A Global Civilization Needs Respect for Diversity
Carlos Cardoso
Aveline
Henry Kissinger visits Vladimir Putin in
Russia, in February 2016. (Photo: Kremlin)
There is a karmic fever in the Middle East and other regions. A constant
disquiet pervades the different areas of life, burning the ignorance present in
our souls.
A large part
of such an alchemical fire will proceed on the level of baser metals, or lower
passions, until humanity gets rid of religious fanaticism and the blind worship
of money, and places the search for truth above the love of material power.
There is no
reason for the task to take too long. No
one knows the price to pay for that, in human suffering.
Israel is
among the nations whose history contains a story of mankind. The Middle East
plays an important role in the spiritual life of present civilization, and
Henry Kissinger wrote in his 2014 best-seller “World Order”:
“From its
stern landscape have issued conquerors and prophets holding aloft banners of
universal aspirations. Across its seemingly limitless horizons, empires have
been established and fallen; absolute rulers have proclaimed themselves the
embodiment of all power, only to disappear as if they had been mirages. Here
every form of domestic and international order has existed, and been rejected,
at one time or another.”
Kissinger was
91 years old when the above lines were published. According to him -
“Nowhere is
the challenge of international order more complex - in terms of both organizing
regional order and ensuring the compatibility of that order with peace and
stability in the rest of the world.”
“Feverish” historical
events expand consciousness. The Karmic fire intensifies the change and the
learning of the soul, and other metaphors can be used to reflect upon the same
fact.
Modern
esoteric philosophy says that in the last minute of an incarnation every
individual reviews and revisits all of his experiences, right before abandoning
physical life. Everything is then seen at once, as it were, as the pilgrim gets
ready to cross the limit to the great beyond.
The same can
be said of any initiatory event, large or small, individual and collective. Whenever a great and sudden expansion of
consciousness approaches, a number of past experiences become visibly
simultaneous. A single vast insight shows the whole spectrum of life and of time.
This has been happening in Israel and its neighbours for some time now - and in
other parts of the world as well.
Kissinger
writes:
“In our time,
the Middle East seems destined to experiment with all of its historical
experiences simultaneously - empire, holy war, foreign domination, a sectarian
war of all against all - before it arrives (if it ever does) at a settled
concept of international order. Until it does so, the region will remain pulled
alternately toward joining the world community and struggling against it.” [1]
The Middle
East is one of the karmic laboratories where the possibilities of the future
are being tested. A new kind of change is needed for human evolution. We are
already undergoing it, around the globe, one way or another. The change is simultaneously
internal and external, psychological and sociological, spiritual and material.
The separative
view of life has begun to die: past experiences are being revisited in a few
dozens of seconds of historical time. Our civilization need not die with the fragmented
view of the world. It is enough to get rid of the illusion of separativeness and adapt to the unavoidable expansion
of consciousness. By doing this we will be able to live in much more meaningful
ways than blind materialism or religious fanaticism could be able to dream of.
The Assault on Nation-States
There are
right and wrong ways to build a global civilization. Destroying nations is not
the right one.
Yet different factors, economic, financial, military and
ideological, now help one another in attacking the concept of nation-state. It
has been fashionable for some time to despise the concept of sovereignty. It is
a temptation to “progressive” individuals to attack the right of Israel to
exist, to dream of a new Cold War with Russia, and ignore the right of other
countries to self-determination in Europe, Latin America, and around the world.
Many subconsciously think every state should be despised by now.
Referring to the “Westphalian” rules of international
coexistence, which respect the national sovereignty of nations and make
different powers compensate one another, Henry Kissinger writes:
“The contemporary, now global Westphalian system -
what colloquially is called the world community - has striven to curtail the
anarchical nature of the world with an extensive network of international legal
and organizational structures designed to foster open trade and a stable
international financial system, establish accepted principles of resolving
international disputes, and set limits on the conduct of wars when they do
occur. This system of states now encompasses every culture and region. Its
institutions have provided the neutral framework for the interactions of
diverse societies - to a large extent independent of their respective values.”
