29/02/2024
Love and Light Negates the Reason for All Wars
If I were to ask you, what is the opposite to love, you would probably say hate. You would be wrong. The greatest emotion any human can experience after love is fear. Show me a person with a heart filled with hate, and I will show you someone experiencing fear.
The world today is in a dark place, riven with conflict and wars, famine, greed, misinformation, manipulation, selfishness, climate change, widespread drug abuse/trade/wars and with many people’s resentment and support for inhumanity to their fellow humans, particularly humans they might regard as not being of their kind.
The world doesn’t have to be this way, nor was it always in such a dark place. When growing up, I was always of the view that man’s inhumanity to man died with the defeat of Na**sm and its final solution in WW2 and that that terrible episode happened to be a mere blip or freak act in history. I also naively believed that the horror and brutality of war and the depts that people can go to brutalise and destroy their fellow humans was reserved to an era in the middle and dark ages and before.
Some people might say that war and conflict has been part of the human experience for as long as man has inhabited earth and that’s just the way it is and always will be, and they might add, “sure what can you or I do to change that?
Well, that’s not entirely correct. You see, if we go back in time to when humans lived in caves, and as crude and uncivilized as we were deemed to be at that time, cavemen didn’t resort to violence just because they could. Cavemen didn’t pop next door and club their neighbour over the head because their cave might have had more space and faced the sun in the mornings. No, he didn’t, but he might have fought with his neighbour over food because food was essential for his and his family’s continued existence. The caveman, like the lion and the wolf and like most other animals, only resorted to violence when they became hungry and needed to eat to survive.
So why in the 21st century, does our world seem so uncivilised and dark. Why also, is it that an ever-growing number of people today feel a 3rd World War is beginning to appear over the horizon? Why is it today, in our very own communities, there are those who are prepared to burn down buildings just so others who have fled war, famine and injustice, cannot inhabit them? Why is it that “Love thy neighbour” has now morphed into “Love thy neighbour so long as he or she is one of our kind?
The answer to all the above questions is fear. Mix fear with a dash of misinformation and a sprinkle of confusion and you are left with a ready-made recipe for darkness.
Fear is at the root of all negative emotions: hate, jealousy, disgust, impatience, shame, pity, indignation, envy, worry, and guilt.
Darkness represents fear, negativity, resentment, anxiety, intolerance, greed, jealousy, anger, violence, and war. Fear is a lack of trust in oneself, those around us and the world at large.
Light on the other hand, represents love, understanding, compassion, empathy, generosity, self-love, peace of mind, appreciation, and love for all living things.
If you were asked to choose one or other of the above options as to how you are going to lead your life, it might seem like a straightforward no-brainer choice. However, since all of us souls came into this world with free will, a world with an already built in man-made system of laws and structures, the lines between darkness and light are often blurred and unclear, therefore our free-will decisions, might not always be the right ones.
Most of these laws and structures and systems of governing the world are the result of wars already fought, so it is questionable as to which force has the dominant influence in the world today, though some of the news scenes that we have been treated to on our TV screens in recent times, might help us to answer that question.
So why do we 21st century so-called civilised humans still justify war? And is there really such a thing as a just war? Who gets to decide which wars are just and which ones are not? Isn’t it really the case that everyone who engages in war and killing believe their side and cause to be just and righteous? So, in real terms, every war is just until it’s not. The ‘not’ begins the very moment the first shot is fired, and a human life is terminated. War perpetuates war and further conflict, it devastates communities belonging to the participant combatant sides, lowering peoples spiritual light, spreading further fear, anxiety, pain, resentment, anger, and revenge, which inevitably leads to a continuation of conflict, including physical, mental, and spiritual.
The following are three examples of wars that have and had their origins in fear, one historic, and two currently ongoing wars. The first was a war waged by the United States of America in Vietnam in the 1960-70’s. I chose this war as my first example, because the US was and is a world superpower and have been since the end of W.W.2. The American defeat in Vietnam in 1975, demonstrated three things.
1. The U.S. had no moral or legitimate reason for sending its military forces to Vietnam in the 1960’s after the previous French colonial regime had been defeated and vacated the country.
