Spillover
When Motown
singer Edwin Starr in 1969 sang the words “War” with the proceeding words being
“What is it good for? Absolutely nothing,” there was a huge mounting protest
against the Vietnam War and US involvement. The US felt that the communist
system threatened the well-being of the world and dominance of democracies and the so-called “free world”, and that this should be rectified. The
extent to which they were willing to go to was the loss of innocent life in a far
distant land. The sequence was, i) differences, ii) fierce disagreement, iii)
threats, and finally, iv) killing. Differences & fierce disagreement are to
do with the mental platform. The latter two become the verbal and then physical
platforms. If there is not de-escalation a any stage, killing will be the final
stage. Generations will then be born with those memories, and they will scar
the future. So in one sense, the consequences for escalation sends echoes into the future, for better or worst. When those you harm are
disconnected with the cause of disagreement, you know that the measures taken
have exceed the trigger. Punishment is not focused on the cause, but ends up
overspilling to those not involved, who may be entirely indifferent to the
cause of disagreement, or even more ironically even on the same ideological page
as the aggressor.
Philosophical outlooks
Many like to make a
comparison of the histories of India hailing them as a time of nobility, virtue
and truth. Such times must also be understood contextually. The time where
Vedic philosophy presided in every part of peoples lives, had many connotations.
One of these is the understanding that our essence is eternal; the soul.
Therefore, the material body isn’t the be all and end all. This means that
our so-called death, doesn’t have as much meaning since we have millions of
lives, not just this one. This is a stark contrast to understanding that is
held today where most people, behave like this life is the be all end all of
existence; even if there is some spiritual understanding present. Indeed Emperor Yudhisthira
confirms this in his dialogue with the god Dharma. Dharma asks him, what is he
most bewildering phenomenon in this world. To which Yudhisthira replies, it is
the fact people whilst seeing that everyone who is born dies, still think unconsciously
think and act like they will not die, being so ignorant to impending and inevitable death. So
a warrior in that time, who held a firm understanding that there is life beyond
this one, may not have been so reluctant to part with their life in the course of their duty in order to
do something they believed in. The big question is, how big a “difference, or fierce
disagreement”, could lead to conflict that could end their life? Sometimes it
was insult of ones wife, other times it was envy of another individuals’ dominance,
sometimes it is as simple as one who is taking more space on the road than
another and not respecting rank. The Ramayana is effectively a war where
millions lost lives on the basis of Sita being captured by Ravana, and Rama
reclaiming her.
Innocent life
The
official trigger for World War I was also an assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and
Franz Ferdinand's wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo, Bosnia. This
eventually led to approximately 40 million deaths. The major statistic is “loss
of innocent life.” Innocent life is generally regarded as non-military casualties.
Military casualties are regarded as not innocent life. When a person decides to
dedicate their life to a countries armed forces, they are therefore effectively
opening themselves to being labeled as “non-innocent.” They might even have no
vested moral, ideological interest or alignment with the country, but they just
have it in their nature to engage in combat, and therefore they are labeled as
non-innocent. They may be equally separate from the causes of killing from the
perspective of the differences, fierce disagreement, and threats, but they end
up bearing the killing. This sounds very much like the scenario of the innocent.
Therefore, one could argue that even those doing the fighting are also innocent.
This is indeed a huge irony and misfortune for all civilisation. 
After the extent of damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War 2, the grave consequences of not being able to de-escalate were clear. People do not live with the understanding that there are multiple lives, they do not find causes that their governments believe in that the public will strongly enough agree with in order to sacrifice their lives. This coupled with the more dire and extensive impact of using chemical, biological and other weapons, means the stake of escalation are far higher than they have been. Doesn’t that mean that leaders have become more tolerant since there is less severe war? Possibly so, but they are also a lot more insecure of their precious lives of enjoyment than kings and queens of the past who throw themselves in the front lines of war to defend what they believed in. Stability and prosperity should certainly be treasured, and the concept of less war than before should also be considered as fortunate. Ideological differences of one group of people who want to live lavish lifestyles over another group that want to do the same, shouldn’t be the deciding factor for millions of peoples’ lives or deaths, and it is a great thing de-escalation has improved since the days of yore. However, societal misaction and cruelty towards harmless and peaceful nature and Earth, also work in a framework of re-balancing. Therefore the historical mass wipeouts whose seeming trigger were petit disagreements in the grand scale of loss of life, may be compensated for by other forms of natural reactions. Therefore peace should be considered introspectively and holistically in our daily living, not just in avoidance of wars.
“The demoniac believe that to gratify the
senses is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus until the end of life
their anxiety is immeasurable. Bound by a network of hundreds of thousands of
desires and absorbed in lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for
sense gratification.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter
16, Verses 11-12
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