DAY 5: Politics of Evil

Politics and evil seem to go hand in hand. If we look at the manifested consequences of politics in today's world, we find wars, killings, death of civilians and increased distrust among people and countries; if we look at the word Evil, we see Live spelled backward. So in essence, both politics and evil have the potential to exist against human life and any form of life in our planet. I have deliberately written the word "potential" to remind ourselves that whatever exists in this world can be redirected and redefined towards what is the best for all and not necessarily accepted and allowed to exist as it is - meaning, by analysing the consequences of politics and evil as we know it we can/must take responsibility to assess what is it we can learn from and finally change.

I will take M. Scott Peck's definition of evil "as the use of political power to destroy others for the purpose of defending or preserving the integrity of one's sick self" (Peck, 1990, p.277) which allow us to have a framework to analyse the current world events in international politics. Simultaneously, if we are to look at politics from a psychological point of view, we must not ignore the psyche behind the political machine which is, and has always been, the human mind. Therefore, acts of evil are found in the individual relationships and among nations - as within so without.

The world events that have been taking place since the crash of the Malaysian airplane in Ukraine on the 17th July are another example of the extent of evil that must exist within human beings to then be manifested in the outer world - I am not only referring to whoever pushed the button to launch the missile that supposedly destroyed the plane, but to the growing antagonism that exists between people, and therefore nations, that consider doing such actions in first place. For example, the fact that in the Western world we know so little about the East and even about Asia is an indicator that there is a gap that should be unacceptable if we are to coexist in mutual understanding and support. Obviously, the reality is that in political theory a key tool to move the chess-game in a certain direction is the "enemy creation" or hatred of a specific out-group, in order to legitimise the actions against that predesignated enemy (Peck, 1990, p.258). Therefore, the lack of knowledge and the fear of another is actually a strategy to keep people against each other and fearing the "other side". If we bring this point into our daily lives, in self-honesty we can see that we fear that which we don't understand. However, once we are aware of this human weakness, we can and must transform it into a potential - what I mean by that is, if we fear something that we don't understand, the solution will be to ask questions, to investigate, to get to know the fear and in common sense let the fear go so that a new relationship can begin. Such potential also exist in politics, whereby we should educate and be educated to understand the other, to close the gap and to find solutions that would benefit both peoples.

Another dimension in the politics of evil is the role of fear. Nowadays, fear is the perfect Trojan Horse to manipulate people's behaviour, which eventually also supports governments to take certain decisions in the name of the public opinion. Using fear to convince people about a certain claim should not be valid because people have voted for the heads of government in a vote of trust, trusting that the decisions would be transparent without a hidden agenda from the people, but curiously enough we are not educated to think critically, read critically and listen critically. If we are automated beings that respond to fear and emotions so well, aren't we likely to be controlled and manipulated? Once again, by bringing this point to myself I see how some reactions I had in love relationships were done to get a specific outcome from the other - This is manipulation in a smaller scale but nonetheless it is a pattern of self-dishonesty. What I am realising is that whatever happens in the world "out there" is a mirror of our own acceptances and allowances accumulated throughout time; the lies in the world are a reflection of the lies we keep telling to ourselves; this also means that we will only see  the truth of this world when we see the truth of ourselves, no matter how tough it is to face oneself and one's self-dishonesties.

There is indeed actions of evil leading many decisions in this world. Isn't war the best example of evil at a worldwide scale that is still running the show? The reality is that we as a whole are still accepting and allowing such evil to rule in diplomacy, in the world economy, in the production of goods, in the innovation and technology and in the mindset of so many youngsters that can't find a job. Other questions that come up now is Why is there profit in evil? Why haven't we found a way to profit from creation rather than destruction? By bringing this point to the current state of the world, would there be an airplane being crashed if missiles weren't built in first place? Obviously No. There would be no reasons to start or feed a war if war was out of option.

One exercise that each one can do within oneself is to see where one is being evil to oneself, and to others - How is one using power to destroy others for the purpose of defending or preserving the integrity of one's sick self, to defend one's own image, ego and mind? And thus one is able to see where one can change from evil to living one's utmost potential of integrity of a self-honest self.

World history is a mirror of all humanity's acceptances and allowances and many examples show the extend of dishonesty that people in the name of countries or self-interest are willing to go to simply defend a reputation and an image. As part of the process of covering the truth with lies, we will find the snowball of misunderstanding, miscommunication and separation that eventually escalates and has the power to destroy people's lives globally, just like it ends up with marriages at a personal level. The devastating consequences of these inner-outer dishonest relationships would be avoided if one was to stop, look at oneself and investigate the origins of the evil narcissistic, egocentric and self-image starting point. This is the inevitable journey of life that each one of us is responsible for starting if we are to change the direction of this world and our humanity as a whole. The price of covering up our dishonesty, both within and in the world (e.g. through destroying evidences), is not worthy compared to the potential of living in this world if we were to put down the weapons and decide together the best ways to manage resources, peoples and our lives in coexistence.

Bibliography:

Peck, M.S. (1990) People of The Lie, The hope for healing human evil, London: Arrow Books Limited

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DAY 3: Understanding the System as Ourselves (and The Cancer of World Politics)

In this Journey to Life, one thing that I am becoming more and more aware of is the relationships that exist between all the different systems that constitute the world system as a whole. By systems, these are the interrelations, the networks, the platforms, the way things work based on what has been accepted to command/dictate our lives.

When bringing these relationships to myself, I start to understand the system as myself, and the patterns "outside" of me (that my eyes see in this world) can also be found within me in thoughts, feelings, personal decisions, ideas, resistances, manias, and the relationships between the different organs in my body, for example.

