Between the Lines VII: War and peace
We watch what’s going on in Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine and think, how horrible. And it is, so much hatred and lust for power. So much suffering. And we think: Someone has to fix this problem, maybe some government that can step in and stop the mayhem. But the nations of the world – including the United Nations itself – seem unable to act, and the chaos grows. As the famous American broadcaster Walter Cronkite once said, “War itself is…a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”
But peace is not going to come from governments. Political or national or group efforts may have positive effects, but ultimately, peace has to come from you and me. Real peace can only emerge when it has been found and proved at the individual level.
Two weeks ago in Between the Lines, we addressed the world’s apparent descent into lawlessness and the need to adhere more firmly to moral law. What I’d like to do today is to look at Holy War and see if we can find some inspiration there and apply it to what we face.
Start with the title of David Darke’s newspaper column: Be not afraid. We can’t get anywhere without that as the starting point. Evil likes to intimidate. Don’t let it intimidate you.
Then look at the resistance David and Tamar have faced in America and (spoiler alert) will face in Russia. It’s a microcosm of our real-life battles with arrogant, aggressive evil in the form of political, racial, social, religious, environmental, cultural and emotional troubles, not to mention health challenges. In the words of photographer Igor Ivanovich Orlov, in both Russia and America (and every nation, really), “There are many good people…but there’s too much death.” Tamar knows from experience how true this is, and she is determined to prove that goodness rises when good people stand their ground. Coming out of her trauma after rape, she bravely insists, “Russians can’t raise their hands yet, but they will.” So will Ukrainians and Palestinians and Israelis and Russians raise their hands in peace today, if we do our part.
On the surface, what we are watching seems like battles between nations. But what exactly is a nation? We commonly understand it as a community of people defined by a government and territory, as well as by factors such as history, tradition, culture, language, race, religion. But it’s more useful in the long run to look at things differently and embrace the idea of one nation, a nation guided by an intelligence higher and stronger than will-power and physical force. That is what Tamar and David are feeling toward. When David proposes that the two of them travel to Moscow to “make Russia great again,” what he really means is that he wants to work with Tamar to find and bring out Russia’s sweet spot of inspired intelligence and grace as an antidote to the deception and brutality that the nation seems to have fallen under with Ilya Chestnov as its new leader.
It might be useful to consider what happened when the followers of Jesus Christ gathered on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus had left them. The story, as recorded in the Bible in the Book of Acts, notes that those in the room were suddenly filled with what the author calls the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, a spiritual force communicating with each person in his or her own language (i.e., not in language at all but in clear ideas). This force is ultimately what Tamar and David want to bring to Russia. It quiets chaos, gives action to love, inspires boldness and calms fear in everyone it touches.
We can help bring this Holy Spirit to Ukraine, Russia, Palestine and Israel, with the same result. How? The Bible has another helpful story. When the prophet Elisha was surrounded by an army intent on capturing him, his servant was afraid (II Kings 6). But Elisha prayed, “Lord…open his eyes, that he may see.” And what his servant saw was God’s spiritual army, clear spiritual ideas, all around them, protecting them. As a result, not only were they not attacked, but the invading army and all its soldiers were guided safely away. No lives were lost.
That can be our prayer now, to open our own eyes and those of others, that we may all see the goodness and peace and intelligence of God in Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine as well as America, all united in spiritual power, strengthened by God’s love. David is working to help establish the understanding of the universality of God’s nation through his writing, and Tamar is working to demonstrate, as best she understands it, that universality in her interaction with the world. The turmoil that chases them is the attempt to undermine, deny and make war with this movement of peace. You and I are part of that movement. War will lessen and eventually stop when we understand and prove that the Holy Spirit is right here, right now, where we are and hence where every person is.
When I was younger, I worked as a lobbyist in Washington, DC, where political wars are intense. I joined a small consulting firm, and I soon discovered that it was company policy to hide the source of the money we received, because the clients were big corporations, and they were not politically popular. I was told that, when necessary, I needed to lie about who was funding us, and I did. For a time I justified my action by telling myself that it was just how business is done in Washington (which is often true). But eventually I decided to take a moral stand, because I couldn’t lie day after day and live with myself. So I quit. My family and I had a few rough months financially, but I eventually landed another job for a firm that had no problem being honest, and it led to my starting my own consulting firm in Russia, helping Western companies and a few Russian clients calm the fears of Russian workers during a very unstable time, and helping Westerners and Russians learn to work together. One of my Russian clients, now in exile, is one of the leading opponents of the current Russian government and its assault on Ukraine.
Prove the power of the Holy Spirit in your own life, and it will be felt in ways far beyond yourself. American author Mark Twain said, “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” We see a shameful lack of moral courage in so many places. The same goes for spiritual courage, the courage to look beyond what the physical senses are saying and claim a more powerful truth, moving humanity forward. That truth is the peace we are looking for, and it is the law of existence everywhere, even when bombs are exploding.
Let’s prove it.