2. The Americans told the world that its reason for taking over from the French, was to help prevent a communist take-over of the country, which in turn would lead to communism spreading throughout wider Assia. American military and political experts referred to this fear-based theory as “The domino effect”. Following the American defeat and with full Vietnamese independence declared, no such domino effect of communist regimes happened throughout Assia. It had all been based on an unfounded fear.
3. The Cost.
Because the Americans allowed their policy in Vietnam to be driven by fear, it continued to send its own young soldiers into the country to kill and be killed for an additional seven years after an internal military report established it was fighting a war it couldn’t win. In the process, American forces dropped more than three times the number of bombs on Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia than were dropped during the entire second World War (just think about that statistic for a moment, and consider the amount of dark hatred, anger, and fear, that drove such a military policy on). The result of that fear-based war in terms of human lives lost, was 2 million Vietnamese civilians, 1 million, 125,000 of various Vietnamese military forces, and 58,300 American force personnel were lost, while South Korea, lost 4,000 soldiers in the conflict, and 100 Canadians died in the war. 500 Australians soldiers died, and 36 New Zealanders gave their lives to the conflict. A total of 2,188,296 humans, in a war that achieved absolutely nothing – but Vietnamese independence. American prestige as a world power and guardian of democracy and all that was right and good, was also greatly diminished by that pointless war.
The Americans, when it came to Vietnam, turned to darkness to solve a problem that really wasn’t a problem to begin with. The Vietnamese people under its leader Ho Chin Min, were fighting for their independence, initially from France, later and briefly from Japan during its occupation of the country in WW2, where Ho Chi Min’s guerrilla forces assisted the US in defeating the Japanese. One might have expected the US to reward Min and his people with their freedom and independence after their help with defeating Japan, but no, instead, the US allowed the French to resume control of the country as soon as the Japanese had left.
Ho Chi Min felt he was left with no other option but to look elsewhere for help to allow him and his people to rid their country of the French. Moscow was the obvious answer. Ho Chi Min was no communist at heart. It was the folly and ignorance of American foreign policy makers who forced him to choose a similar dark path. They would have had a ready-made ally and peaceful democracy in the region had they chosen to allow the Vietnamese people to govern themselves after the Japanese were expelled from the country. Instead, they chose the continuation of a white supremist European colonial power to rule the country. Not, only did America, ignore its own guiding principles around democracy and people’s right to self-determination – the very principle by which most wars had been fought by the US up to that point in history, but now they had succumbed to darkness and fear when making the choice to allow the French back in the door. That there was a Vietnam war to begin with, was because there were people on all sides who made decisions from a place of darkness and fear, rather than light, rationality, and love.
Today, darkness is literally calling the shots in two other wars that are being fought and which are dominating the news headlines now. For those who understand the power of fear, it wouldn’t have come as a great surprise when Putin’s Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. That western and NATO leaders had reneged on a previously given assurance to the Russian Federation after the collapse of communism in the 1990’s, that it wouldn’t move eastwards and encroach on its borders, was no excuse or justification for invading Ukraine. No country has the moral or legal right to invade another, regardless of what reason is given. That superpowers often ignore these moral codes and invade anyway, whether under the guise of searching for imaginary weapons of mass destruction, or merely stating their reason for invading is related to ‘The Greater Good’ is as fictionry and as morally bankrupt as James Bonds slogan about a ‘Licence to Kill’.
Putin who is clearly a slave to darkness, is the clear aggressor in his war with Ukraine. That, however, doesn’t mask the fact that other dark agenda driven forces, who are profiting and sending weapons to both Ukraine and Russia, are equally operating from a place of Darkness.
Israel/Palestine
What does it say about our world today when a powerful nation can continuously bombard its infinitely smaller and weaker neighbour through genocidal actions, while boldly declaring to the world it is merely engaging in actions of self-defence.
What does it say about the allies and supporters of Israel who initially offered it support after October 7th last, when the regime announced it intended to cut off water, food, and medical supplies to the civilian population of Gaza. What exactly did the US, UK and some EU leaders think was going to happen after they had given Israel the thumbs up for its planned actions?
