Tag Archives: peace

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

War, what is it good for?

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This remembrance day I had the opportunity to listen to some deep track song themes on Sirius XM radio.  A number of lyrics really caught my attention relative to a number of philosophical questions.

One interesting thought was without war there can be no peace.  Or to turn it around peace requires us to wage wars so we can reach peace.   Yikes, a scary thought, if peace is an outcome of the war then I don’t need it.

Without Soldiers

Another fascinating concept was contained in the Buffy St. Marie epic “Universal Soldier”.  The basic theme was without the soldier there can be no war.

Simply put, soldiers are the instrument of war.  If they do not exist we could not wage war.  There would be no-one to attack or defend.  Kind of along the lines of “What if we held a war and no-one came?” There would be no war.

Manufactured Goals

A further aspect highlighted during the musical theme was the focus on the objectives of the war.    The winner’s goals become righteous objectives simply because they won while losers are evil.

Without war, this arbitrary definition of right and wrong becomes a collaborative negotiation with the ultimate goals being a win-win.  That is to negotiate something that leads to good for everyone.  War does not allow for this kind of result.

So really, as highlighted by the Edwin Starr song title “War, (What is it good for?).

Remembering

Remembering those that have fallen in past conflicts is truly a noble exercise.  No life should be ended through murder (in essence soldiers are sanctioned, murderers.)

For those that have been forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, I am deeply saddened and do believe should be honoured but ultimately, the main question is why does war exist in the first place?

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Feeling Good

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In the Northern hemisphere, the week or so after the winter solstice is a time of celebration.  Intuitively this makes sense, in a way it is celebrating the coming of the light

That is, the solstice is the shortest day of the year and from then until the summer solstice the days get longer.  Longer days mean longers periods of light, a reason to celebrate.

Holiday Happiness

This seasonal period is labeled a period of peace and joy.   Many customs abound supporting this varying by cultural and religious background but all have a common focus – a time of universal contentment.

I have always wondered why we concentrate our focus are happiness focused behaviour (giving gifts, dancing, frolicking etc.) with a single time of year.

Sure the days are getting longer but aren’t the desires for a peaceful and happy existence something that is universal and life long.  Pausing each year for a period of peace and joy reverting back to eleven months of death and destruction just does not seem logical.

Reward Psychology

Intermittent reward is much more effective than constant or ongoing.  In fact if it is not periodic the value of a celebration and it’s associated impact is lessened.

It becomes the norm.  The periodic celebration of longer periods of daylight has a cachet because it is periodic.  Celebrating and behaving in a peaceful manner all the time is just boring I guess.

Still, all in all I think this is an illogical approach.  That being said, I wish peace and good will to all , now, next month, next year and so on.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Hello

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World hello day, a secular holiday, was first celebrated in 1973.  Who knew?   I ask because this year is the first I heard of it and I have been around scince well before 1973.

The tag line of the day could be described as “Build your relationships, say hello to someone you don’t know. “ The stated objective is to greet at least ten people during the day.

Peace and Communication

The organizer of the day (Brian McCormack) had a simple concept in mind.  The key message was targeted to world leaders.  Use communication rather than force to resolve conflicts.

Interact with your fellow denizens of the world, get to know them.  Peace founded on personal communication by actually simply greeting others.

Dialogue can accomplish much more than force and the effects are immeasurably more sustainable.  The simple concept of getting to understand different perspectives lays a powerful foundation for getting along.

Israel and Egypt

Back in 1973 Israel and Egypt were at war.  Did their leaders even know each other?  A conflict based on historical and cultural basis between people whom were not even willing to greet each other, so sad.

My hat goes off to Brian Maccorkmack for a simple yet powerful idea that although it has not changed the world overnight the positive message has continued unabated each year.

So on Nov 21st and everyday say hello to 10 people.  Build empathy with others.  We are not alone. Share your joys and sorrows and they will share theirs.

