Of all the human tragedies, the worst by far is war. The decision to kill each other to accomplish goals laid out by a few leaders. There is no period of human history, since the establishment of nations, not plagued by this evil, and no gain made which justifies the destruction of human potential. I wish to take a moment to explore the reasons for this unending cycle of senseless self-destruction in the hope that we may perhaps come to some sensible conclusion as to how to end it. How to evolve beyond the mass hysteria which promotes group assisted suicide at the word of those who do not have to fight the battles they create. This may be hubris on my part, but I cannot think of a worthier goal than peace among humanity. My efforts may be fruitless, but at least I will have made an effort.
Based on my in depth, albeit amateur, study of history I have come to the conclusion that all wars are fought for similar reasons. Regardless of the announced goals of the peoples involved, ultimately it is about control; control of resources, territory, people, finance, etc. Even the peace-keeping wars that began in the late twentieth century were about control of a region so that it would be more stable for political and fiscal activity. No peace-keeping mission ever took place in a region that had no affect on the activities of other nations.
The question becomes, “What is the cause of this desire for control?”, some would say greed, others might say megalomania. I would suggest that there is a deeper, more basic reasons behind this continual human activity; fear. The fear of the unknown, the fear of chaos, the fear of death, the fear that we are small and weak in the face nature, god, the universe, whatever name you choose to give to the great, humbling unknown. We seek to alleviate this fear by attempting to bring order to our world. We do it in small ways with schedules and routines. We do it in deep philosophical ways with religion and political manifestos. We do it with laws and regulations. We impose calendars and clocks on the movements of objects through space so that we feel as if we have some say in their activities.
And, when the humans over there don’t act they way we feel they should, or have something we don’t and feel we should, or simply are behaving in a way we didn’t predict we attempt to control the situation by forcing it to change to our desires. We attempt to remodel the world so that we feel safer with its design. If those people over there do not comply with our desires, then they increase the feeling that we do not have control over our fate. That our world has become chaotic beyond our ability to control. This increases our fear. The instinctive reaction to something we fear is fight or flight. Either way one is removing the source of fear from your world.
From earliest times, when ever something unknown and/or threatening was before us it created fear. This triggers the survival instinct of fight or flight. One assesses the risk and then chooses what is best for survival. If you cannot overcome, flee. If you cannot flee, then fight. This is basic to all animals. A deer will flee a bobcat, but if cornered it will fight the bobcat. For predators the reverse is true. If you can overcome, fight. If you cannot overcome, flee. Humans are pack predators, like wolves. We lived and hunted in herds. However evolved we become, these are our roots. If we are going to become more tomorrow than we are today, we must recognize our roots.
Those who lead nations are bold by nature, alphas. They consider flight akin to failure, for that has always been the key to their success. Whenever presented with a challenge they would head towards it and attempt to overcome it. Failures were learning experiences and success brought new challenges. So when they attempt to remodel the world to create more control and the other humans object because they are also trying to control their situation, the leaders decide to attack the challenge. Not to flee but to fight. Of course they don’t actual have to fight, the children of their people do, but that is a separate discussion.
The resulting conflict between the leaders of two groups of people, when unresolved by other means, is that one, or both, of the groups’ leaders decides the level of insecurity created by their inability to control the situation is creating an unacceptable level of fear. Flight is not an option since there is nowhere to go where that other situation will not exist. So they fight. They choose to follow the basic instinct to destroy the thing that is creating fear. So they send their people off to destroy the other leaders. Who, in turn, sends their people off to defend them or even destroy the aggressors. Many humans die before it ends. On some occasions one leader ends up with the control over the other they were looking for, on other occasions this does not happen. Either way many people suffer who had no hand in the original conflict.
Some will say my thesis is wrong because other animals do have this instinct but don’t fight wars. I would point out that neither did we before forming organized tribes. It is our advancements beyond the animal level, our increased degree of control that made war possible. For, having established some control, we have come under the illusion that we should be able to control all.
Some will say that my thesis is wrong because not all wars are fought for these reasons. I would point out that at their core, they in fact are about this. The Hundred Years war was fought for religious control of Europe. The Crusades were fought for Religious control of the Middle East. The European-Native American wars were fought for control of territory and resources. WW1 was fought for control of trade routes and sovereignty. WW2 was fought for political/philosophical control of Europe. The US Civil War was fought for economic control of the United States. The many African wars of the twentieth century were fought for control of resources. Even the Cold War was ‘fought’ for philosophical control of the planet. In each of these, and other, examples the aggressor felt there was a situation which was out of their control and therefore a threat to them. Being afraid to allow this to continue, they fought it. They may tell their people there are other reasons for the war, but those are also about fear: Hitler made his people afraid of the Jews, Teddy Roosevelt made Americans afraid of the Spanish, George Bush made Americans afraid of WMDs falling into the hands of terrorists.
So, if I am correct, what then? If we fight wars due to our desire to alleviate fear by gaining control through violence, what can be done?
We can never have control, for change is the only true constant in the universe, and the ability to choose from options is what has made individual humans so amazing.
Which means we must address our fear. We must learn to not be afraid of a lack of control. If we are to end war, we must accept that we cannot make that which is not ourself conform to our desires. A philosophy of humility, acceptance, and cooperation as well as personal responsibility to each other is what must be taught if we hope to end this senseless cycle of violence.
In practical terms this means we must stop teaching our children that Alexander and Peter and Napolean were Great because of their ability to conquer. Instead we need to teach that Martin and Mahotma were Great because of their ability to end strife. That the greatness in the teachings of Jesus and Buddha and Tao come from their acceptance of others and the refusal to judge or do harm. That Einstein's greatest wisdom was his recognition of his limited knowledge. We need to hold up as heroes those who viewed themselves with humility, and cast in the light of villans those who had the hubris to believe they deserved to rule over others.
Does this seem impractical? Pie in the sky? Utopian? Maybe, I’m not sure what is Utopian about recognizing our limitations and finding ways to embrace them as positives rather than being afraid. Know thyself.
However, if all of that is too much to ask, how about this: When someone tells you to go kill someone who isn’t threatening you, tell them no.
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