COSMIC LESSONS
Phyllis Palmer
Watching the two warring sides in the Middle East conflict, I am
reminded of the wise observation that problems cannot be solved by the
same level of thinking that created them in the first place. Both
sides seem to think the way to solve the problem is to continue killing
each other, when it is obvious to the rest of the world that the
killing is only postponing the eventual solution and making it far more
difficult. A whole new level of thinking is needed if there is
ever to be a breakthrough in this conflict. This new kind of
thinking already exists in the peace activists on both sides, but no
one is listening to this still small voice of sanity. Religion at
its worst created this war, and it may ultimately be up to religion at
its best to end it.
A Middle Eastern woman
interviewed on CNN recently said of the endless warring between
Israelis and Palestinians that they were like fighting siblings who
needed to be separated by their mother and sent to separate rooms until
they could learn to live together peacefully. It might help to
raise the level of thinking to a cosmic perspective. Imagine, for
instance, that God, watching all this warring madness with horror and
the infinite grief of a mother whose children are killing each other,
might say to her children, “My name is Life and Love and you are
created out of my very substance. You are each sacred, members of
my divine family. How then can you, my children, even think of
harming, much less killing each other? It is simply
unthinkable, intolerable, not an option. You will have to
go back to Kindergarten and learn a whole new way of relating to each
other and solving problems that respects who you really are.”
Humanity took a wrong turn ages ago, buying into what Walter Wink
calls “the mythology of redemptive violence.” Beginning long
before Kindergarten, children in almost every society in the world,
especially boys, are indoctrinated into the violence system. They
are brainwashed by their entire society to believe that people can be
divided into “good guys” and “bad guys” and the way for good guys to
deal with bad guys who cause trouble is to kill them. Killing is
only bad when it is done by the bad guys. This kind of
black-white thinking, which has little basis in reality, is constantly
reinforced in the stories, toys, games, movies that entertain, and
educate, our children, particularly our boys. Society conspires
in the effort to mold boys into fighters -- toughening them,
desensitizing them to their own and others’ emotional needs and pain,
teaching them to view others as competitors, opponents unworthy of
compassion in a ubiquitous struggle for domination. It is
inevitable that many boys raised in this worldview grow up eager to
take their place in whatever battles their people are currently
involved in. It also guarantees that there will always be wars
for them to fight, since realpolitiks involves dominating others for
one’s own benefit, and people naturally resist domination.
We are fast approaching the point where the human race must move
on to the next stage in our evolution, or perish. Perhaps it is
time to go back to our Mother’s knee to relearn the lessons that make
for peaceful, mutually beneficial relationships – sharing, fairness,
cooperation instead of competition, empathy, compassion, helping
instead of exploiting others. In short, living more like the
children of God we truly are.