Post No. 492 - Peace ... and the disputed Senkaku / Diaoyu / Tiaoyutai islands

There have been some very concerning escalations around the disputed Senkaku / Diaoyu / Tiaoyutai islands [2] of late. I've been working on this for some time, and I suppose one woman doing her little bit of work can't outweigh over a billion people, many of whom want to - basically - feel good about themselves.

That is what a lot of it boils down to, you know - nationalistic jingoism, a desire to feel good about oneself, and, for many people, feeling part of a powerful nation is considered an acceptable way of having what - falsely - passes for good self esteem. Doubt that? Think of the critics of wherever you live ... feel OK about that criticism? If you do, you are, sadly, part of a minority. Most people lack the self reflection to be aware that such things are an external distraction from an inner lack; combine that with an ignorance, naiveté or - even worse - glorifying fervour about war, and you have a situation where people will think saber rattling is good ... maybe they even fool themselves that it won't come to war.

Perhaps they're like our dog, who has just been barking at the yappy little dog next door ... the dogs are reacting out of instinct, showing territorial aggression without any thought (thereby making life very unpleasant for everyone who has to listen to the bloody barking): if they were able to face off, they wouldn't think about discrepancy in size, they'd just react out of instinctual possessiveness and exclusion. Well, to some extent that's OK with dogs (although they should be trained out of such behaviour), but it is completely unacceptable in humans.

We're suppose to be creatures with the ability to think. So ... think! Is the threat of taking lives and causing massive economic, physical, mental, emotional, environmental and spiritual damage over a small area really worth it? The sane answer has to be "no". If the Chinese take military action, the USA will respond - they're on tenterhooks about Chinese power anyway! And that will drag others in ... The Chinese need to remember, from their many past times when they were the most powerful nation in Asia and, at times, the world, that the way of true power in this situation is to not resort to physical violence.

The islands are disputed - that is a fact. So ... work out an adult way of discussing or resolving the dispute - take decades of talking if you want. I understand that no-one lives there, so it's not as if there are people whose future is at stage or in limbo (if there were, it would be an issue for genuine, free, uncoerced self determination). Talk! And THINK about war really means and costs ...

And now, let's look at the matter from a metaphysical / spiritual point of view.

There is no question that the USA is a powerful nation, and has been for much of its independent existence. There's also no question that it has been uncomfortable with that power, most of the time - the times it has withdrawn from the world and adopted an isolationist stance come to mind in particular. Well, people, use it or lose it: if you cannot exert the power you have responsibly and in a BPLF [1] manner, be prepared to lose it. That is not a threat: it is a spiritual principle. I tell my students that they have a responsibility to use the knowledge they are gaining from me and others. Otherwise, they are like a person with a rope walking by a river and ignoring someone who is drowning in that river and within throwing distance of the rope.

There are a few more mundane aspects of this: basically, to stay fluent with a skill one needs to practise that skill. If I tried to resume sailing now, I would be at nothing like the level of skill that I had previously: I would have to practise as intensely as I used to in order to regain that level of skill. With clearing, I drilled my students in repetitious routines to develop and maintain skill levels.

In terms of political power and skill, one practices for the world stage by learning responsible, caring and BPLF use of that power within one's borders - and that is where I consider the USA has been sadly let down by its leaders. This view is partly formed by rereading Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Heartlight",which expresses concerns over the use of power within the USA in the late 20th Century. I also have similar concerns, but my concerns are about the lack of social equity and justice - the massive discrimination which has existed and still does against minority groups such as the poor, women, ethnic groups, non-Abrahamic religions, LGBTIQ people, and anyone else who can usefully be tarred and feathered as a simultaneous target and stimulus of fear - the USA's George Bush's were much the same as our John Howard, and the politics of fear has done many nations an enormous disservice in the last few decades.

I do NOT consider the USA an exemplary bastion of freedom or democracy because of its failure to be socially inclusive and responsible (their first failure of the exercise of power, I would suggest, with the right to "do others over" in the interests of greed and a failure to achieve a mature balance of rights and responsibilities around economic matters being the outcome of that failure - and much of the USA's insistence on free-market laissez-faire capitalism is a continuation of that failure), but the other options in the situation I am considering are worse. Japan is possibly experiencing a resurgence of the nationalism which led to its war of expansion in the 30s and 40s (see here), and China - which is the one of the places my work has taken me is still a totalitarian state. It is moving towards democracy, but it is not there yet, not by a long shot. On my first work trip there, in the 90s, a few years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, we had secret police trying to bait us about Chinese activists: it was scary. There have been quite a few changes since then, but activists and those agitating for freedom are still being 'disappeared'. In all three nations, a war abroad would potentially seem like a good way to distract people at home from their internal problems.

So ... what is the best option here? Well, probably that would be for the best of the USA to drown out its flaws and come up with something (or for someone else to do so) in this situation that is akin to what the USA was key in getting started around Iran's nuclear ambitions - which was a major, admirable accomplishment, notwithstanding Israel's concerns - and what Russia helped initiate around Syria's chemical weapons. I rather suspect, however, that the USA's fear of sharing power with China (oh for compulsory lessons on history - how many US Presidents since Kennedy have had the same appreciation of history) makes that less likely, so we're back to what can be done spiritually / psychically / metaphysically.

The first thing would probably be to work towards having a breakthrough of a similar nature made manifest in relation to this matter- clear negative units that are obstacles, manifest positive energy by lighting candles and meditating (remember: tonight at 9PM your time). As you do so, be aware of the human issues involved - particularly the fact that much of this is lack of awareness around what war really costs, and around what is really required for true, mature, responsible freedom ...

I consider it likely that the forces who oppose the forces of Balanced Positive Light are seeking to strengthen that short sightedness, with a view to it leading to the chaos of war and the rage that leads to cycle of revenge from some (it only has to be a small percentage for this cycle to become self perpetuating) of those who have lost loved ones. The response? Help people become comfortable with personal inadequacies and faults to the extent that they don't need an external distraction ...

Peace is a long, slow process requiring everlasting vigilance. Oh - and if this dispute is resolved peacefully, there are some very nasty wars already happening elsewhere ...



[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux?)

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.

• One size does NOT fit all. 
• Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
• A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
• Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
• "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
• Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
• The means shape the end.  
• Sometimes you just can't argue with a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much in the way of grunts.
• As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
• My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi". However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)

Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968

Tags: emotions, nonviolence, peace, personal responsibility, self awareness, self esteem, self knowledge, violence, war, 

First published: Sunnudagr, 1st December, 2013

Last edited: Sunday, 1st December, 2013