The other day, I was reading an article on the BBC website about the ways in which the war in Ukraine may come to an end. It was a description by a diplomatic correspondent of five possible scenarios based on what we already know about the people and factions involved in this current European conflict. You can get the gist of it from this brief quote: “Few can predict the future with confidence, but here are some potential outcomes. Most are bleak.”
For friends of Krishnamurti, it will probably come as no surprise that this kind of article never explores the possibility that the war in Ukraine is no different in kind from the war being waged constantly within the individual human mind, including the mind of the writer of the article. There may be a difference of degree and appearance, but our inner and outer conflicts are essentially the same thing. For although the individual human mind has amassed a wealth of evidence to support the notion that it is an important separate identity, this sense of being a separate identity is what puts us all on the first step to murder. From the idea of the separate self comes all the rest of it - my self-esteem, my values, my family, my tribe, my nation, my culture, my beliefs, my rights, and so forth - and thus the foundations are laid from which one views the rest of the world. One may view this world positively or negatively, sentimentally or coldly, depending upon the nature of the personal foundation; but whichever way one looks at the world, it is a personal viewpoint born out of all those accumulated memories and interpretations of one’s own experiences and responses, both good and bad. This notion of separate individuality is bound to bring about conflict with others, conflict in varying degrees and with varying forms, from our minor domestic disputes to the full-blown military campaign.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://kinfonet.org/articles/how-might-the-war-end