The Limits of Our Current Worldview or If War Worked, Wed Have Peace By Now
Author: Ken Homer Issue: 2023-10-18
The Limits of Our Current Worldview or If War Worked, We’d Have Peace By Now
by Ken Homer
Wikipedia estimates the total number of people killed in wars throughout all of human history ranges from 150 million to one billion. Personally, I’m more inclined to believe the higher end of that estimate is accurate, especially since few people recognize that the genocide of Indigenous Peoples the world over in the last 500 years is ongoing and has likely claimed at least 200,000,000 lives in the America’s alone.
One billion people killed in wars. Ponder that for a moment. It’s a staggering figure!
One billion people have met violent deaths at the hands of people intent on ending their lives. And vast numbers of those people were not combatants but “collateral damage” –militaryspeak for civilians. That’s a helluva social pathology at work! Why aren’t more people working on eradicating the cause instead of addressing the symptoms?
It took from the emergence of the genus homo ±3,000,000 years ago until 1800 BCE for the human population to reach one billion. And in the intervening 223 years wars have killed off an equal number of souls. Why do humans who refuse to grant other humans the right to exist continue to secure positions of power and convince their followers that wars are necessary? And why do people keep believing in that failed approach?
Fifty million people were killed in WWII alone which, according to some, was “the last good war,” whatever the hell that means.
“We’ve tried everything possible and none of it has worked. Now we must try the impossible.” ~ Sun Ra
Recently, I shared a poem on an OGM call that I wrote a few years ago entitled: If War Worked, We’d Have Peace By Now. As news of the hot wars raging in Ukraine and Israel intrude into my awareness, I find my thoughts turning once more to the impossibility of war bringing about a lasting peace. I believe Sun Ra is right. It’s time to boldly try the impossible!
As you read what follows be on guard for the roadblocks your mind is bound to throw in the way. Chances are good that you find thoughts like: “That’ll never happen or, no way that’ll will take place or, good luck with that!” are bound to arise. Consider that those thoughts are not the limits of the world, but rather the limits of your worldview.
“Each person takes the limits of their own vision to be the limits of the World.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Moving up a fractal level from individual to social, I’d expand Artie’s assertion to include that cultures also take the limits of their vision to be the limits of the world. Why not see the limits of what a person or a culture sets as the limits of the world as an entry point where what is impossible can intervene and begin to reconstitute those limits in ways that open new options for relating? To be clear, I’m referring to the limits of how us-humans conceptualize our Human-to-Human relationships. Us-humans also need to revision the limits of the Human-Earth relationship, which will also require a healthy dose of trying the impossible if us-humans wish to save our collective asses, but I’m going to focus on war for the moment which is in the domain of Human-to-Human.
What if those who hold beliefs such as war will somehow secure lasting peace, or that peace is impossible because there will always be threats that can only be addressed by wars, are simply bumping up against the limits of the socially constructed worldview that they grew up inside of rather than breaching the limits of what is possible for humanity? Might that be a lever for prying the lid off the paint can and allowing a different kind of thinking and a “new world order” to emerge?
It can be helpful when attempting the impossible to remember that most social advances were considered impossible at the time they were first proposed. Abolish slavery? Impossible! Give women the right to vote? Impossible! Get rid of lead in gasoline? Impossible! A truly great idea that speaks to improving the human condition will, with time and traction, become reality. It’s much easier to think about and try the impossible if you are dwelling in the long now than if you are consumed by the immediate present.
Here are my four impossible suggestions for creating the conditions for a war-free future by repurposing the world’s militaries:
- All countries with military budgets will be required to spend 50% of that budget ensuring that hungry people are fed, thirsty people have water, shelterless people are housed, and public infrastructure is maintained and upgraded – all things that will produce meaningful work. Remember econ 101 – guns and butter!
- All countries with military budgets will be required to spend 25% of that budget on climate change adaptation and remediation. Climate change is a threat to the security of every nation. Investing military dollars in this way will provide a generous ROI.
- All countries with military budgets will be required to spend 15% of that budget on developing an army of elders who will be armed with food and blankets and trained in mediation techniques and will be first people to visit hot conflicts to listen to the complaints of the disgruntled and offer advice for deescalating conflict and restoring harmony among people.
- The remaining 10% of the military budget can be used for training on how to rescue people from the inevitable natural disasters that will increase due to climate chaos.
Clearly all these suggestions are impossible under the current economic-political-social paradigm. However, I bet that if the above suggestions were implemented, the conditions that produce wars and the corresponding need for militaries to fight them would soon disappear and a future where humans can design their presence in Earth for millions of years to come would soon* become a reality.
What are your impossible suggestions for securing a viable future for humans, animals, plants, and Gaia Herself?
*Soon = within the next 100 years.
Related:
- Ken Homer (author)
- 2023 (year)
- Topics: Climate and Environment, Narrative and Storytelling