We live in a world where peace and conflict lives side by side with one another, where you can see a man giving alms in one minute but also hits without remorse his beloved one the next minute. A world where politicians speak much of peace, but has used force to obtain peace. A world where institutions are built on the basis to protect humanity but has eventually resulted in the opposite. We have institutions such as the United Nations to protect the member countries and subsequently the people of those countries. The list of these organizations goes on. Yes, they have done a great deal in obtaining and perhaps maintaining peace but alike all collective religious organizations they have done little towards forging an everlasting solution towards preserving and maintaining peace. These institutions, whether it be man-made or the so-called God made institutions, they have all been unable to penetrate the core of the problem, the essence of where the conflict originates from. They have been unable to penetrate the ego within ourselves.
We talk much of ego when it comes to solving problems in relationships between loved one’s, but we seldom talk of it and have never made it a core issue when conducting peaceful negotiations when it comes to resolving humanitarian conflicts or wars. Have we ever asked ourselves, why? What is the difference between a conflict in a relationship and a conflict in, such as perhaps, between two neighboring countries? Yes, perhaps the problems are much more complex (and as an international political student I do know what I am talking about), but when you see with unclouded eyes, it all becomes clear, that the root of all conflicts comes down to ego, our ego. The feeling to be above another, the feeling of not wanting to loose because it will bring nothing but shame and defeat, the feeling that we are better than the other. We all want that right? To feel the sensation of winning, that my friend is ego. And we live in a society that tolerates ego, embraces ego and has made us come to think of ego as something that we are unable to overcome and useless to talk about. Yes, I do understand to overcome ego is anything but easy. But if we understand that ego, which Krishnamurti easily puts it, “Isn’t the origin of conflict ego? If there is no ego there is no becoming” then perhaps one day we can finally be at peace with one another. Peace my friends, originates within ourselves, not from a State, or religion, or ideology or even a messiah, it is and will always be from ourselves. We just do not realize it at the moment.
We have been so wrong for so long in finding a solution towards peace, everlasting peace.
We have been so wrong for so long, my friends.
