I wonder sometimes about people who are constantly waging war and cannot seem to reconcile or maintain peace within themselves. Over the last many years I have developed some understanding of people who constantly wage war on others. Why do they do that and why can't they seem to stop? What is the root cause? This cycle of war doesn't seem to stop for many of them. The middle east seems to be in a constant flux of war. In India there are constant battles along religious or cultural lines, the nationalists, the extermists....
Ever wonder who these people really are? My theory is that people who wage war are one's that have deep insecurities in themselves. These insecurities maybe related to their own identity, their self esteem - it maybe something that is passed on to them from prior generation and most importantly I have found that these people having nothing else to do in life - their minds and lives are empty and full of nothingness. They are idle spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally. All their attention then goes to battling others to prove their superiority. But the process they engage in is not to rise above others through good will and compassion. It is by waging meaningless battles to bring others down to their level. Had they been busy and had real meaningful and productive work on their hands, I wonder if they could even find the time to think, plan and execute such battles.
As a child I went to a catholic school. Now this may sound a bit corny, but we had a class in elementary school called "moral science". Irrespective of our religion we were taught by many examples and stories that taught instilled moral values of goodness, work and compassion. Many stories were from the Bible. We covered a lot of common sayings - One that comes to mind is "an idle mind is a devil's workshop". I think it is these idle minds that have the time and engergy to engage in meaningless wars, battles, violence and hatred. Rest of us are just too busy to have time to even focus on such matters..... My approach in dealing with such war mongers is to not deal with them at all. But this morning I received another merciless attack by a war monger, and I am wondering should I offer this idle mind some work in return? I invite thoughts from readers on this subject.
Namaste
The Yogi
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2 comments:
I realized not long ago that I've spent most of my life at war with the rest of the world--and probably at no time as much as when angrily arguing in favor of world peace. In my case, I think it's less a matter of idleness than of having suppressed a lot of rage throughout my life rather than working through it. It also has a lot to do with self-hatred, as, so often, I've found that the people who make me angriest are those who remind me of parts of myself I dislike. Just a couple of thoughts. Namaste.
You maybe right about this at some level. Self hatred, insecurities, low self esteem are all catalysts to generate anger and then project them on there. I find that to be the case in several people I know who have built in aggression. They just get aggressive for no reason and even littlest of disagreements cause them to become explosive and even violent. At the same time I know when your mind is "idle" and you have built in aggression the idleness becomes an even bigger catalyst.
Personally my anger usually comes when I am attacked or if I see injustice happening. With yoga I have learn't to detach from such attackers.
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