Mankind’s survival over the last 10,000 years can be greatly attributed to our ability to bind into large cohesive groups. As part of a tribe not only would you have access to increased levels of protection, resources, and knowledge, but you would also be part of a community that offered a sense of identity and purpose.
Fast forward to the 21st century and those same ancient tribes are now 7+ billion people covering the Earth as nations that have upgraded primitive clubs and spears to guns, bombs, and nuclear weaponry. We have conquered the elements, tamed the wild Earth and made great technological advances with our superior intellect;
Yet, we still cling to the same paradigm of our primitive, cave-dwelling ancestors: Kill, or be killed.
In an era where common events can trigger a tsunami of global unrest, time and time again antiquated approaches to solving problems with military force has proven expensive, inefficient, and many times simply making things worse. Ironically as circumstances worsen the vicious cycle can repeat itself with even more intensity as more force is deemed necessary to drive change towards a desired reality. Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Similarly, using violence to influence change ultimately leads to only one possible outcome: the complete destruction of everyone.
That’s because violence is the desperate attempt of forcing reality to match expectations of what reality “should” look like. But as your personal experience and history books show, long-term peace cannot be achieved with violence or force. Why? Because violence severs the fragile bonds of trust and love that are required for peace. You don’t need a PhD in psychology to realize this, just think of times where force and violence were used against you: the screaming boss, the robbery, the angry divorce.
Ultimately, we’re all part of someone else’s reality.
And when that someone violently molds their reality into something they want, it can be a very unpleasant experience for the rest of us. Force, fear, and pain are primitive, short-sighted methods that may be effective at driving immediate change, but that change doesn’t last once the force, fear, and pain are removed. If you’ve ever been forced to do something against your will, then you know exactly what this feels like.
However, beyond the threat of pain there’s little anyone can do to force you against your will because willpower comes from within. And if that personal conviction is strong enough, some people would rather choose death than to break their will.
While it may be impossible to force lasting change using violence, it is possible to influence lasting change with empathy, trust, and understanding. Doing so is actually quite easy, but only when grounded in a state of spiritual awakening. In this mental state the thinking and emotional mind remains still, granting access to peaceful solution sets that would otherwise seem impossible. The most difficult part of this process for most people is transcending the conditioned mindset of simply reacting with violence.
Waging war is as simple as succumbing to our primal urges when confronted with the threat of pain.
We see this in nature all the time when animals are disturbed — they simply react when threatened. If an angry bear could talk it might say, “Everything was fine until you showed up. You see my offspring are in that cave over there, and you might hurt them. That very thought invokes severe pain within me, a pain that I will transfer to you to protect my family.” Likewise,
Your negative personal reactions are directly proportional to the level of fear you feel from perceived threats of pain.
Just like the bear we’ve all experienced pain or the threat of pain from time to time. The unreasonable boss, the boyfriend who doesn’t return your calls, or perhaps a terrorist attack on innocent people. How you react when confronted by pain offers a glimpse into the makeup of your spectrum of spiritual awakening.
Spiritual Spectroscopy: Life events challenge us and show what’s inside us.
Initial negative thoughts and feelings of anger, fear, and frustration are not only normal, but to be expected; you are a human being after all and if the skin is pricked, blood will flow. The key is learning to stop negative thoughts and emotions from controlling your actions and your life.
Seeking deeper spiritual dimensions means continually striving to increase the gap between initial thought, and action.
Because more than not, initial thought is simply the instant output of your primal neurological wiring. Waging peace, especially during times of conflict, requires a level of spiritual awakening that directly goes against animal survival instinct.
As military forces around the world become more technologically advanced offering 1 person the strength and ability of 1000, the need for spiritual military strategy is greater now more than ever. Our intellect and technological advances permit incredible abilities unheard of just a century ago that can be used to either serve humanity or destroy it. Clean solar energy, for example, can be used to power schools and hospitals, or it can be used to power unmanned vehicles that destroy entire cities in an instant. Never in mankind’s history have we been in so much control of our own destiny. The future, whatever it may hold, will be largely influenced by our interactions with each other and the planet. Unless we implement spiritual military strategy that respects all life,
Our intellect combined with a lack of empathy and compassion may very well be the recipe of our demise.
We can work together to spread our collective knowledge to the ends of the Earth, to generate clean water and energy, and to cure diseases that prolong and improve quality of life for all. Shifting to a spiritual military strategy that wages peace, inspires planetary oneness, and respects life will help eliminate limited binary concepts of enemies and allies, good and evil, and in doing so allow for the possibility of cultural tolerance, respect and forgiveness. A statement that audacious may trigger fear for many, a fear that is undoubtedly driven by primal survival instinct. But survival is not enough. Why should we merely survive as an isolated nation when we can collectively thrive as a global species?
Executing military strategy founded on spiritual consciousness requires massive spiritual growth, an open mind, and an open heart. It does not promise security with 100% certainty — which is something that has never been promised, even with the current worldview of violence — but what it does promise is our best hope at sustainable global peace and a state of mental clarity with which to make the best possible decisions.
All life stems from a single pool of DNA which we all share. Anything beyond that — skin color, nationality, religion, gender — they are completely man made concepts typically used to divide, judge, isolate, and conquer. There are no “winners” of war within the global species of life, only losers.
The ancient Chinese military general, Sun Tzu, once wrote, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Spiritual consciousness as military strategy subdues the ultimate enemy — ourselves — because when challenged with conflict we are primitively hardwired to simply react with anger and violence. Subduing this enemy eliminates the need to fight, as mental clarity and sustainable peaceful solutions emerge as the best pathway to peace.
For us to thrive together on this planet in peace, the age old military strategy of force, violence and war must be replaced with a spiritual strategy of empathy, love, and peace.
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