Are Humans Prone to War?
Recently, Discover Magazine (6/2012) explored the theory of E.O. Wilson, who believes that humans will never see the end of war because it is embedded in our human psyche. Wilson said that humans are prone to war. The article quoted William James from his 1906 antiwar essay.
“History is a bath of blood. Modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us.”
The Discover article pointed to William James for support. But James was talking about the failings of history or his story. He was not condoning it. He was saying that we can’t reach the end of war because we pass war stories on to our children that are enhanced with flames of glory and heroism.
History is a relatively modern invention. It began with the patriarchal point of view. The ancient patriarchal leaders were very careful to write their stories as if they started at the very beginning of life on earth.
People started to see the world through the one-sided positions of their leaders. The leaders wrote, or even rewrote, history to assure that everyone saw life from the same distorted perspective. The masses passed the approved, one-sided perspectives on to their offspring until the beliefs (or half truths) appeared to be the absolute, undisputable truth.
When people learn stories in their early childhood, they simply don’t question them. Discrimination doesn’t awaken in children until they are at least seven years old. Since most people tend to avoid the past, they don’t go back to review what they’ve been taught to see if it makes sense from a mature point of view. Once we truly believe something, we see it in the world.
We see what we believe; and we believe what we see. So we become stuck in an illusion of right and wrong, good and evil, and endless war. The end of war means the end of the illusion. It sounds easy until you realize that those who won don’t really want the end of war.
The End of War
In the subsequent Discover article, John Hogan, author of “The End of War,” makes the point that our closest relatives, the chimps, are not prone to fighting. Oddly, the recent Disney movie “Chimpanzees” focuses on a chimp battle over territory. However, this battle occurred due to scarce resources. The scarce resources were the result of humans destroying forests. So the fighting didn’t come from a natural inclination.
We will fight for survival if we believe that fighting is the only way. But most wars are not over resources; they are over power, land, and religion. Only humans fight over whose myth is right, which point of view should rule the world, or who was chosen by God. Only humans want more land than they could possibly ever need. These types of battles can only flow from ill-constructed human minds.
Mythology lends credence to Hogan’s theory that man is not prone to fighting. Cultural myths throughout the world speak of a time when there was no fighting, when people lived long, healthy lives, and when resources were in abundance. Thus, war was unnecessary. There were probably no myths during that time. People just lived from their all-knowing true Selves. This could mean that the end of war would naturally usher in a return to paradise.
Are we Natural Pacifists?
In my research, when people adopt a constant practice of letting go of their beliefs, they eventually become pacifists. They naturally operate from a place of win-win, not win-lose. They can’t imagine hurting another for any reason. They start choosing freedom, joy, and love over winning. And they realize that abundance is the natural state of the earth. They recognize that if they are seeing a lack of abundance, they might need to let go of their beliefs in lack.
It becomes clear that the story about the human fall from grace was a mental fall, where man started to see lack in many forms — lack of joy, lack of freedom, lack of resources, lack of peace, lack of abundance, lack of security, and of course, lack of love. People became competitive; they started to see other humans as their enemy. They got the idea from those that taught them, led them, and used them. The old adage of “divide and conquer” has been the leader’s mantra throughout history.
Competition or Cooperation
Today, people are remembering their true nature. And when they do, they recognize that the true Self is not inclined to fight. It is not even inclined to compete. It is naturally designed for cooperation.
The true Self doesn’t know evil, hate, or revenge. It only knows unconditional love, which is the great healing ointment for all that ails us. Only the false or ego mind makes heroes out of warriors and competition normal. The false self is a pride machine. Those who don’t honor the false heroes are labeled heretics or unpatriotic; in ancient times, they often didn’t live very long.
False lords and leaders of the ancient world created god-fearing, blindly-obedient people to fight their wars and slave away fulfilling their selfish desires. These lords were elevated on pedestals created by stories that told of their special breeding, royal pedigree, or connection to the divine mind. We only have to recognize that the ancient people used the word lord or god as a synonym for ancestors or rulers. They had other words for the creator of all that is. Then suddenly, everything falls into place.
Logic tells us that true Gods could not be punishing, selfish, jealous, or fearful. Those are completely human qualities. In fact, they are not even human qualities, they are qualities of the ego or false self.
No one is prone to war. But sadly, those who are taught to view war as patriotic or essential often speak louder than the pacifists. They speak louder because they speak from fear. Fear never shuts up. These lost souls still carry the baggage of their ancestors who blindly followed the self-proclaimed godmen. Today they follow religious dogma with absolute conviction that they are fighting for good when they are really only battling their own false self — their own shadow.
