Jill Of All Trades

(The last of the Peace Studies assignments/musings.)
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Enough "P" alliteration for you?)

Yes, I wrote another novel... The first two postulates are the longest, as they lay the foundation for the rest. If you can get through those, you should do fine. Good luck! :)

Summary: The first two postulates focus on personal responsibility and on interconnectedness. The last three focus on the principles of balance, strength, and flexibility. None of these alone will suffice; they need to be used together (interconnectedness); in addition, they are your own tools to monitor and use (personal responsibility).

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1. Everything begins with yourself. You have the capacity to change the world for the better; everyone does. (Movements, after all, break down into individuals.) There is no excuse to wait for someone else to clear the path, whether it be a politician or a classmate ("If only they'd just pass that bill," "If only they'd just listen to me for once"...). Make the first move, and speak only for yourself - the first steps have to come from changes within yourself, not from changing other people. (Thus, this entire manifesto-type-deal is essentially my talking to myself. [Hello, there, self - how are you today? Had a nice break?] Feel free to adopt what ideas may strike a chord, but under no circumstances take this as "[Miz L.] telling me what to do.")

2. There is no "Other." There is no "They." The polarized mentality of "Us vs. Them" makes us that much more easily led into atrocities, whether it be of nationality, creed/religion/philosophy, economic status, sex and/or gender, or even profession. We can see this in the discussions leading up to wartime - and we can see it in ourselves. Whether we're blaming all our troubles on "terrorism," "society" (ex. - "the secularization of society," the militarism of society"), "the administration," or "the media" (ex. - "the mainstream media," "violent video games"), the fact is that finding something to scapegoat does nothing. Whether or not they actually have a factor in our problems, there is nothing they do that is without our agreement, explicit or implicit. It doesn't matter how much we complain, or what we're complaining about, if we still do nothing to change (see above point).
In addition, it is important to remember that despite our surface differences, we all come from the same source - whether it be the dust of the earth, or the same molecules that have cycled through different forms since the Big Bang. Every action has an effect, an equal and opposite reaction, no matter how small. Even if the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil doesn't set off a tornado in Texas, it at least shifts the atmosphere surrounding it. "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main [...] therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." There is no "other" - for we are the other.

3. In all things, maintain a sense of balance, moderation, and perspective. Passion and emotion are valuable; so are logic and keeping a cool head. It is important to reduce/minimize harmful emissions from transportation, but it is equally important to travel, and to explore other cultures and environments. Pay attention to your instincts, but don't let them rule you. Pick your battles, but don't give up the bus seat that would change the world. Choose wisely - is it really a big deal? Is it really harmless? Also remember, the "everything" in "everything in moderation" includes moderation.

4. Don't let yourself get burned out - but don't give in to cynicism or apathy. Achieving peace, especially positive peace, covers an enormous amount of issues. Just "staying informed" can be overwhelming. Rest when you need to ("everything in moderation..."); enjoy the life you have. Perhaps work on "inner peace" for a while. But don't give up, or stop caring. Dust yourself off and go at it again. Remember - you are never the only one. There's always someone else who feels overwhelmed, too - and, more importantly, there are always others who are working for the same goals. They're helping you; go help them.

5. There are no hard-and-fast rules...including these. People do have differences, and situations have differences. Stay flexible.

Lost? Confused? Might want to re-read the summary...

Not lost? Good for you! Please turn in a brief analytical summary on Wednesday. ;)

- [Miz. L.]

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Ties in nicely with Thivai's post on the Yes! Magazine article.

(Musings for another Peace Studies assignment.)

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These are my scattered musings on the role of religion in fostering war and peace, and on religious in/tolerance more generally (as I see the two to be linked). I'm not sure if they'll all make sense, because I have a lot of different thoughts on this topic running around screaming simultaneously in my head. Take a deep breath...

...Here goes.

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What first comes to mind is an experience/revelation I had at an academic conference/"camp"/thingus this past summer. My roommate of the five weeks was the daughter of a Christian preacher, and worked at a Christian radio station. She told me she had only gone to one church - her dad's - for her entire life. While she was at the "camp," she and her group of friends made an effort to visit a different kind of church every week - going to a Catholic church and one with a different racial base, among others. For a little while, I thought, "Great! They're actually learning to accept...

...Other...forms of Christianity."

And then I realized how far we have to go.

And that's when I got depressed again.

So here's the first of my thoughts: organized religion seems to be inherently exclusive. Some may be exclusive on greater or lesser levels, but they still are.

Take "interdenominational" efforts. The premise seems to be, "We're accepting, all right! We accept all forms of Christianity!" Translation: If you're Buddhist, get out.

Then take the "interfaith" efforts. "As long as you believe in God/some sort of higher power, you're all right by us!" Tough luck, atheists and agnostics.

