Sooner or Later, War No More

Issue 76

firespring.com

I don’t know when it will happen that we Americans will remove war from our menu of geopolitical options, but I dare say it is a fait accompli. Simply, if an old consciousness is being supplanted by a new one — which I wholeheartedly believe or I wouldn’t be able to live in this body on this planet at this time — then this relic of the old consciousness will go. To buttress the case today, conscious politics practitioner, an exercise: put on our conscious politics lens, look at war, and see the unconsciousness. This here today is one take by one practitioner but multiple takes can be proffered by multitudes of us so, yes, you’ve got homework.

My own pacifist eyes began rolling in earnest when the familiar drumbeat of war — thank you, Russia — began several weeks ago. As I write this piece, “news and information” abounds about what Russia may or may not do with regard to invading or not invading Ukraine to say nothing of what we Americans and our European allies will do about what Russia does. Nevertheless I will persist because most of this will apply to any wars being planned and prosecuted anywhere on the planet.

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Be compassionate. Killing people is not compassionate. De-humanizing people to justify killing them is not compassionate. Country A denying Country B self-governance? Not at all compassionate. (See also: judgments separate us.)

Beliefs matter. War is inevitable. War is the answer. The ends justify the means. We have to fight. It doesn’t affect me. American soldiers are fighting for your freedom. Might makes right. There’s nothing I/we can do. It’s in our national interest. Enough! All that matters is: What do you believe?

Be present. OK, this one is about Russia/Ukraine because once upon a time the new consciousness rose and the Berlin wall fell. Democracy began to take hold in Russia and 15 former Soviet republics were free to exercise self-governance, Ukraine among them. But Democracy in Russia went awry and the man who found himself in power then autocratically remains in power lo these 20 years on (and counting). So yes, this whole thing is rooted in one autocrat’s refusal to accept reality as it is.

Choices abound. We Americans choose not to educate or feed all our children or house the unhoused among us or see to it that people who work hard and play by the rules can actually pursue their happiness, but we can always afford war. Every time. What, then, are we choosing when we do so? That’s not a rhetorical question. What does our choice to fully fund wars — those in which we actually fight and those to which we lend materiel and other support — tell us about who we Americans are and what we value?

Everything is energy. The energy of war resonates with the energies of judgment, fear, anxiety, disillusion, binary choices and stuff like that there. (See also: the law of attraction is always on.)

Have an attitude of gratitude. Humans steeped in an attitude of gratitude cannot fathom war. (See also: everything is energy; the law of attraction is always on.)

Intentions matter. We have looked before at the dearth of intention(s) for America’s 20-year war project in Afghanistan. What might our intentions be for Russia/Ukraine? Who will benefit? More broadly, what do we Americans want with regard to war and peace? What alternatives to war are we cultivating?

Judgments separate us. We, Russia, have a better idea for you, Ukraine, than you have for your Self. We, Russia, will say who can and cannot be allied against us. Pure, unadulterated judgment. (See also: be compassionate.)

Listen to inspiration. What do you feel when you think about war? What do you feel when you see death and destruction? What do you feel when you hear gunfire, explosions, and screams? What do you feel when you hear words of war like collateral damage, ballistic missiles, and hundreds are dead? PTSD and amputee? I know, I know, feelings are for pussies. Except they aren’t. At all. They’re for the kind of warriors who will summon the strength, develop the faith, and make the choice to act upon what their hearts tell their heads.

Mind and body are connected. (See also: listen to inspiration.)

Take responsibility. Who is responsible for the ravages of war?

The law of attraction is always on. So is “the news.” We Americans are now thinking and talking about war all the time, even if extremely passively. We are absorbing and embodying the concept of it. Embodying the thoughts and feelings of what we want is exactly what we do, on purpose, to cultivate something we want to be, do, or have. We know we are magnets so we attract on purpose. As we collectively consume the drumbeat of war, we are magnets for war.

We are all connected. We are all connected to all the victims of war: their tension, trauma, and stress; their anxiety, anger, and grief. We are all connected to all the planners of all the wars in all the rooms. We are all connected to all the generals and all the grunts, all the pride and all the pain of all the military families. (See also: everything is energy.)

We are here for a reason. Those of us who abhor war are witness to it for a reason, which is always growth in one way or another. What challenges us, then, to grow in the face of so much discord? For the average armchair conscious politics practitioner, it could be nothing more than accepting what is and being clear about what’s wanted.

We belong to the planet, not the planet to us. When’s the last time you read an environmental impact statement about the effects of war on the planet? Exactly.

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So it’s clear that war as we know it simply cannot survive as the new consciousness takes hold. When that will be, of course, is up to us.

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