Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The final conquest of man is of himself

This book, The Holy Earth is fascinating.
In the chapter called The Struggle for Existence: war bailey writes

The struggle for existence, as expressed in human combat, does not necessarily result in the survival of the most desirable, so far as we are able to define desirability...
We pick the physically fit and send them to the battle-line; and these fit are slain...the final test for fitness in nature is adaptation, not power...
Adaptation and adjustment mean peace, not war. Physical force has been immensely magnified in the human sphere; we even speak of great nations as "powers", a terminology that some day we shall regret...
The final conquest of man is of himself, and he shall then be greater than when he takes a city. The final conquest of a society is of itself, and it shall then be greater than when it conquers its neighboring society.                           Liberty Hyde Bailey

The butterflies are adapting and adjusting...they are at peace despite the escalation of toxins in their environment...perhaps we need to learn something from them...not sure exactly what though...I will consider this.

I think this speaks to your pondering on the frustration of men...and the escalation of violence and negativity from one generation to the next. If we, as humans, fail to self-actualize, fail to conquer our own ego, then frustration does increase and we lose the positive life energy.

So maybe the nidus of violence sits within the realm of disconnect as you stated months ago...but it is within the disconnect in ourselves.

This morning I was reading through my past 2 journals, it spans about 6 years of my life. I kept reading passages about the eternal connection between our soul and the divine and that it is our illusion or sense of separate-ness that creates the longing deep within. When we are so burdened by our own traumas or too busy making a living to pay attention to the still small voice..that's when we get frustrated, depressed, anxious, addicted, controlling, abusive.

The need to hoard and protect our goods runs deep within our society...and it is extending to other cultures as well. I like the idea that understanding where our water and food originates will create a desire to protect those resources. I am so saddened by China...adopting western ways...leaving behind their strong sense of family...trading family honor and responsibility for one child and increased wealth....along with pollution and questionable social practices. We are destroying many of the middle east cultures by our push for democratization...we need to adapt our world to include the uniqueness of those cultures, not attempt to make all act and believe the same things. It is much like the immigration into the US and we assimilated the people, making them melt into US culture, keeping small aspects of their cultural heritage...usually the food.

Anyway, I am rambling.
The final conquest of man is of himself...once we conquer our egos we can be open, loving and vulnerable...nonviolent.








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