Perhaps the most significant flaw in society is we are always never at peace with ourselves, let alone among ourselves. How else do we explain the chaos, hurt and destruction we leave behind when we are bitter? We become attuned to the saying, “some things are inevitable”. In the end there is no commitment to work towards peace. Why are humans captivated by war? Perhaps there are hidden incentives in abandoning the status quo. A sinister scheme could be at play but only few can understand. And these are figureheads who would make biased characterization upon others which can only result in retaliatory acts. Inevitably of course, the start of a irreversible ideological conflict. The only consequence to this is undue bereavement. No matter how we try to protect them, when peace efforts are undermined, we unwittingly inflict physical and emotional grief upon ourselves. The common citizen who has no role in international crisis are force to play the real-life characters as human casualties. They didn’t asked for hostilities and certainly didn’t asked to be collateral damage. And when situations deteriorate into armed conflicts, apart from death and destruction, there will be nothing but vast desolate land it leaves behind. Only when reconciliation begins, we realized that peace is a long and hard struggle.
Throughout civilizations humankind devised laws in hopes to protect societies from injustice, ennobled progress and cultivate peace and harmony. But man has yet to triumph over the evils of bigotry who lives in our midst. We see our struggles to rehabilitate immorality failing and we lose our grip on humility. The ills of hatred are continuing to fuel the flames of bitter rivalries and we make basic common sense increasingly hard to prevail. Yet we are still learning to understand only then we can see what peace can offer us.
Meanwhile before a state peace can be realised, there is a certain threshold that one needs to get passed. Because this is the kind of peace that requires a controlled state of mind, a psychological seismic wonder. It is peace on a personal level. It’s a more profound faculty of thought, occupying our conscience. Its depth determines how much we are prepared to make difficult choices. It is sometimes called, the inner peace and it provides a fundamental link to how we project or conduct our relationship with fellow human beings as well as the natural environment. These are things that actually have an effect on our daily lives which we sometimes take for granted.
In a study called, Nature and Society in Geography, B.L. TurnerII, in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition) of 2015, quoted one of its contributors, Carol Harden, on soil erosion:
“..evident shown that abandoned land and roads/trails are critical in accelerating erosion..”
So basically when Mother Nature is sick or not at peace, there will be no inner peace for her children, the earth’s inhabitants. And should one succeed in seizing the moment, it is unclear how much further one can sustain its heights and intuition. Some of us may claimed to be at peace but in truth that is a priceless rarity, a scarce commodity. As scarce as a hen’s teeth.
The search for inner peace is usually induced by personal conflicts in our past. Eventually when we learn to pull through the upheavals of life, there’ll be a sense that we may have found that elusive solitude. But it may not be enough as the modern world, with whom our existence are linked to, is evolving relentlessly, challenging our rationality while overwhelming us for our weaknesses. We become weak when we are apolitical because our environment is part of the economics of politics. Therefore it’s prudent to understand global environmental matters as well. The earth’s ecosystem needs nurturing because unscrupulous industries are allowed to ravage her purity, all in the name of progress. If getting Donald Trump was worrying enough for global warming, the world will now have to deal with the likes of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro who is seemingly hell-bent on promoting the deforestation of the Amazon. Our solidarity to act against these savagery are under scrutiny. Without a healthy natural environment, the search for inner peace will be nearly as impossible.
Remarkably, some surrogates of these ideologies have suggested that ensuing peace is subjective. Pushing philosophical beliefs against psychological stance. They believed that its consequence is dependent on one own’s perception of its existence — yet another attempt to manipulate reasoning. And to the leaders of these conservative theorists, their idea of peace is a deception for amassing more power and influence. One common method used is questioning our loyalty to their political movement. And when caught in a violent conflict they will claimed to have found a peace plan and denounce violence but in truth, their distorted ideology of truce exacerbate the plight of the victims and creates wider divisions by threatening adversaries of further hostilities with bullying tactics. It provides leverage to populist ideologies and gives rise to bigotry. This far-Right liberalism, who affirmed that one race (their race) is superior to another, is literally ruining harmony among society and undoing peace among mankind.
In recent years, we have seen the causes of racial discord that took place in leading economies are being used by the country’s incumbent leaders to gain mileage in their re-election bids. What was previously racially blasphemous are being pushed for acceptability by the extreme far-Right. Apparently becoming emboldened by irresponsible leadership. Meanwhile in the opposition camp, they condemned these deplorable and dangerous rhetoric in an effort to discredit their rival’s morality. But in doing so, they unwittingly precipitated some section of their supporters into a frenzy. Peaceful marches organised by Left-wing groups, somehow become somewhat provocative to the opposing party supporters and this is usually where trouble begins — a nightmare for security forces. In such circumstances, we could desperately feel violent confrontation brewing around the corner. Unfortunately, this is what election campaigns are all about and with very little provocation, chaos can break-out. A tit-for-tat behaviour can be fraught with danger. Unwarranted rhetorical outbursts have caused irreparable damage to a free nation. Violence from hatred and racism that was initially an “accident waiting to happen” has in fact broken out without control. This is where cool heads are imperative in order to proliferate peace.