And he observes:
“Yet Westphalian principles are being challenged on
all sides, sometimes in the name of world order itself. Europe has set out to
depart from the state system it designed and to transcend it through a concept
of pooled sovereignty. And ironically, though Europe invented the
balance-of-power concept, it has consciously and severely limited the element
of power in its new institutions. Having downgraded its military capacities,
Europe has little scope to respond when universal norms are flouted.”
Despising states leads to chaos, and Kissinger says:
“In the Middle East, jihadists on both sides of the
Sunni-Shia divide tear at societies and dismantle states in quest of visions of
global revolution based on the fundamentalist version of their religion. The
state itself - as well as the regional system based on it - is in jeopardy,
assaulted by ideologies rejecting its constraints as illegitimate and by
terrorist militias that, in several countries, are stronger than the armed
forces of the government.” [2]
Various globalist ideologies, each with their financial,
religious and military schemes, are involved in the complex, multidimensional
attack against nation-states. However, such project cannot resist its own
weight. States play a crucial role in organizing national karma, or accumulated
experience of peoples. The respect for national institutions, laws and regulation
is at the basis of any form of world community. The first step for a country
which aims at helping global community is to preserve a reasonable degree of
sovereign power.
A true communion among all ethnicities can take place
if combined with respect for each one of them. Commonly accepted rules must
guide international life. War and destruction cannot be eliminated as an
imposition of the strongest in nuclear weapons. It will be erased by the power
of good will among nations.
Uncomfortable Choices
Henry Kissinger is an expert in the History of
international relations, and took some time to have a dialogue with the classics.
“Cryptic fragments from remote antiquity”, he says, “reveal a view of the human
condition as irremediably marked by change and strife.” He then comments upon the famous words by
Heraclitus on life being like a river. He does so without naming the ancient
philosopher:
“ ‘The unity of
things lies beneath the surface; it depends upon a balanced reaction between
opposites.’ The goal of our era must be to achieve that equilibrium while
restraining the dogs of war. And we have to do so among the rushing stream of
history. The well-known metaphor for this is in the fragment conveying that ‘one cannot step twice in the same river’.
History may be thought of as a river, but its waters will be ever changing.”
The North-American thinker reflects upon the
limitations faced by any particular generation as it looks at on-going events:
“Long ago, in youth, I was brash enough to think
myself able to pronounce on ‘The Meaning of History’. I now know that history’s
meaning is a matter to be discovered, not declared. It is a question we must
attempt to answer as best we can in recognition that it will remain open to
debate; that each generation will be judged by whether the greatest, most
consequential issues of the human condition have been faced, and that decisions
to meet these challenges must be taken by statesmen before it is possible to
know what the outcome may be.” [3]
Difficult decisions have to be made by all in every
aspect of life.
Unfavourable circumstances are the price to pay for
existing. It is always possible to do one’s best, so as to improve one’s
discernment of right and wrong.
The Middle East is the birthplace of the three main
monotheisms of our time, of which only one preserved itself from the moral and
karmic disgrace of becoming a world empire built on the basis of massacre,
oppression and bloodshed.
It is certainly good karma
and a blissful action not to humiliate other nations. However, the Jewish nation
had to pay for that. It suffered injustice, murder and persecution for
centuries, while imperfectly but sincerely safeguarding its culture, its
religion, and its ethics in daily life. The Jewish
nation plays a central role in the karmic
fever of present civilization, which paves the way for an all-encompassing
change. The 21st century is probably destined to establish harmony and
justice among all nations.
Building a Complex World Order
Every birth is a critical moment,
and the birth of the future in History can be
extremely difficult. As something new is born, an old situation dies.
When some form of happiness is obtained, other obstacles present themselves and
challenge life in previously unknown ways.