Organized religion - like so many other organized social constructs - can be used to unite people (for many purposes). But at the same time, they divide them against "The Other" - whether that be people of a different religion, people of no religion, or people who don't interpret their religion in the same way. With these divisions often (not necessarily, but often enough) come conflict. There's conflict, for example, between those who interpret their religion "for peace" and those who interpret it "for war."

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Which brings me to thought part two: try as we might, there is just no way to determine that a peace-promoting interpretation of religious doctrine is any more "right" or "valid" than a war-promoting one, much as we cannot determine the opposite. We can agree with one more than the other, sure; we can argue that one is more beneficial, or useful, or practical, or just. But we cannot argue that one is more legitimate - at least not based on that doctrine. Doctrine can support almost anything, if you know where to look.

Let's take that old favorite standby of religious arguments for an example - the Bible. Many will argue, "Oh, all that weird 'stoning and vengeance' stuff is just in the Old Testament. Jesus didn't actually say any of it (he, naturally, only said peaceful hippie stuff), so we shouldn't pay attention to it."

At this point, I should admit the influence of Marvin Harris, controversial anthropologist. In his book "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture" (chapter: The Secret of the Prince of Peace), he includes this table:

Blessed are the peacemakers. (Matthew 5:9)	Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I come not to send peace but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)
Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew 5:39)	Suppose ye that I come to give peace on earth? I will tell you nay, but rather division. (Luke 12:51)
All that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52)	He that hath no sword, let him sell his garments and buy one. (Luke 22:36)
Love thine enemies; do good to them that hate you. (Luke 6:27)	And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the temple...and poured out the changer's money and overthrew the tables. (John 2:15)

Needless to say, it's difficult to assimilate the attitudes of the two columns simultaneously (although many apologists have made a living using rhetorical and/or logical and/or historical contortions to do so). Thus, many who try to follow its teachings focus on either one column's perspective or the other's.

I think this stems from an inherent difficulty of using any one document - written by many people, over many time periods, whether divinely inspired or not - as the sole basis for one's life choices. It's like the joke about George Washington's axe - "This is the original he used to cut down the cherry tree. The handle's been replaced six times, and the head only five." After all that, can you really say it's the same axe? The same "essence" may be there, but we'll never really know, having only fragments of (what we think are) the originals. In this case, even the original axe's head was made at a different time, by a different person, than its handle - and they possibly never fitted together very well in the first place.

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And so, thought the third: what are religious groups working for peace doing, anyway? To me, it seems a little like a knitting club deciding to join the peace effort. Perhaps their reasoning is "It's harder for people to knit when they're worried about being bombed, so we should try to stop the bombing so more people can concentrate on their knitting." Sure, okay, whatever. Their heart's in the right place, I suppose, and we could certainly use whatever help we can get. But I have trouble seeing the connection - or, at least, I have trouble seeing how the connection's any stronger than, say, that of an underwater basket weaver's guild.

Perhaps the connection lies in the sort of poetic justice that comes when religious groups come together to solve a conflict instead of causing one, especially when it was the cause in the first place. "You started it - you end it." In that case, treaty agreements between groups of different philosophies or politics that have been in conflict are on the same level. It's just one more tool, or one more cultural classification method to get around. Lyrics from John Lennon's "Imagine" come to mind: "Imagine there's no countries./It isn't hard to do./Nothing to kill or die for,/and no religion, too." Here, and in the rest of the song, I think Lennon's referencing some of the things that divide us - Christian or Muslim, Capitalist or Socialist, Rich or Poor, Saved or Sinner ("Imagine there's no heaven..."). While some can unite within those labels, most of the time they're just obstacles to be worked around in order to really reach other people.

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Which, in a roundabout way, brings me to thought number four: why religious contributions, and what differentiates between theirs and those of any other philosophy? To me, religion is mostly "Philosophy + Supernatural [beliefs]." So, what distinguishes "religious contributions" (or detractions) from simply "philosophical" ones might be the "supernatural" part - which, by definition, we can't verify. Not very useful.

Perhaps the importance lies in sheer numbers, or power. Given the clout many religions have (if only because they're "divinely backed"), getting them on the side of peace would be immensely beneficial to the peace movement - at least in the short run. Much like making a peace alliance with the former USSR might have been, or one with North Korea might today. However, at least to me, it would have similar problems in the long run. Say you've got a major world power on your side, working for peace (or at least for disarmament). What do you do when you find out about its humanitarian crises, about the critics getting silenced and the women getting beaten? It makes for a careful compromise, especially when in negotiating a positive peace.

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So that's the end of my Sunday-night thoughts about Religion and War and Peace. Might have to come back later if any more get shaken out of the tangle.

Made it to the end? Congratulations! Have a cookie. If you're brain's hurting by now, go relax.

- [Miz L.]