Source of All War is Belief

As tensions mount in the Middle East, I am reminded that problems fundamentally rooted in beliefs will not and cannot be solved militarily. Each group and/or country believes they are on the "right" path, and therefore they believe their actions are justified. These conflicts are fundamentally rooted in belief systems and something that deals with them directly will be the channel for growth. But… How can that be done?

How do you deal with people’s beliefs? Do you change one side’s beliefs to match the other’s? Do you prove one side wrong and the other right? How long could that take and how do you even go about doing that? Can you reason with one side and reach a compromise? Is that really a solution?

The only solution that comes to mind is transcendence.

To transcend means to ‘go beyond’, and human beings do this everyday. Our beliefs change from day to day. Sometimes they change slowly and sometimes all at once. If you believe your people are the "chosen people" or your land is the "chosen land", so be it. In time, however, those beliefs will grow, move, shift and transform themselves into something that reflects you as a human being in the current time. My answer is transcendence. While most change their beliefs unconsciously (and in worse cases deny their beliefs have changed), it is imperative we take up the habit of doing so consciously.

Just because the earth stopped being the center of the universe (as was originally assumed from the bible), that didn’t mean that god didn’t exist. Our beliefs can adapt and have adapted to modern conflicts and the Internet era. The existence of dinosaurs doesn’t stop people from going to church. Faith adapts, adjusts, and… (I’m sorry if you are shocked)…evolves.

It is time for us transcend consciously. We will grow as a human species and will continue to grow if we realize there’s more to life than what we believe. In recent times, more people have incorporated other concepts and beliefs from various different religions into their faith system than in any other period in our young planet’s history. This is a healthy process and reflects a new era of thought. A new era of growth.

I think that the most important thing to learn about the ‘Glass-half-empty/Glass-half-full’ analogy is not that you can chose to see the positive or the negative in any given situation, but that you can have two seemingly contradictory truths harmoniously correct. It’s not ‘one or the other’, but both. And you can only come to that perspective if you transcend your beliefs by understanding the other point (or points) of view.

One thing is for sure: A problem rooted in the belief systems of the parties involved will not be solved economically, politically, socially or militarily. These measures will at best cause a delay in the next stage of conflict. They will never "cure" the illness; They will just lower the symptoms.

I know that things will change because that is the ultimate constant. Like kids fighting over toys, the fights will eventually end, and not because there is a winner, but because we will finally grow up.

Love and light to all my fellow humans.