We are in the month where, each year, quite rightly we recall and give thanks for the sacrifice made by so many young men and women in wars: Sacrifices that remind us of the philosophical dictum, “Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends.”
When we consider the sacrifices made, particularly over the past 150 years, it is important to stress this dictum. It is all too easy to get caught up in the jingoistic claptrap that is used by rulers when they call upon young people to go out and fight, “for their country”.
Only rarely, if ever, is the call to arms much to do with serving one’s country. More likely it is serving the vested interest of certain individuals or groups in one’s country. Even the 1939/1945 war which came closest to being a just war, that description is only apposite if one ignores what happened before. In 1938, when the true horrors of Nazism were being realised and Britain and the free world knew its freedoms were threatened, the need to fight for the survival of our democratic principles was the result of the myopic refusal to see what was happening earlier. Had those in power and good people everywhere, really resisted the Nazis in the early days, it is doubtful Hitler would have become so powerful. One can go even further back and argue that the French insistence on draconian sanctions on Germany in 1918, was directly responsible for the rise of Nazism. Thus do we learn that a decision today may be the cause of a calamitous event only ilyears later.
It is vital to separate the national/political reasons for remembrance ceremonies from the private, family reasons. We must take the greatest care to ensure in remembering “officially” we are not innocently furthering the justification for war.
Many are the moving stories of true gallantry where men and women gave their lives to protect or to save their comrades. I am sure at the time of their heroic exploits, nothing was further from their minds than the benefits to their country of the sacrifice they were about to make. No, it was their friends and families they were thinking of.
It is not surprising many people feel humanity learns nothing from experience. There is ample evidence that conflict leads to yet more conflict and that even after the most bitter war both sides still have to co-exist. Despite this, war is still seen as a viable method of settling differences. The inescapable conclusion is that morally, humanity has progressed not one jot over millennia.
Unfortunately for human happiness, we have learned in other areas. We have developed ever more sophisticated and terrifying methods of killing one another. The argument always put forward when a new weapon is invented is that this is such a terrible weapon it will end warfare forever. Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki? For how long did those atrocities protect us from war? (And we believe we have more intelligence than animals!!) Albert Einstein, the one great physicist to always see the spiritual side of human nature, steadfastly refused to work on the creation of the atom bomb. This even though it was his theory that led to its development. Inevitably it seems, the possible military uses of new inventions are what receive priority. Such is the effect on us of the dark cloud of negativity with which we have surrounded our planet.
Why do wars lead to more wars? The answer is simple but clearly inconvenient for those who desire to exercise control over others for their own endsiq. The viciousness with which wars are conducted and the terror and fear they generate, creates a dark pall of negative energy that takes many years to dissipate. Imagine, if a sensitive can feel the negative energy in a building years after a tragic event, how long will it take to dissipate the energy generated by war? This energy weighs upon our atmosphere and the spirit world tell us the Earth is surrounded by such darkness, they find it painful to come too close. Without us consciously realising it, this pall exercises a huge influence over our minds. We cannot divorce ourselves from the spiritual awareness that is an essential part of our mental makeup. Therefore much of our thinking becomes mired in this dark cloud of negativity. It is possible to overcome this using great effort and by consciously directing our inner light, but each descent into conflict makes that more difficult.
We must change our ways! “Global darkening” is a greater threat than global warming, for it threatens our spiritual not just our physical future.
Aggressors cannot go to war at the drop of a hat. Only when sufficient ordinary people side with them is war inevitable. Unfortunately, those in power take steps to subjugate their citizens. Consequently, questioning the wisdom or justification for going to war never occurs to them; they are too frightened to do so. Where subjugation is insufficient, conscription is used. Even though more enlightened forms of government exist in many countries today, the control over propaganda is so complete that those in power have little difficulty in enforcing their views.
Most people are not naturally belligerent. Like hatred, belligerence must be taught.
Look at what happened on Christmas Day on the Western front in 1914! Soldiers from both sides spontaneously put down their arms to celebrate that religious festival together. Look also at how many individuals on both sides of any conflict have been executed by their own side for “cowardice in the face of the enemy”. The only crime these unfortunate individuals committed was to be true to their basic humanity and refuse to slaughter others merely because they were told to do so. Added to which, the horrors they witnessed unhinged them psychologically.
It is often stated that war settles nothing and this is true. Indeed not only has it always been necessary to spend huge resources on rebuilding after wars but usually, the long term effects on social cohesion have been irreparable. Wars solve nothing and have always led to to more ferocious subsequent wars.
As Spiritualists, we have long been aware that human beings are spirit and very much part of God or the Great Spirit. Whilst we are spirit, we are under the enormous influence of our five senses. Senses that focus almost exclusively on our physical selves. It is an unfortunate fact that we have so far been unable to reconcile these two sides of our nature. As a consequence, power in society has invariably been placed in the hands of those under the strongest influence from their physical senses. Those to whom might means right and who are so enslaved by their own singular, materialistic vision, they cannot even imagine an alternative. The corrupting influence of power is irresistible it seems and yet we continue to encourage people to exercise power without proper checks and balances. Granting power, often absolute power so carelessly, whether, political, military or religious is the reason humanity is today trapped in a materialistic cul de sac.
We are creatures of light, therefore colour has a far bigger influence upon our lives than we realise, for colour is a vital function of light. The spirit world have explained to us the significance of the different colours. We have already mentioned black, the colour of darkness. Purple, they tell us is the colour of power. Hence its use by royalty and bishops over the ages. But there is too much purple in the world! It is the colour with which spirit say, humanity in its present state of evolution, is ill equipped to deal. We should take heed of this warning.
It is power corrupted that has led to wars down the ages and it is what has prevented humanity from properly using the light of our spirit to create a better world. By that I do not mean a world with more motor cars, more washing machines and more computers but a world that recognises the primacy of life, all life: A world and a society that sees life as eternal, no matter what form that life takes: That recognises our life on Earth is all about using our physical environment to further our growth spiritually not just physically.
Remembrance Day should not be overshadowed by the military but rather be a civil celebration to commemorate those who gave their lives unselfishly to save their friends and families. It should be a stark reminder that their sacrifice has been in vain if we continue to ignore the true nature of warfare and allow conditions and systems of government to develop that make war unavoidable. We must learn to do better in order to honour the memory of those who gave so much.
Spiritualism has a vital role to play in fostering a change in attitudes. We know that the power of the light within us, when combined with the light of those in the spirit world, is far superior to the power of darkness that is responsible for the horrors of warfare. Let us use our light to illuminate a new, spiritual pathway for humanity, one uncluttered by the detritus of our warring past.
