New iDEAS
Welcome to NeW IdeaS... That's my picture at the top of the page.
I wrote this month's article a few weeks ago, after the events of September 11th. I submitted it to "TomPaine.Com" and they decided against publishing it... bastards... but you should still visit their site anyway.
I'm not bitter... really, I'm not.
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The Key to World Peace is in the Silence of Exclusivistic Convictions.
By: David Gruber
John Lennon once said, “War is over if you want it.” In light of the recent tribute to John Lennon, held last week in New York City, and horrific events of September 11th, perhaps this is a good time for America and the rest of the world to seriously consider Mr. Lennon’s profound words.
Is war over if we want it? Certainly, the majority of people across the vast expanse of the world’s landscape want war and suffering to end forever, but it has not. We must ask the question, “Why?” Could John Lennon be wrong? I don’t think the late, great John Lennon is wrong necessarily, but I don’t suppose that he is entirely right either. Let me suggest that before world peace can be achieved, the whole of the world’s people must not only want it, but they must want it more than anything else. The world must feel a sense of solidarity, a sense that nothing, not even country borders, traditions or religious beliefs are of more significance than the value and prosperity of the human race. Only then will the world be able to unite in unity and peace.
The terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, may have been an important step forward in the pursuit of a united world peace, the likes of which John Lennon only dreamed of. An important step, because the world became further convinced that strict beliefs in an exclusive mind-set, (one way and no other way – in this case, Islamic extremism) in an exclusivistic religion, in an exclusive tradition, and an exclusive state, ultimately lead to and ultimately create only hate, war and suffering.
The events of September 11th further en-grained in the world psyche the idea that peace, true world peace, will only and can only be achieved by adopting, without equivocation, an ambiguous, relativistic acceptance of “everyone’s way.” The “our way,” so to speak, is the way of the human race, living as one people, for all the people, without harboring strict conviction in any kind of exclusivism. The “our way,” is the way of the future. The “our way” is the way of the united world. The “our way” is the only way to peacefully unite a diverse group of people without disruption – violence, hate and discord.
Due to the horrific attacks of September 11th, and undoubtedly additional similar events to follow, our generation may well become the new pioneers in the pursuit of a united world peace. All people, world wide, may one day, not too far off on the horizon, be convinced and united by the positive attributes of relativism and the negative attributes of exclusivism, which seemingly propagate conflicts between country borders, differing traditions and religious beliefs. There may one day, as a direct result of brutality, be a world that is united in every respect.
It is my suggestion that within the one world social psyche of the future there will most probably be a consensus, not that differing beliefs will always lead to hate and suffering. But rather, that the inability to hold exclusive traditions and beliefs while also accepting the relativity of all traditions and beliefs will lead to hate, suffering and ultimately war. In other words, those people who find it difficult or impossible to combine exclusivistic beliefs such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam with the new-world relativism may well find themselves alienated and shunned from main stream society.
In the words of John Lennon, “Imagine there was no heaven… no hell… no countries… no religion…” then, and only then, would not all the people be united into one world free from fear, free from hate and free from war? I think so. I do believe Mr. Lennon discovered the key to world peace.
A world may soon be birthed with no higher priority than the human race itself. In a united world, we may all be able to look after each other, ensuring our own survival, making the human spirit, human progress and human prosperity the ultimate value. The experience of life, all we know, will be all we know.
“War is over if you want it.” Perhaps, John Lennon was right. We must only be silent – silent in our exclusive traditions and beliefs – to attain it. World peace, like no man or woman has ever seen, may then be achieved, but true freedom, the freedom of strict conviction, the freedom of exclusivity, the freedom of opinion, the freedom of non-conformity may then be lost forever.
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Copyright © 2002 David. All Rights Reserved