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Dinesh Shah
New Jersey dshah 01@yahoo.com
GLOBAL PEACE STARTS WITH AN INDIVIDUAL
Many volumes are written about history's major wars - from Alexander's expansions to Vikings' invasions. During the Ancient period countries, kingdoms, and regions fought to expand their territories, power and seize more wealth. Then came the middle ages and battles were fought in the name of religion. And now, with our technological expertise, we build advanced and lethal weapons to unleash destructive power at the push of a button. Whether it's a world war or gang war, typically at the center of many of these conflicts is a megalomaniac, egotistic, self centered personality. And when the beliefs are so strong and mistrust clouds the judgment of the whole community, the hatred is passed on from generation to generation, creating a breeding ground for strong personalities to rise to the top, riding the waves of strong ideological emotions. However, the crux of all human wars and annihilations lie in the self-centric, human ego. While peace rests within us, we are also capable of destroying it.
Ideology coupled with a strong desire to crush the opponent, allows leaders. to dictate the energy of negative sentiments of the masses to unleash the wrath on opposing communities as well as to gain personal power. And innocent people suffer because they happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, it is my belief that hatred at the individual level does not see race, religion or cast. Hatred is born when the human ego, fed by biased beliefs, greed and power, conspires to force others to comply or submit for its own gain. Greed and jealousy coupled with instigation fuels worry in the mind; eventually turning into uncontrollable anger.
Disputes occur at every walk of life such as the workplace, home, school, sports, organizations etc. Let's talk about a place of worship, where the human soul comes to seek peace, the ego should be left at the door. With people belonging to the same faith, you would expect that they work happily together towards the higher goal. However, there are many occasions where disagreement among them turns into aggression and this is vented through insulting speech or sometimes even physical actions. Ego gets tangled up in rituals and misses the end goal of a higher level of spirituality. Rituals become the goal instead of path to higher goal.
How many times have we personally witnessed close friends become arch enemies? I'm sure you have heard the story of two mothers who were close friends, but became enemies because their children fought. Well, the children became friends again, but the mothers remained enemies long after the incident. What's the difference between the adult and children? The answer is the ego. The mothers remember the harsh words that were lashed out at each other, but the kids forgot the fight because their ego was not developed yet. Adult's mind keeps reliving the negative experience and wants to redefine the past and blame others. Enemy of the enemy become friends but later once the enemy is weakened; friends become enemies themselves at state level, community level, group level or at individual level.
14th Biennial JAINA Convention 2007
Jain Education International
85
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PEACE THROUGH DIALOGUE
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