In an unprovoked act of aggression last week Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine. One man’s obsession with recreating the ‘greatness’ of the old Soviet Block will now result in death, maiming, homelessness, poverty, and misery for thousands of people. As far as I can see there is absolutely no justification for him to have behaved the way he has. As many commentators have suggested, it looks like over the last few years Putin has become more and more isolated, taking advice only from a small clique of yes men. His internal mental isolation displayed outwardly for all to see as he sits alone at the head of an outrageously long table. He couldn’t sit any further from those he meets without having to use a phone. An apparently successful politician reduced to an angry bully by the copious consumption of absolute power. Putin has become a fearful little man who doesn’t believe in his ability to convince others of his vision. As a result, he feels he must make them come round to his way of seeing things by using destructive, coercive violence. This demonstrates weakness not strength. Contrast this with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who stands as a brave and articulate model of leadership in the face of an existential threat.
Sadly, we have seen all too many Putins before. A single man in charge of a vast array of destructive tools, who is too mentally weak not to use them. People can look back at history and lament about our violent human nature, but our future does not need to be like our past. We can make a future without war. To do so we must first decide that we want to do it, and that we can, then we need to start taking steps in that direction. If you think it is an impossible dream, then you have already lost the battle against war. So, what does a world without war look like, and how do we get there?
Personally, I think we need to undergo a radical change in how we understand reality. As humans we have, not unreasonably, assumed that we live in a material world. We have then tried to control that external world, often by brute force. But the world isn’t actually ‘out there’, you are not in the world, the world is in you. What we see on the outside is a reflection of what is going on inside.
Energy we describe as good is integrative and connective, whereas energy that we label as bad subdivides and separates. We need to start working towards unity as one human family. Embrace the unity of our diversity, allow people to be who they are without having to force them to be another way. We can all have what we need on this planet without having to harm ourselves or others to get it. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that our needs are the same as our wants. This is often because our wants come from a place of fear. Begin to understand that you have all the power you need to create the reality that you want to experience. You already possess all the power you need. You can certainly use your power to make it look like others have power over you, but they do not.
Once you look at the world like this you begin to understand that there are no others. Everyone you think of as ‘other’ is just an expression of you. Did someone famous once say: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”? If your neighbour is really a reflection of you, then this statement represents a deep truth that we hear, but then totally ignore. “I will love this neighbour and this neighbour, but I will not love this one.” You must love them all.
Even if this change of thinking is a step too far for you right now, at least start expressing more harmony and compassion in your own life. And support politicians who want more unity and co-operation, and less subdivision and separation.
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.” John Lennon
