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There will never be "world peace." Sorry to be so frank but you and I know I'm right there is way too much greed, countries who believe how they run they country and other countries who disagree how their countries are ran etc etc etc! I can go on and on.
And don't say 'it's impossible', I don't want to hear it. I'm asking people who believe it IS possible.
What can we do? Do we need a world-wide anti-war/military movement? Do we need to fundamentally change our politics everywhere? What do we need to do?
I'd say: Start with yourself.
--Do you pray or meditate 15 minutes a day? (Even if you're an atheist, you can meditate and get emotional and physical benefits from doing so).
--Do you practice a healthy lifestyle (limited meat consumption, minimal processed foods, lots of fruits, veggies & whole grains? Do you avoid recreational drugs & tobacco? Do you keep alcohol consumption to 2 drinks a day or less?)
--Do you live at or below your means? (Do you save regularly? Are you thoughtful in your consumption habits? Do you think about the impact of stuff you buy on our environment? Do you go in debt for things that are worth less after you buy them?)
--Do you give a portion of your time and money in service to others?
--Do you treat your family and friends well? Are you honest in all your dealings with other people?
I know I come up short in some of these areas....but I think the essence of all religions is that we first have to find peace within ourselves. I know the eastern and new age religions emphasize gonig witing and finding peace within. But so does Christianity. Didn't Jesus say "The Kindgom of God is within you"?
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 12-12-2010 at 02:44 PM..
Most people hate violence and war. It's the sociopathic few who tend to get high positions of power (the 'alpha' people), but if we selected beta people to lead us more we could get rid of war.
That's very true. Unfortunately, the alpha people are good at manipulating the beta people and keeping them divided.
That's very true. Unfortunately, the alpha people are good at manipulating the beta people and keeping them divided.
True dat.
Also unfortunately, many of the alpha people live in controlled societies where none of us can reach them or even communicate with them. And they, as well as our own leaders, are responsible for conflicts and wars...
That's the part of Wikileaks which I find so irresponsible: the leakers, by necessity, are limited to doing damage only to that half of the world's leadership which (unwittingly) permits them access and voice. The other guilty ones, whose motives and goals are no less pernicious, not only refuse entry to the Assanges of the world; they promise violence and death to those who woud expose their evils. The result is to cripple and limit that portion of the world's leadership which is potentially open to enlightenment, while the other half -- the most ruthless and soulless -- is unaffected, untouched, and stengthened...
--Do you pray or meditate 15 minutes a day? (Even if you're an atheist, you can meditate and get emotional and physical benefits from doing so).
--Do you practice a healthy lifestyle (limited meat consumption, minimal processed foods, lots of fruits, veggies & whole grains? Do you avoid recreational drugs & tobacco? Do you keep alcohol consumption to 2 drinks a day or less?)
--Do you live at or below your means? (Do you save regularly? Are you thoughtful in your consumption habits? Do you think about the impact of stuff you buy on our environment? Do you go in debt for things that are worth less after you buy them?)
--Do you give a portion of your time and money in service to others?
--Do you treat your family and friends well? Are you honest in all your dealings with other people?
This describes some of the best military minds in the US, some of the brightest members of the department of defense, and some of the highest ranking members of Al-Qaeda. Even Hitler fit this description.
And don't say 'it's impossible', I don't want to hear it. I'm asking people who believe it IS possible.
What can we do? Do we need a world-wide anti-war/military movement? Do we need to fundamentally change our politics everywhere? What do we need to do?
The fact of the matter is that humans are literally a bunch of apes. We haven't evolved enough. Someday we might (if we don't destroy ourselves in the interm) but for now, asking for world peace is just as plausable as asking chimps to kindly stop throwing poop around. It just isn't in our nature.
But a good first step is education. We need to broadly accept our true nature and stop being magical about the existence of humanity. Then we can rebuild a logical understanding of what it means to be human and help evolution along towards that future where all humans accept and respect each other.
And don't say 'it's impossible', I don't want to hear it. I'm asking people who believe it IS possible.
What can we do? Do we need a world-wide anti-war/military movement? Do we need to fundamentally change our politics everywhere? What do we need to do?
1) first and foremost something needs to be done with religion. As an atheist I DON'T advocate completely destroying all religion. But religion absolutely HAS to be removed from politics. Religion also has to be removed as the sourcebook of human behavior. We need to be able to make our own destiny and hold ourselves accountable for the state of humanity.
2) Patriarchy has to go. For the most part I would say "see above". But religion isn't the only source of patriarchy. This whole idea of men somehow being superior to women is about as far beyond asinine as it can get. Without women, men wouldn't exist, the existence of men DEPENDS on women and you can't be superior to something you depend on. But mostly, we have to acknowledge that women are part of the human race, they aren't our housekeepers, our bed-slats, our nannies or our cooks. The outlying effects of patriarchy are also responsible for racism (pretty much all the "ism's"). At the source of patriarchy exists the arbitrary division of people. The selecting out whole groups of people is essentially an effort to disenfranchise whole groups of people. But if people weren't in constant competition with each other there wouldn't be a need to disenfranchise groups of people. which leads me to...
3) Capitalism has to go. Capitalism isn't the sole source of this I know. Things like greed have existed long before capitalism. But capitalism has a nasty habit of making an industry out of anything that will sell. We make violence an industry so that people will pay to watch it in the theater. We make prisons an industry. We make drugs an industry. Anything that will turn a buck becomes an acceptable area of the economic flow. From this consumerism also has to go. When suburban housewives (supposedly the most civilized of all of us) get into fistfights over crap like a Furbie, there's something wrong beyond the two people involved. The thing about capitalism is that it pits individuals in a society against one another for basic survival. In such a system things like justice, "a level playing field" fairness, liberty and so on become empty buzz words. Peace and equality will NEVER exist so long as people are in constant competition with one another just to live. Economic independence also has to go because it's an oxymoron. Societies are systems of INTERdependence and economies obviously can't exist without a society - so economies are systems of interdependence. Everyone in a society depends on one another. Independence is something that all people need personally, but in a community everyone is linked to the next person.
4) Power can't be held in the hands of the few. Everyone needs equal access to policy - not just a handful of moneyed-up businessmen.
And last, people need to accept the fact that other people aren't going to their life exactly the way you want them to. (I mean you in general, not personal terms here...) If we really want peace we need we need freedom, we have to let EVERYONE have their freedom. IE No amendments to the constitution saying who you can sleep with and things like that. Peace depends on tolerance and understanding, not meeting every instance of disagrement with force and knee-jerk reactions.
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