THE LAW OF THREE (81) WAR AND THE THIRD FORCE
"War creates no absolute new situation. It simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we no longer can ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice...we are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life". Life has never been normal.
CS Lewis. A sermon at Oxford University in 1939 in the mid of a global crisis.
War has occupied the headlines for thousands of years and the prayers for peace have lasted for as long, yet "human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice."
War creates no absolute new situation, but makes evident the limitations of a mind that divides the world into right and wrong and ignores the action of a Third Force that reconciles or regulates them both. War governs the play of two cosmic forces which alternate in dominance and lead the world to constant cyclical movement between the two.
At present, a large section of humanity is engaged in a familiar pattern of self-destruction, while simultaneously, other sections are actively fuelling the conflict with the power of negative emotions, weapons and misinformation.
As witnesses we can help or hinder a present conflict. If dominated by a dualistic perception we hinder the conflict by taking sides in the name of justice, peace, etc., hoping that our weapons or good intentions will eliminate the enemies.
However, a non-dual perceiver is aware of the presence of powers more subtle than drones and rockets. Historically, we have witnessed how all the walls, trenches, weapons, and self-defence mechanisms erected around dominant nations have proved fatal for those nations because destruction has always come from inside.
The real battle takes place within ourselves. It consists in the struggle of the will to separate two negative inner forces and refuse to take sides with either; as Rabbi Keller puts it I will breathe through tears, swallow my pride, bite my tongue, and offer love without testing for deservingness.***
As peacemakers, we can contain those negative inner forces and resist their power to the point of maximum tension. In this instant a gap of consciousness may open, and the universal voice of Wisdom may be heard:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23-24
Quote from Blog 78
*** "Today, I am taking sides. I am taking the side of Peace. Peace which I will not abandon even when its voice is drowned out by hurt and hatred, bitterness of loss, cries of right and wrong. I am taking the side of Peace, whose name has barely been spoken in this winnerless war...I will do what I must to save the life of Peace. I will breathe through tears, I will swallow pride, I will bite my tongue, I will offer love without testing for deservingness... Don't ask me to take sides unless it is the side of Peace."
Rabbi Irwin Keller, Oct.17, 2023.