As we travel through that hallowed journey of our search for peace, every answers to our questions will be revealed. How do we cast out our demons? Or how do we put our worry to rest? And as we surface the atmosphere of our inner sanctum of calmness, we will learn that life is no more than a planetary motion, orbiting around nature’s scheme of progression. The trajectory will lead us to a full circle in the unspoken galaxy. It will take us back to youthful spirits, where everything began, when our raw sensitivity takes shape. When we feel the ease to connect to other human beings and show them our courage to be receptive.
Harmony among humanity and the assimilation of society, isn’t completely about accepting cultural and religious diversity. There is more than meets the eye. What it boils down to is a combination of factors such as confronting social injustice, fighting the lack of government aid and in many cases, grappling with endless struggles for basic livelihood. And among other things that compounded the challenges to cultivate peace and harmony, is the blatant disregard for basic human rights and free speech. It is a hotly debated subject which opposing groups have their own varying definition of. Authoritarian governments are the principal culprit. Lead by corrupt and deranged dictators who are shrewd in masquerading as champions for the underprivileged. They claimed to uphold law and order but in fact enforcing extrajudicial assassinations and demonizing human rights activists, as we have seen committed by the Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte. Criticism are being dismissed as fake news and with every resources at their disposal, they are able to inspire disinformation campaign against the so-called, enemy of the people. These are wrong and unjust but efforts to cancel out their forces are too weak.
Another element that is working to undermine our drive for harmony is stereotyping. It’s a living molecule inside our system that has existed for generations. Many believed that this tasteless trait may have been conceived in our genes and so they lay the blame on the targeted subjects instead. And due to an acute chronic ignorance, dehumanization across racial lines, religion and class, has become widespread in recent times. These dangerous xenophobic believers who are, holding respect as hostage demanded stricter immigration laws that actually violates human rights. Human migration takes place for various reasons but certainly never for the purpose of robbing the host nation’s wealth. We are always in exodus for the betterment of our legacy. The most disturbing thought coming from this phenomena is the fact that it’s more contagious than the common cold. By this assumption, social media platforms and mainstream media outlets must do more to confront these scourge. Complicity is unacceptable because it won’t help us improve our cause. There is an ongoing aggression from crude ideologies that is driving us mad. Ironically though, in order to begin our connection with peace, we will have to first, remove rage and remnants our xenophobic leanings that reside within us. Prejudice and angst will not enhance the strength of our inner peace.
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, no one but ourselves can free our minds.” – Bob Marley: “Redemption Song”.
And for all of our insecurities, we must learn to understand our limitations and imperfections. To be at peace and bring about peace, we need to be ready to let go the negative elements that complicate our struggles. To have the will to free ourselves from our difficult past. Some of us probably cannot while some probably will not. It is undoubtedly the hardest routine our emotions have to deal with on a regular basis. Patience is a virtue, people say but in-fact patience is a prerequisite. When we act in haste, we will feel the entrapment because all of its elements are not in place. We begin by being philosophical and yet we are impractical. This is an arrangement that we may find unjustified but it is spelled out invisibly.
Peace, harmony and the assimilation in society will always be an illusion as long as our world remains the way it is today. Our wills are free but we will always be enslaved to the rhetoric of the inapt movers and shakers who we ourselves put in office. Not only the ones who voted them in but us who aren’t convincing enough to them to be on our side. Eventually we become helpless as we let them burn our forest, contaminate our oceans and decimate wildlife and worst, destroy the very fabric of society. And because we are in the state of what we are today, tomorrow will not change anything. We may be modest but we cannot help it when we are still the same hypocrites. We talk of how dignified we should be and yet we strip bare the life of others and every living being that impedes our ambitions. We look for basic life’s contentment, but we make the relentless pursuit of wealth a priority all in the name of our children’s well-being. We want cheaper and quality services but we forget the forced labourer who earns a meagre of income. Forced, because they have no choice but families to feed. And eventually replaced by modern technology. We are literally xenophobic and we failed to realise it. We blamed it on a deeply rooted culture of hate but what we are really doing is looking out for our race. There is nothing wrong with taking care of our kind of course but we forget that skin colour are a superficial layer of common intuition.
Studies have found (just Google it) that there is no scientific or biological or even psychological proof to corroborate a perception that the skin colour determines how intelligent or inferior one person is to another and yet we choose fairer over darker. Smart people don’t necessarily produce smart kids or vice versa. But who is to judge that proper upbringing can guarantee morally sound descendants. Our future are actually dependent on what or who lives around us. These are the things that drive us from one belief to another. But isn’t it ironic that the identity we want seemed extraordinarily the same and yet we are moving backwards. We consumed whatever satisfies our needs because we are what we eat. Until we are able to correct ourselves and convince others to believe in the good for the world, there will never be peace. Collectively we can stop it.. or can we not? And will there be time before we can make it? Meanwhile as they say, the vicious cycle continues.
The End
life of matahari 