What did Israel itself feel after it was given such a blank cheque of support to proceed as desired? As I write this, there is already over 30,000 and counting Palestinians dead in Gaza, tens of thousands more buried beneath the rubble and hundreds of thousands more injured without access to medical aid. Old people, men and women, children and babies, people who died in Israeli self-defensive actions, that is if we are to believe the Israeli regime and its cheerleaders. There have been many Palestinian babies born after October 7th last, who are no longer alive, souls that have been sent back to heaven because of Israel’s self-defence genocidal policy.
So, where has all the hate come from that is necessary to fuel such a genocidal policy? Again, the answer lies with fear. There is no other nation on earth that has existed since its foundation in such a constant state of fear like Israel. Israel was born out of guerilla warfare in 1948, the same kind of warfare that Hamas engages in today. Israel would never admit its state was born out of terrorism, nor that the land ceded to it by the previous British occupiers was really the property of Palestinian families driven from the land.
But Israel does exist, and everyone needs to respect its right to exist, just like Israel needs to respect its neighbours right to exist, including its nearest neighbour Palestine. Up to now, Israel has found it impossible to recognise Palestinians as a sovereign people deserving of a homeland state, probably because to do so would mean having to return to them additional lands taken from them since 1967, as well as having to view Palestinians as being more than sub-human. Israel and many from the Jewish community at large around the globe, have their own memories of been treated and viewed as subhuman, but because of fear and subsequent hatred of its neighbours, Israel is blinded from seeing that it risks its very own security and survival every time it engages in repeating the mistakes of that dark past.
What is going to happen, when the US finally realises that Israel, the one county it always believed was a stabilising force in the Middle East, has now become the most destabilising and greatest threat to peace in the region? At what point will President Biden pull the plug of support for Israeli genocide in Gaza, on 40k deaths? - 60K, 100K? Joe Biden recently called Israeli bombing of Gaza as being over the top. He didn’t say it was wrong or that Israel should immediately stop. So, who exactly was President Biden trying to impress with such hollow words?
For what they were worth, Im sure the people of Gaza feel those words were meaningless and America’s unequivocal support for Israel has the same effect as if President Biden was personally dropping bombs on them from his own Airforce One jet.
When one steps back and looks at the picture from afar and of Gaza and the surrounding region, including all the political and military players, big and small, it’s clear to see that all are operating from places of fear and darkness. Someone is sooner or later going to have to blink and choose light over darkness, choose peace and love instead of fear and hate. A complete ceasefire is the first step.
When I Chose Light over Darkness.
When the IRA declared on the 31st of August 1994, that it was entering into a permanent ceasefire, I was left with several raw emotions, the most prominent of which was a feeling deep inside of me that said this was right and how it should be. It was like a subconscious voice trying to tell me go with this.
Today, I would instantly recognise such an inner voice as being that of my higher self or soul, attempting to have a conversation with myself.
At that time, I had already been a member of the IRA for twelve years. I had done and seen a lot during that period and was proud of my role as a republican army volunteer. On that day, my mind went back to the summer of 1982, when I was sworn into the IRA in East Cork. Joining the IRA was not a knee-jerk or carefree decision for me, but rather had been a very carefully weighed up and considered decision that had been long in the making. But once it was made, I recall feeling with every fibre in my body that it was the correct decision.
Back then, my sense of right and wrong didn’t come from what career politicians had to say or from newspaper editorials that were politically and financially driven, not to mention the political and paranoid censorship laws that existed at the time like (section 31 of the Broadcasting Act) allowing for only one narrative to explain what the conflict in the north of my country was all about. No, I took my sense of right and wrong from what my eyes and ears told me, and in this particular case, from what I had experienced some years earlier while serving as a member of the Irish Army on border duty. For me, at that time, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that what I was about to engage in was a just war. But how could it have been a just war, as war, any war, by its very nature and definition, the taking of life, was unjust, and originated from a place of darkness and fear.
I recall one day, in the months after the ceasefire was declared, receiving a visit to my home from a senior republican from Cork city. The man was someone I had worked with for many years previously. Like me, he had also served time in prison for his political beliefs and was someone I looked up to and had the ultimate respect for.
