... So welcome dear reader, I hope you will find something interesting here, and I hope I may inspire you to think, and learn!
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