For some time now I have been associating wars to a cancer that destroys everything around it, in a battle between the "good" and the "bad" cells, taking place in our physical bodies/in this world. The Cancer (ANGER) that is manifested in wars between human beings is inside of us, because we are not OK with ourselves and we don't even know where our thoughts come from, where the images from the mind come from, where the repetitions from the past come from, how judgments are created and how emotions limit us. Consequently, all the rest mirrors the Creators: politics are not OK, the economic systems are not OK, the education system is not OK, the diplomatic system is not OK, the family system is not OK, the religious systems are not OK, and the world is in a KO state.

Recently, I heard G. Edward Griffin explaining Cancer and what is wrong with the body that causes the cancer, in a speech away from the orthodox treatment. While this alternative approach looks at finding the cause of the cancer, the orthodox looks at removing the organ affected by it. As it is explained, in a tumor a typical ratio is 80/20 of non-cancer cells and the cancer-cells. Killing the body tissue through radiation is committing a massacre because both the "bad" cells and the "good" cells will be affected - in fact, the cancer cells become more resistant to the radiation and the non-cancer part is eliminated. As a result, when a patient receives the "thrilling" news that the tumor was reduced by 80%, all that happened was that the tumor got rid of the non-cancer part, not the 20% that is pure cancer, and it spreads.

I immediately saw the parallel of the ratio 80/20 from the Pareto principle, that applied to international politics describes poverty, whereby 80% of the world resources are owned by 20% of the population. Just like in medicine, we need a new approach to the phenomena of poverty that looks at its causes, rather than justifying war to keep the status quo.

Still using the explanation given by the Doctor, it is understood that Cancer is not caused by something, but is caused by the lack of something. This deficiency in the body system is creating a breakdown in the electrical/chemical systems that consequently is having interference in the natural replacement of the body cells. (If you want to know more about the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that cause Cancer, listen to his speech)
When looking at poverty, a similar pattern is unveiled: Poverty is the Lack of Something in the World System that is creating a Breakdown in the Economic system that consequently is having interference in meeting the natural needs that all human beings require to live. In this case, we don't need to be doctors to know what this "Something" is. If there wasn't a lack of Money, or a lack of Equality in the world systems, the management of the resources would be done in a way that guarantees that no system causes the death of a fellow human being.
I am not saying that the systems are the problem, because we need these systems: just like in Cancer, both cancer-cells and non-cancer cells are required in the healing process! So all the systems in the world, including the Economic system, have the potential to be part of the healing process, as long as they work OK in the name of Every Body.
The same way that we expect that modern doctors to not ignore the chemical deficiencies behind Cancer, it is also expected that modern diplomats look at what is causing the failure of negotiations, what is really causing wars, what are the psychological patterns and what are the economic forces behind the political faces.

Thinking of the world systems as something separated from ourselves does not help either. Speaking for myself, when looking at the immensity of the diplomatic system there is still a "feeling" of overwhelmingess within me that I have explained in my previous post. However, when bringing the systems to myself, I start understanding how I am actually participating in the exact same patterns of anger, of fear, of inner-conflict, of conflict towards another, of reactions, of competition, of impatience, of selfishness, of greed and of blame. From here, the solutions start to come to light: in common sense I see that if I created such a mess inside me, then I am the only one responsible to help myself. Also, in self-honesty I see that I do have the power/responsibility to change myself. 
How would the world change for a better place for ALL if decisions were made in common sense, in equality, in all-win-situations, in cooperation and unconditionally?

The apparent idea that world politics are separated from us is an illusion and a lie. Believing that we are not responsible for the wars that exist (despite the fact that these are shown on TV as being "too far away") it's an indicator of brainwashing, ignorance and human blindness. Interestingly, this belief has been used (and abused) by all of us: firstly, the idea that world politics are just "too complex" has allowed the majority of the people to give their power away believing was not capable of such a "higher" task of governing  themselves; as a consequence, those that are educated about the system and know how to manoeuvre it, accepted the power with a price, because apparently they are doing the job that the majority is not willing or capable of doing! From here, we can ask ourselves why is that not even the technological progresses have helped to change such inequality of power and responsibility, when it is clear that none of the "parties" (majority and minority) are doing a good job? Is it possible that the human mind of separation, self-interest and survival, just like a cancer, has contaminated all the man-made systems?

When Humanity realises this, the separation that exists become pathetic and we see that there is no workaround rather than changing our minds/world systems and becoming One-Unity.

So, as described above, the human is the systems, we are the systems inside-out: the human created the systems, the human participates in the systems and the human has the responsibility to recreate the systems. 

I have been realising that only when we look at things as what they really are, free from self-interest, we are capable of looking at real practical solutions. This means that in my Journey to Life blog I must not look at things in the Mind (in its positive and negative polarities, judgments, perceptions, beliefs) because at trying to solve things in the Mind, one never realises that one is not directing one's actual real world and working on/with solutions in the real world, as Sunette Spies illustrates across her blog. The Mind is capable of making things look better than what they are, or making things look bigger than what they really are, and this is how we have been manipulating and sabotaging our existence and all the systems that enable our presence on Earth. 

In the Cancer case, it is frustrating for all those that have lost someone dear due to Cancer to know that there is a solution OUT HERE that could have cured their beloved, but that such solution is being ignored because it is not profitable. The same happens in the international scene. Therefore, by understanding the causes of wars and conflict it is common sense to realise that we all must dedicate ourselves to implement solutions at a local and international levels. But firstly, for such solutions to be even considered at a personal level, each and every single one of us needs to know oneself, see the self-dishonesties of self-interest and be willing to forgive oneself, to change oneself and to free oneself, as within so without.

Illustration: "Politics: The Cancer of the Earth", Inside My Fred Wordpress

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