Such is the blessing of the world’s renewal. Its first
step has to be taken every day by everyone.
The human path to universal brotherhood needs a planet
that is free from hatred among nations. Each one can learn to nurture wise
forms of good will toward peoples of different backgrounds. Now is the time for
the Western world to move away from unnecessary hostilities regarding Eastern
cultures, and to promote cooperation instead. There is an inspiring paradox in
the dialogue between people with different views of life, and Henry Kissinger
writes:
“During my first visit to Beijing, undertaken in 1971
to reestablish contact with China after two decades of hostility, I mentioned
that to the American delegation, China was a ‘land of mystery’. Premier Zhou
Enlai responded, ‘You will find it not mysterious. When you have become
familiar with it, it will not seem so mysterious as before.’ There were 900
million Chinese, he observed, and it seemed perfectly normal to them. In our
time, the quest for world order will require relating the perceptions of
societies whose realities have largely been self-contained. The mystery to be
overcome is one all peoples share - how divergent historical experiences and
values can be shaped into a common order.” [4]
A co-architect of the “Détente” which prepared the end
of Cold War in the 1970s, Kissinger does not like the idea of a new wave of
political and military tension with Russia. In February 2016 he visited Moscow and
was received by Vladimir Putin as a personal friend. At the time the website of
“Russia Today” said:
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued his long-standing,
friendly relations with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as the
pair took the opportunity to talk at a meeting in his residence outside Moscow.
The meeting is a continuation of a friendly dialogue between President Putin
and Henry Kissinger, who are bound by a long-standing relationship, said
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. ‘They communicate all the time, use the
opportunity to talk’, he added. Putin values this opportunity to discuss
pressing international issues as well as exchange opinions on global
perspectives (…).” [5]
Indeed, greed and fear are not good counsellors.
Bonds of friendship across contrasting cultures
constitute the key to the healing of human soul. They open the door to the
future. The next step in evolution is a planetary awakening from the medieval nightmare
of nationalistic, religious, ethnic and ideological forms of blindness.
The civilization of the future is being born in mostly
inelegant ways. It is based on the principle of integrative respect for
cultural differences, which often seems awkward to many.
However, failures and contradictions must be accepted
as part of our existence: all lives
matter, and we have something to learn from each one of them.
A Balanced Point of View
As the cure of our civilization takes place, it must directly
look at the worst threats to its survival, and avoid being hypnotized by what
is seen.
Nuclear proliferation, geologic change and
environmental destruction are real dangers and may go beyond the turning point,
unless humanity takes one or two steps ahead in its moral evolution.
Falsehood must be unmasked.
New situations emerge which reveal the destructive
substance of many a subconscious collective feeling. The fact brings relief to
some and despair to others, who had accommodated themselves to falsity. Unexpected
events put social and political hypocrisy on the table for everyone to see.
This looks like “unbearable” to those who considered themselves the owners of
truth and of reality.
The task of fighting whited sepulchres has a
psychoanalytic dimension. When political thought is based on illusion, its
“priests” get in panic if someone starts to speak the truth.
Yet the truth is needed, and it prevails.
Truth is a dangerous way of healing. It eliminates various
forms of ignorance to which we are emotionally attached. It must be sought with
prudence, for it can only be understood from a balanced point of view, which
experience and good will gradually entitle us to attain. By confronting
uncomfortable truths, civilization avoids war.
NOTES:
[1] “World Order”, by Henry Kissinger, Penguin Books, UK,
2014, 420 pp., pp. 96-97.
[2] “World Order”, by Henry Kissinger, Penguin Books, UK,
2014, 420 pp., p. 07.
[3] “World Order”, Penguin Books, 2014, p. 374.
[4] “World Order”, Penguin Books, 2014, p. 10.
[5] See the “Russia Today” article here.
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The above text was first published in 2016 in our blog at “The Times of Israel”.
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See in our
associated websites the article “The
Iberian or Integrative View of Life”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
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