I heard the news about the explosion in Manchester Arena at the Ariana Grande concert. It’s heartbreaking and gut wrenching, but at the same time I do not feel it to be shocking anymore. Incessant, unrelenting news about these acts of terrorism and violence is desensitizing us towards the horror of the lives lost.
A couple days ago we were talking about the state of the world and how there is so much violence all around us. Everyone got involved in the discussion and shared their opinions.
Some of us believed that the world is getting worse while others believed that it was getting better. Before we knew it, we were all arguing about the state of our planet and its future.
Is conflict and violence the norm? Will we never see a conflict free world?
History testifies to the fact that conflict is as old as humanity itself. Human history on Earth has suffered a very bloody past. Innumerable lives have been lost due to wars over territory, religion, ideologies, and greed. As we have incredibly complex and powerful minds, we create our own reality. Everything that we see around us is a creation of our minds. The good, bad, beautiful and ugly; all was created in our mind before it manifested into reality. So will it ever be possible to live in a conflict free world? Or will it remain a dream?
Personally, I think dreams can become reality. Look around—Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is already a reality. If man can conquer the land, sea, and sky and now even other planets and the moon, get whatever information that is desired at the click of a button, then we can surely make inroads into a conflict free world.
Conflict in the outer world is nothing but a reflection of conflict in the inner world. Sadly we are constantly at war with our own inner selves. We are in conflict with our desires, our values, our projections, our ideologies, our belief systems, and our expectations. These inner conflicts lead to agitation of the mind, and an agitated mind is the cause of conflicts and violence. The answer to “Why there are so many conflicts in the world?” and “Will they ever end?” therefore lies right within us.
If we desire a conflict free world we need to first establish a conflict free mind. A mind that is at peace is a mind free from agitation and disharmony. A mind that is centered and connected is one that understands that divisions based on cast, creed, color, and nationalities are all creations of the mind and not real. The onus to reduce conflict, violence and terrorism therefore lies in our own hands. Our thoughts, words and actions will determine the kind of world we live in.
The theory of the observer effect states that particles exist in a state of probability until measured. This means that the nature of particles could change according to the observer. I believe that whatever the observer chooses to focus on keeps showing up. With every thought we think, every word we speak and every act we undertake, we are partaking in the creation or destruction of our world.
Negative events put us in a state of fear and the media keeps adding to that fear, mistrust and anger. We all feel afraid and conflicted. We allow ourselves to get swayed by the competing ideologies that come blasting via information channels. We are in a constant state of distraction and agitation. We believe what we see and what we hear. We allow ourselves to be influenced by the outer world to such an extent that we don’t even acknowledge our inner world. But the inner world is where creation happens.
In order to create a conflict free world, we need to create a conflict free mind: a mind that is free from fear and free from constant surges of “not enough-ness!” Not good enough, not rich enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough, not educated enough, and so on.
Allowing fear and disallowing truth have duped us into believing in a zero sum game. If I am right, someone is wrong, if I win, someone needs to lose. The Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest has permeated our psyche and too many wants to survive at the cost of another.
Terrorists and perpetrators of political or religious violence lack self-confidence, self-love, and self-empathy and therefore look for validation from outside. If we don’t get what we are looking for, we get angry and when someone comes along promising us acceptance, belonging, and love we feel validated. Now it becomes a question of us against them. If we are right, they must be wrong.
If only the strong can survive, I need to show strength; and in this desire to appear strong we forget that the only thing that matters is humanity. In our ignorance of truth we forget to see the interconnectedness of all living beings. We believe in territorial, racial, ideological and physical boundaries. We make ourselves smaller than who we really are and in our smallness we create conflicts of mind and body. The only way we can contribute to lessening the conflict is by first reducing our own inner conflicts, meditating on love, peace, and forgiveness toward ourselves. Once we focus on our own wellbeing we can be more secure with the opinions of others.
The pain of losing someone to a mad act of terrorism is unfathomable. An agitated mind creates agitation in the outer world, which impacts all of us. Even though we are miles away physically, we are all connected. As long as there is pain and suffering anywhere in the world we will continue to suffer.
Each one of us has a moral obligation towards creating a brave new world. It’s a cliché (but true) that our world is not technologically advanced but we have some way to go in terms of psychological and moral advancement. We need to live in a world where we see ourselves for who we really are. The sooner we recognize this truth, the sooner we can start to create a world that we really desire.
Shveitta Sethi Sharma
Chief Happiness Officer
School of Happiness
Www.schoolofhappiness.co
+85294645257