Is it due to hatred for 'other' people?
Is it due to love for 'our' people?
Or is it because war is good for the pockets of a few powerful people?
Is it because of the development of a false identity? Like when you are too identified with a cause or a place or an ideology.
Your perspective becomes too narrow and your conscience goes for a toss.
‘Subject Experts’ Perspective
As far as history is concerned, it is said that who is right and who is wrong depends on where you start measuring time.
Many ‘experts’ and journalists have given their opinions, reasons, and solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Here is one of them:
My Perspective
There might be logical, historical, and strategic reasons behind a war but if you zoom out and go deep the reason can always be traced back to the roots of the human condition.
For eg., in the ongoing Israel-Hamas or Russia-Ukraine war the reasons might be historical and even legitimate for either party to retaliate. But zoom out and go deep it is the feeling of insecurity and ignorance, attitude of vengeance, and thirst for power and 'greatness' that fuel the fire.
Almost all the time it is the vices inside of a human being that lead to outer turmoil and not reasons like the sovereignty of a country or gaining strategic advantage or invaluable natural resources.
Eastern Perspective
Thicht Nhat Hanh, the renowned Buddhist monk, reminded us that the ‘powerful’ people inflicting suffering on others are actually ‘helpless’ beings. They themselves are suffering internally due to ignorance and their conditioning (read brainwashing).
And because they are suffering they are causing other people suffering. He said that a happy person will never cause suffering to anyone.
Hurt people hurt people.
Compassion for the Killers
In these dark and trying times, can you still have compassion for people who are killing your countrymen, your brothers and sisters?
The instant response will be to take revenge, right?
But, let’s go back to the the Vietnam War. It was a tragic time that resulted in the loss of millions of lives, both Vietnamese and American. And amidst the chaos and violence, there is a powerful lesson of compassion that Thich Nhat Hanh taught us.
He told us to have compassion for people causing us harm by seeing them as the victims of their own suffering.
He also suggested that if individuals (politicians) were born in a different environment and received a different kind of education, their actions and mindset would have been different.
What is your perspective on wars? What do you think is the root cause of a war?
And can you imagine yourself having compassion for people who kill and wage war?
Let me know in the comments below!