Letting go is a viewpoint that few people are able to embrace because they would rather fight another outside than fight the real battle alone inside their mind. Misery does love company.
So, What is the Truth about the End of War
The truth is that we are born as babies filled with unconditional love, joy, freedom, peace, and perfect in every way. There is no suffering in the true world. There is complete equality. There are no haves and have nots. There are no masters and slaves. And there is no royalty or priestly cast of special people. There are also no chosen ones; or if they are chosen, they were chosen by humans pretending to be Gods who don’t count for much.
People created the idea of good and evil; God created good with no opposite (Genesis I). And the leaders who created the stories of good and evil cleverly made themselves good by their own contrived definition. They projected their evil on to the masses creating the concept of original sin.
They told us not to kill or steal. They taught us to be fair and giving. And, we all agreed that those were great guidelines for life. But they did this while committing a far greater crime than breaking any of the laws they prescribed for the masses. They turned ordinary, loving human beings into God-fearing slaves and warriors that served their selfish causes. They created stories that caused people to believe that God approved of war, that God punishes, and that God even has the green-eyed monster of jealousy within. When we honor and pass on these false teachings, we continue the tradition of destroying the spirits of our progeny so they become blindly-obedient slaves and warriors like our ancestors.
Those ancestors supposedly fought for freedom, but freedom can’t be won in a war. It is who we are when we honor our true Self, when we live from the heart.
Oh Shit! The Slaves are Escaping
These evil leaders made laws that served their purposes and made those God’s laws. They, of course, were the only channel of the laws. You and I were unchosen and could not talk to God. But throughout history (or his story), people have occasionally broken through the beliefs (or lies) and reached their own divine Self within. They reached the end of war inside their own minds. And they became very confident and powerful. They became a problem for the false lords and rulers, just like Jesus.
So a new story was created. This story made sure that a human, who had all the characteristics and words of the pure thinkers of the past, died. In this way, when someone got close to reaching the truth or being themselves, there would be a mental program that would kick in saying, “They will kill you if you become your true Self.” It was a very good trick. It worked for two thousand years. But now we can let that belief go. And we can knock those who are still winning the illusory battle of good and evil on their royal asses.
Thankfully, so many are seeing through the illusion of religious fables that the idea that being ourselves could be deadly is losing its power. The real truth is that once you find your true Self, you are extremely powerful. And the false prophets and chosen ones have no power against you. They come falling off their pedestals. And slowly life returns to paradise.
Return to Peace
Pacifists often wonder what to do to support their desire for peace on earth. They feel they must fight against the warriors. They protest the wars hoping to enlighten the masses. But it doesn’t help humanity reach the end of war. Fighting war is just another war. That doesn’t mean that we can’t change the world and realize the end of war that we seek.
We must continue to let go of our own beliefs. We have to look for the remnants of false concepts and paradigms within us that preclude the end of war. We have to look for the beliefs that we hold in mind that deny our powerful, unconditionally loving, and joyous Selves; and release those beliefs. We have to look for the places we suffer or struggle and eliminate the causal beliefs in our mind. We must remember that if we are seeing war in the world, we still have some left inside of us.
If we recognize that it is not natural to compete or to fight, we can let go of the belief that war is necessary or normal. Once we achieve an internal end of war; we become powerful contributors to the external end of war.
As we continue our mental clearing, we find that our false patriotism fades, our false desire to fight over anything disappears, and we even lose our competitive false self. We become natural leaders. We walk our talk. We write about the truth. We help others see the real world. Borders and boundaries seem silly, so we no longer hide behind them. Competition becomes reserved for play and fun games. Games, in fact, return to their true purpose of joy and entertainment. They lose their emotional edge. Our power returns; and we become more powerful in our truth than millions who are fighting in wars.
During our end of war clearing process, we will witness the beliefs that caused war in the first place and release our attachment to them. Eventually, enough people on earth will see through the illusion of war; and it no longer will have the fuel to survive. We will come to a place where war can’t exist because we can’t see it or imagine it. It has no emotional fuel because no one thinks about it or believes in it anymore. And we are safe, back in the garden of paradise. We have reached the end of war.
If you are on the quest for the end of war and the journey back to paradise and would like more support, check out this article on Which Beliefs to Keep and Which to Let Go or read my free e-book, Unlocking Heaven’s Gate, and gain access to my free audio course. Free free to write to me, I love hearing from you.
