The world today
is on the fragile edge between keeping peace and starting war. It all started
with the industrial and technological revolution. The modern age is marked by
unwarranted optimism about the development of science and technology. It is
believed that they lead us to a brighter future. This is the main feature of
modernity that reflects the contemporary approach - reliance on knowledge, technology
and science; in general, that gives rise to a feeling of confidence in the
future which implies such a thing as progress. And under progress it means the
ability to produce different things of higher quality and wider scale. For that
promise there use of natural resources is at maximum, and these resources are
then processed by industry with a help of advanced technologies. The result is
a society based on mass production and consumption.
By studying modern history, we see that
scientific industrial progress is always accompanied by constant wars. An
integral component of this progress is the colonization, the struggle for
natural resources and the monopoly; those countries that achieve the greatest
success in this fight are considered rich, developed and advanced. They are
called leading superpowers. But the reality is that the basic idea of modernity
cannot stand the test of time and cause serious doubts. Alternative views are
increasingly distributed and shared by majority of thinking people.
There are several major problems that humanity
faces which are the most obvious manifestations of the global crisis. This
contributes to the buildup of weapons and to the great attention to research in
the field of military technology which is the main task of advanced science. In
addition, the idea that by controlling the space you can control the world is
still not outdated. Despite the fact that the conquest of space requires a lot
of financial, technical and scientific resources, it is actively continuing.
Numerous armed conflicts start because of the
clash of geopolitical interests in the struggle for natural resources. This is
the reality of what is happening today in the Middle East, Iraq, and in
Afghanistan. Central Asia is quite deeply mired in the new post-Soviet
geopolitical games in the struggle for spheres of influence. Natural resources
are the main source of energy today; those are still oil and gas. But we all
know that oil reserves are very limited. Therefore, among the major
multinational companies, and also among the largest monopolies in the world,
now started the final battle for survival in it will be determined who in the
next twenty, thirty or fifty will get the remaining deposits of natural
resources. The war in Iraq began in fact because of it. And many so-called
conflicts between civilizations, of which the biggest conflict - the conflict
between the West and the Islamic world (it became a symbol of the terrorist
attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington) is deepened. For
years, there is a war against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq headed by
America. But the situation is getting worse, and in the foreseeable future it
seems to have no way out. Hatred and violence is spreading, and even
politicians do not undertake to predict exactly what will be the end of this
conflict.
The problem of violence is perhaps the most
urgent, painful problem of our time. Every day people die and violence increases
by spiral. And the main reason of it is rooted in the old hidebound way of
thinking, characteristic of the modern era, and coupled with faith in
materialism and technological development. There is an endless consumption of
natural resources, recycling, mass production, sale in the market, consumption,
refining, capital accumulation, and increasing of the 'well-being' and the
'standard of living'. This way of thinking is actually already outlived itself,
but people do not think to change it. Therefore, violent conflicts are the most
obvious, the primary problem, the cause of which lies in a false thinking and
false values.
And how to get rid of the cause of which lies
in a false thinking? Buddha said that
looking at it and transforming it:
"And as I
remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with sensuality
arose in me, I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with sensuality has arisen in
me, and that leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to
the affliction of both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does
not lead to Unbinding.
"As I
noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that it
leads to the affliction of others... to the affliction of both... it obstructs
discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided.
Whenever thinking imbued with sensuality had arisen, I simply abandoned it,
dispelled it, and wiped it out of existence.
“And as I
remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with harmfulness
arose in me. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with harmfulness has arisen in
me; and that leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to
the affliction of both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does
not lead to Unbinding.’
"As I
noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that it
leads to the affliction of others... to the affliction of both... it obstructs
discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided.
Whenever thinking imbued with harmfulness had arisen, I simply abandoned it,
dispelled it, and wiped it out of existence.
"When the mind was thus
concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant,
malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge
of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it had come to
be, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the
cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress...
These are fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is
the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of
fermentations.' My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the
fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming,
released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the
knowledge, 'Released.'[1]
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