War: The Killing Game

War is as popular today as it’s ever been. Tune in to the daily news and there’s a war correspondent reporting the latest outbreak of hostilities from somewhere in the world. War and genocide have been at the forefront of every significant stage of human evolution, right up to the present-day threat of nuclear holocaust. Whatever the lesson or purpose in six thousand years of fighting between successive civilisations and nations, we human beings have yet to establish a universal ethic that eradicates the dubious justification of war as a necessary evil in the struggle towards a more enlightened race.

The fact is that human nature is a warring nature which began as territorial disputes among the primitive tribes. These skirmishes replicated the survival instincts of the species when protecting their space from potential predators. There was no emotional attachment to the outcome. It was a case of taking the necessary action; and afterwards, if they survived, attending to wounds before returning to a state of inner contentment. All the cruelty, atrocities and depravity associated with human conflict came later as a consequence of the separation from the divine essence inherent within each living organism of the earth.

As man probed deeply into the mysteries of his world, his increasing knowledge provided the opportunity to inflict greater damage upon his enemies – but from a distance. Scientific advancement meant more effective weapons, as well as benefits for the health and welfare of society at large. As social conditions slowly improved for the masses, so paradoxically did the means of greater destruction. The Industrial Age was the precursor to the wholesale slaughter that marked the Great War in 1914. Following the Second World War, the development of atomic energy heralded the nuclear age and the start of a sinister new phase of military subterfuge and clandestine warfare.

What could possibly be worse than being at war? Yet this is the way of life we‘ve devised on planet earth, in the personal life and collectively as the countries, nations and territories across the globe. The outbreak of war begins in the mind where the enemy – the thinking rebellious self – has breached the walls that safeguard the perimeter. Prior to any external hostilities, the politicians and generals are already engaged in a war within the psychic space of their own subconscious. For peace to endure it requires everyone to be responsible for a life lived free of emotional negativity and psychological pain. As no-one in politics or the armed forces is responsible for the integrity of the whole, no war can be justified. This deeply subconscious dilemma makes many people question the validity of sending our boys (and now also our girls) to be killed or maimed. But to no avail. The brave soldiers do their duty and the loved ones left at home weep. And the casualties of war are rushed to the hospitals, their shattered bodies symbolic of the wretched condition of the world.

World wars, or conflicts which influence global affairs, are extreme reactions of the human condition that symbolise climacteric changes affecting the evolution of humanity. The countless millions killed, and those whose lives are irrevocably changed by the atrocities of war, remove the blockages that would have otherwise choked the human psyche. With the release of the force in matter, the psyche is free-flowing once more – for a while. War and mayhem keep on coming, more now than ever before. This is because what’s been set in motion must now run its course. The psyche responds by giving back to the world everything put into it energetically by each successive generation, magnified by all the racial hatred and religious fervour of the past.

Peace, somebody once said, provides the opportunity for an army to regroup, replenish supplies and forge new alliances so as to be better prepared for the next war. Human evolution can be measured not so much for the achievements of the great civilisations but through its desire to wage war and destruction ever more effectively on each other. Peace is bad for business when you’re in the killing game.

Extract from e-book: ‘Humanity: A Spiritual Perspective of the Times’. Available from Amazon Kindle.