War And Warriors

I guess I will stretch my own guidelines and talk about something that is upsetting a lot of people lately. I don't want to write this to upset people. I just want you to view it as an opportunity to see things from a slightly different view point. Don't judge the war, don't hate the war, or wars around the world because then you create anger and start a new war within. I would rather look at this subject from a purely spiritual view for a minute. So lets see, war is part of the human condition. There are supposedly just wars, and unjust wars, and the warriors that fight in them. We have the feudal period in Japan, we have WWI and WWII, we have the war in Iraq, and we have the war against Terrorism. The I-Ching might call it Conflict. It seems no matter how hard we try we can't prevent wars. My heart goes out to the people fighting in them, or the guys that are on the front lines. For this particular war in Iraq, every rule in the book has been broken. Lets take one of the classic books on war called "The art of War" by a guy called Sun Tzu. Written about 140 B.C. Every general and warrior, from when it was written, to more modern day legends such as George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, and Colin Powel, most likely had this book in their library. Its one of the foremost authoritys on waging war. So far as I can see we have broken almost every rule in this classic text in this latest Iraq war. I won't go into them all but here is one that is kind of outstanding. Or should I say it sticks out like a sore thumb. Quote from chapter II paragraph two "When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, the men's weapons will grow dull and their ardour will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town you will exhaust your strength" Un-quote. Well so much for following that advice. If I were to go into excerpt after excerpt in "The art of War" you would see that the course we are following is having disastrous effects on the population and our infrastructure as a whole. The guys fighting are true brothers to us all and my heart goes out to them. Send them love. I had the opportunity to work with the Navy Seals for about three years in a hand to hand combat training scenario when I was in the martial arts. There isn't a better bunch of guys. All the guy's fighting this war are hero's. Not because I like war. War is hell! But because now they are in the position where they are just protecting their buddies, and watching each others back. The guys coming home are going to be exhausted, and sick with either PTSD or other ways. So lets again send them love and gratitude, even if you think the war is unjust. When you survive something like that you tend to appreciate life more then the average Joe on the street. Why? Because you have stared at death for months and months. And you figure if you survive that you can survive anything. Its almost a zen thing, or a Bushido thing. Bushido being the code of the warrior in Japan when the Samurai were in full vogue. Bushido was a concept of dropping your fear of death so you wouldn't hesitate in a battle out of fear and be a split second slower then your opponent. Also out of the martial arts and the "Art Of War" came the concept of the sword of no sword. Which is avoiding conflict on a moral level if at all possible, unless of course out right aggression was confronting you and then even certain arts like Aikido can neutralize an opponent by using his own force or energy against themselves. Then you have Tai Chi which uses the same concept. But the concept of peace, is born out of the its opposite of war. Yin Yang if you will. Most famous creators of the martial arts like the founder of Aikido were at one time brutal warriors, but had an epiphany or awakening and realized there was a better way. So I guess my point with all this is, out of something that is labeled bad can come good. So for a better viewpoint on war come from the angle of the martial arts and the spiritual. When you know you are strong you have no need to fight. Wars seem to be fought over greed and possessing something. When you come from the view of the "tao" there is nothing to possess and there is no possessor, all are one. I know some people, a lot of them Christians (nothing against "Real followers of Christ") will ignore the fact that their master Yeshua or Jesus was against war and only wanted peace. He had more of the approach of Gandhi. Whats to be accomplished really?
Protection of the homeland and its people? It seems that protection has become so obsessive that the people are losing their freedom. And isn't that what the war was supposed to be for? To keep us free. But all our rights as citizens are going down the drain, as the supposed need for security increases. Funny thing is. Maybe thats exactly what our enemy wants. Now if we can just figure out who the enemy really is.
Peace