Peace Out.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Peace

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Peace is a state of contentment and tranquility.  By definition a peaceful condition is free from war and violence.  Seems like a good place to be.  This raises the questions as to why everyone in the world is not in a state of peace.

Sounnds good, where do I sign up?

From a purely logical perspective (think of the fictional Vulcan race from the Star Trek TV series) everyones individual goal should be to attain a peaceful state.

It feels good, enhances your pleasure and enjoyment of life itself.  If everyone was in a peaceful state; war, violence and other conditions which break the peace would be non existent.

Terrorists , mass murderers, warring states, individual conflicts that lead to grief, none of these concepts would exist.  If everyone was at peace things that represent unpeaceful conditions would have no place.

Reality Intrudes

Although the fictional Vulcan race achieved this peaceful Nirvana by the consistent and uninterupted practice of behaving logically, we on Earth seem eons away from achieving it.

But why?  It makes no sense to not be peaceful always to everybody without exception.  It is logical.  And there is the rub, logical behaviour makes up only a very small part of the human psyche.

For this I have no explanation.   If I were in charge of evolution of the human species I would remove the brains capacity for all emotional and illogical thinking, thus eliminating the associated behaviors which do nothing but disturb the peace.

Sadly, I am not in charge.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Belief

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We all belief in things.  That is the acceptance of the truth, existence or confidence in someone or something.  This can include things for which the physical or literal existence cannot be validated.

You cannot see, touch or talk to god (two way talking) yet this is a belief many hold as absolute.  The belief can be so strong it drives behaviour.

In some cases, this behaviour might not conform with social norms, for example the suicide bomber who shouts “God is great” before obliterating both themselves and those around them.

Devoid of Belief

While skepticism is a true and demonstrated behaviour, that is a suspension of belief, on the whole individuals are not able to live their lives without some core beliefs.

Philosophically the need for belief could be  illustrated through a bastardization of Descartes famous “I think, therefore I am”.  Something like “ I do not believe, therefore I am not”.

An exaggeration certainly, with a foundation of truth.  Life without belief, at least in something or arguably even a belief in nothing (the giant void) is a belief.

Understanding and Accepting your Beliefs

Self contentment requires a recognition that you believe in something  even if that belief is nothing.  Nothing does exist and has a physical representation, a numeric  “0”or alpha null, so you can believe in it.  (I believe in the power of null)

Belief drives behaviour, comfortable behaviour is peaceful and requires an understanding of your personal beliefs in order to attain this state.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Programming Non Violence

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In yesterday’s post I postulated that an evolutionary change was needed if humankind was to achieve a simple state where we could all be friends.

I received feedback that was neither feasible nor, even if achievable, practical.

Consider Artificial Intelligence

Sci-fi author Issac Asimov proposed the three laws of robotics:

 

  • A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  • A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  • A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws

What if we were able to manipulate the human genome such that these principles could be genetically coded (similar to the way we would program them in a robot) and thus they would become universally adopted by all humans.  In essence, the basic genetic coding of the human race would eliminate man’s violence against man.

Being programmed into our genetic make-up would mean managing your violent behavior would not need to be learned.   Rather than training everyone in one of the key tenants of civilization, it would be built in.  And we all live happily ever after – focus on the ALL.

What about…….?

Does this make the controller/programmer of the human genome a God.  That is the all powerful power that guides human behavior.  By engineering our own genetic make-up are we treading where only God is supposed to play.

To quote the News of World newspaper headline of a couple of weeks ago, following the latest mass killing in the U.S.,  “God won’t fix this”

Arguably engineering the human genome is not godlike but rather an exercise of intelligence and common sense.  I recognize this is a very controversial position though and I am not promoting it but rather exposing the thought here for dialogue purposes.

And if we control free will, that is to say by removing the ability to decide to be violent against your fellow man, are we not in some way limiting human capability by restricting the freedom to act in any way.

Philosophically speaking….

This is an interesting topic, personally I am not sure there is a right answer; however, I am pretty convinced man’s violence against man is wrong.