| Recently, I was asked, "Could we exist without war? | | | | had an emergence on a grand scale; an "aha" that |
| Or is war the opposite of peace in same way as | | | | caused in him a thread of similarity between the |
| death is the opposite of birth? Are birth, death, peace, | | | | experiences of extreme poverty and extreme wealth. |
| and war, 'divine connections?' " | | | | The proof? He fell in love with the good in poverty. He |
| My answer. Are these things, "connections?" No. I don't | | | | became an ascetic monk. |
| think so. But philosophical opposites? Perhaps this is the | | | | By his actions then, we can see he was unwilling to |
| best we can say for now. So to answer your | | | | accept "unchanging" poverty as simply "the way it is." |
| question, could we exist without war? It seems the | | | | In this, I so agree. At the same time though, I so see |
| answer lies in resolving this pair of opposites. What am | | | | Arjuna and Krishna's discussion of the nature of life in |
| I saying? | | | | the Bhagavad Gita as that the "war in our lives" is |
| The Bhagavad Gita of the Hindus seems to say war | | | | simply the way it is too; that war is normal, and that to |
| is simply in our nature. Even war against our brothers | | | | believe we can completely stop it is to deny our nature |
| and relatives. A Layer 4 idea to be sure. Yet the | | | | as humans. |
| Buddhist teachings seem to say that war is wrong and | | | | In the end, I believe that understanding this conflict; |
| that we can become conscious enough so as to not | | | | understanding the fight in us between compassion and |
| fight wars let alone wish anyone dead. In their sense | | | | war, is simply the essence of our whole search for |
| then, we belong in the Inner Layers, perhaps in Layers | | | | humanity. Then too, in a sense, it is also the whole point |
| 9 and 10; in the Layers of Human Connection. | | | | for our having been enrolled in the school in which we |
| Not coincidently, in my simple minded understanding of | | | | are currently enrolled; life. Then again, my obvious |
| how historical Buddhism came to be, the Buddha | | | | escape into Layer 2 logic in that last sentence does |
| reacted largely to the harsh Hindu reality that one must | | | | little to satisfy my pain in those moments wherein I |
| stay in the birth situation in which one is born; that there | | | | imagine a young man of any race being brutally killed |
| is nothing we humans can or should do to change our | | | | during a war. |
| status in the present life. A harsh reality to be sure. | | | | Ultimately, I believe there is no answer. In fact, I believe |
| The punishment of Layer 4 is it. | | | | this to be true even more deeply each time I read that |
| In light of this then, the Buddha's reaction is certainly | | | | Gandhi, who arguably was the personification of |
| understandable. He was born rich and only saw his | | | | non-war / peaceful change, said of the Bhagavad Gita, |
| good life as life. Then he saw, all at once I imagine, the | | | | that it was his "eternal mother." A whole poem about |
| pain of poverty, and in seeing this poverty, was deeply | | | | war and about the conflicts within the soul is, to Gandhi, |
| affected by the contrast between the poverty he | | | | his "eternal mother." |
| saw and his own initial good life. So much so, he | | | | I do not try to understand such things. I simply feel |
| remained affected by this pair of opposites for the | | | | relieved that I have things in common with such a |
| rest of his life. | | | | great man. |
| What I believe happened to the Buddha was that he | | | | |