The man, my friend and comrade, began to tell me a very disturbing story. He said that in the lead up to the ceasefire, some strange jiggery pokery business had taken place on the IRA Army Council, where some members had been removed and replaced on that body to ensure a predetermined outcome would be possible for its upcoming vote for a ceasefire, and whether the IRA’s war against British Rule, should or should not continue.
At the time, I didn’t know if my friend and comrades’ information was correct or not, but what I did know without any shadow of doubt, was that he certainly believed it to be. Although, my friend told me that he therefore could no longer support such and undemocratic and dishonest Army Council and would possibly instead support an alternative Army Council that likely would opt to continue the war, he made no effort to canvass me to join him and said he had only called on me out of courtesy to explain his personal position to me. We then shook hands and wished each other well for the future.
There was a time, when hearing such a disturbing revelation would have angered me and caused me to react very irrationally, like following the course my friend had decided to take, but on this occasion, I chose light over darkness and peace over war, regardless of how it was brought about.
But it took a further twenty-six years before I realised, I hadn’t entirely embraced the light in 1994, because even though I had voted for and embraced the ceasefire and peace, I also chose to embrace denial while telling myself and anyone willing to listen that the war I had previously engaged in, had been a just war. It was only when I came to the slow realisation that there is no such thing as a just war, that I was forced to accept mine was wrong too, regardless of its causes and origin.
Love is all you need.
On February 24th last, the people of Ireland took to the streets in their tens of thousands to march and commemorate the 2nd anniversary of war in Ukraine, as many others did throughout Europe and beyond. The Irish people in general might rightly feel proud about the manner in which their country responded to the catastrophe of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sending food, medicines and other essential supplies to the region, followed by allowing more than a hundred thousand refugees fleeing the conflict to settle here as a temporary home, and of our government allowing military facilities at Kilworth County Cork to be used to train Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the most up to date weapons of war.
But what few spoke about at those 2nd anniversary commemoration rallies was that peace in the Ukraine today is as distant as the day Russian forces first invaded. Most Irish people might justifiably feel they were right both then and now to hope and pray that Ukraine will defeat Putin’s Russian forces in battle for justice to be served and the Ukraine liberated.
Not only is such a scenario unlikely to happen anytime soon however, but surely a more realistic and better outcome would be for a mutually agreed peace where no further killing would be necessary.
How could such an extraordinary situation be brought about without the use of force, you might ask? Well, if we accept as I do, that we humans are what we think and how we behave, and that our thoughts must first proceed our actions, which in turn forms our view of the world around us, then we do hold power over how our lives and world can be shaped. For example, someone who is generally a negative and a glass half empty person, is sure to look at the world around them as a place that mainly offers them negative things. They think negative, expect negative, therefore attract negativity, including other negative people to them. On the other hand, someone who is generally positive – a glass half full person, who thinks and views the world positively and always longs for and believes better things lie ahead, will attract those positive things, including new positive people to their circle of friends.
If we were to apply that simple logic to the conflict in the Ukraine, or to any conflict for that matter and swap our desire to see one side win a military victory over the other, and replacing it with love and peace, then we can influence an outcome where everyone can be winners and love and light prevails over war and darkness.
Imagine for a moment, if everyone in Ireland and everyone throughout Europe who marched in support of the Ukraine on February 24th, and who no doubt would have had at times images in their minds of one day seeing Vladimir Putin strung up from a lamp post, were to change those negative thoughts and images in their minds eye, to one of the two opposing leaders Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy hugging each other after signing a peace agreement, followed with images of Russian and Ukrainian army generals shaking hands and embracing each other with mutual respect. Imagine, if all those people were to direct all their positive energy and thoughts towards such imagery every morning when they awoke, and again at night before going to sleep and repeated that for one month, then the results could be truly surprising.
For as long as humans have walked this earth, there have been empires and superpowers, all borne out of violence and war. But just imagine if the next superpower was one borne out of light and love and was one represented by souls from every nation on earth and in every hemisphere of this planet, and who’s only weapon used to spread its message and influence is love and light?
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Kieran McCarthy
