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Word
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A Personal Statement #6: War: Part II
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November 4, 2008
It is election day. I have just returned from the polling station in our neighborhood, a local church gymnasium. And I have been thinking about the state of the country and this issue of war. For some time, as I've been reading the AfterLife testimonies, I find that our Advisors on the Other Side are very opposed to the concept of war; that nothing of enduring good comes from it and many unintended consequences.
And yet, they Over There, are not pacifists; they, themselves, are in constant struggle against the forces of darkness as they work to build a better world and life for all. And I've wondered about this, this seeming contradiction - how can one be against war, and still fight evil?
My friend, Jason, the part-time Sioux Medicine Man Just yesterday I met and spoke with a friend whom I'd not seen in awhile. Jason is different - not just because he wears his black hair in a long ponytail, but his nature is so not man-of-the-world. This part-time rock-band drummer has native American blood in him, and he very much looks the part of an authentic Sioux medicine man; but a displaced one - and I sense that this is who he truly he is! He has told me before, and he tells me now again, that he feels that he is a stranger in this world, that he doesn't belong here. I think I know what he means.
Our conversation turns to world conflicts and war; the Taliban, and their repressive regime, especially toward women. He explains that they, too, believe in God; albeit, a very demented version - nevertheless, he feels that they could be reached, if approached in the right way. He goes on to express that they hate our gross materialism, our hedonistic Western ways. He acknowledges that they must be stopped - but, then, clarifies, that our traditional military action might be ineffective: "There might be another, better, way of dealing with this." He has been thinking of this whole issue; and, of course, his people once felt the brutal effects of US religion-inspired "manifest destiny." Homer Simpson, with Bible in hand, once spoofed this: "We come in peace, we take 'em your land!" This is funny; but it's quite painful humor. I suddenly think of Ken Burns' documentary, The West, in which, near the beginning, we learn that an early Caucasian explorer-settler, as I recall, began to lead a spiritual movement among the Indians, with very significant success. If this effort had been allowed to continue, we all would have done much better. One cannot help but wonder how differently history might have unfolded if we had dealt with our Red Brothers fairly, honorably, and with true spirituality. I am confident that both parties would have gained the best that each had to offer - and that North America, today, would be much more developed and advanced than it presently is. We have been taught to look upon our own Revolutionary War as a necessary expedient, something inevitable for those who required freedom. Maybe so. But maybe not. Canada received its independence less than 100 years after we got ours - but without firing a shot - just part of the natural evolution of things. It is a virtual certainty that we, too, would have gained our autonomy fairly soon, in any case. For one thing, Mother Britain needed strong allies against her own enemies, and didn't need to create any others. Few wars in history have been "holy wars"; by this I mean wars of critical need for immediate participation. Here I would include World War II and the desperate need to stop the killing of millions in concentration camps; not to mention the need to stop Hitler from acquiring The Bomb and plunging the entire world into a new dark age! We just barely escaped that one!
Hitler used this time of negotiated "peace" to further fortify his incredible military machine. Chamberlain's naivete probably caused the deaths of untold extra hundreds of thousands! It is clear, in my mind, in this imperfect world, that there is a right and necessary time and place for military-police action. Hitler needed to be stopped! and when it comes to that, the time for negotiations will be over - because with dark and demented spirits, negotiation has no meaning. You cannot reasonably discuss issues with madmen.
All of this is too true... and yet... and yet... My friend Jason reminds me that something is missing from our view of national defense. Often, when I write here, I do so in a spirit of thinking that I know something. I don't feel that way now. I don't know what the solution is. I just know that we are missing something, and that we are often causing more problems than we solve in the way that we conduct our military actions. I think it is obvious that the true answers are spiritual in nature, answers incompatible with a materialistic view. I think it is possible to be spiritually minded and also conduct military operations - someone has to do that job in our imperfect world. But I also think that an arrogant, materialistic, imperialistic approach will cause other peoples to hate us; thereby, fomenting wars, which are then proclaimed to be young boys' patriotic duties to wage. Sir John Templeton, some years ago, created the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion - an annual large monetary award, like a Nobel Prize, to those who have advanced the cause of spirituality in the world. Maybe we need to do more of that. Maybe if we put more effort into researching and thinking, and seeking humanitarian and spiritual solutions to our problems, we would have fewer wars to fight. I don't know the answer here. I just know that we are on the wrong track - and we are going to suffer for our present course, more than we now know. Because no imperial power can survive for long, as the proverbial seeds of its own destruction reside within. Thomas Paine, the unloved, but great, Founding Father, was correct when he stated:
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