Ahinsa; rediscovered cult of non- violence

(Translation from slovak language: Ahinsa, staronový kult nenásilia)

Sitting in the silver flying torpedo, so starry shining opposite the azure sky, he might be thinking about the world. Its nature of beauty but imperfection, and that to leave it in such a sad moment might not be pity. Suicide and his victims. Unknown enemy of humanity, as we understand it, the representative of immorality of the world terrorism. Confessor of death. A sight inside his soul may be a sight to drown. Cosmic black hole, lacking a bit of light, lacking anything. Just darkness.

The soul of a terrorist belongs to no religion, though the society thinks opposite. And still we have some experience with modern terrorism. Without far reaching research, in the fresh memories we can find a report about long, well-organized crime, about systematic violence. It was provided with the cynicism common for terrorists. Indifferent mistaken people provided it. Even then, in the jails, workhouses and camps and uranium mines, the enemy, villain, ideological terrorist was unknown. Only few enemies of regime, interned at once, cut, stolen from their family and work could see his face. Its face was graciously covered by omnipresent mask of a totalitarian state.

And people died in exhaustive, undistinguished, demonstrative way, by chance or only as a warning. It was thoroughgoing, grey, cunning and merciless terror- a lot of us have their experiences. Its fruit was a society based on dread, mask, denunciation, on lie and crime- a society of no morality. It talked about humanism grinning the cannibal teeth. Vilem Hejl, writer and prisoner of state has written a whole book about it: Zpráva o organizovanom násilí (A report about organized violence). The attack of terrorists on the WTC will once also be a part of an extensive report about the organized crime. Unlike the terror of totality, it has chosen destruction as its goal. The punishment profiles itself alike. Can a world war be declared against terrorism? Can a war against Badness be fought with army?

The regime based on the organized violence fall down because of its own weakness and debauchery. But the terrorism of these days cannot have compunctions that would destroy it from inside. The totalitarian regimes were weakened and defeated by uncontrolled spread of information. Terrorism profits on it. It chooses targets form wide range of offers and it finds thousands of reasons and justifications for its actions. Or it acts purposeless. It is a pathological defiance of a black soul stricken by psychical sickness. A modern man becomes more and more afraid of freedom, the bottom-less abyss of possibilities and impossibilities, his own unknown consciousness, world, planet, universe. There are new hopes, new possibilities not to fulfill them and continual searching and longing for. There is frustration from gluttony. A terrorist knows, what is he doing, and what will he die for. A common man does not know.

For some time it seemed, that by crossing the barrier of the new millennium, we will step into the sphere of continual globalization and moderation of the old contrarieties. That we can lay a ghosts of past, tragic crisis and annoyances. That, little by little, even the terrible burden of never ending suffering from birth to death is getting lighter. We almost succeeded in self-deception, that the massive, omnipresent badness will disappear and we will understand the basic fact – survival. We almost became optimists believing, that the small cosmetic errors of the social goodness we live in will die out. All but we wanted to believe in the continual arrival of the omni-human participation at the human values and called for the new epoch. We have forgotten, that to create new global civilization and at the same time assume peace and rest is the top of the strategic simplicity. At this world, there are still a lot of civilizations and cultures accompanied by differences we would prefer not to see. Each civilization has its own original shape and strategic aspirations. The Euro-American one is not world- wide, thought it could be world- ruling.

The vileness of cold terrorist calculation with death and fear is not subjected to any economic rules or laws. The events at stock market have no influence on it. It has the rules of its own, kind of nihilism that we do not know much about. The sectarianism of Bartholomeus night has already shown itself long time ago, and no present ruler answers the call for crusade. The blood of the victims of Jacobean dictatorship on the hands of Marat has been already washed out by the brave slogans of French revolution. Neither does volleys of Russian killing the Romanov family have anything common with terrorism. That’s all history. We have been getting through a long seem-to-be efficient age of the emancipation of brain and we did not notice, that our arrogance has spread all around the world. Spelled by the momentary profit of pragmatism, we have forgotten, that in the long-term effect, it does not let us think about the later impacts of our acts.

Example from former times: What would happen, if the presidential elections won Al Gore instead of G. Bush? Al Gore: the pioneer of globalization, constructer of information highways, author of global Marshall plan for protecting the environment and concept of strategic environment initiatives, which he described in the book “Earth in balance”. The way of rescue is the way of balance. When Al Gore thought about security, the terrorism had shape of a dark thread. Now it is like the burning dragon feeding on our certainties and on us. Any civil and rational attempts for global security make him laugh. Until the 11th September 2001 we had lived in illusion; there is a plenty of badness all around, but we can fight it efficiently. Badness cannot win badness is outnumbered. We are approaching safer world!

The independent Commission for disarmament and problems of security at United Nations, lead by Olaf Palm, used to mention: “ we will not live in stabile security, until it would be shared by everyone. It could be reached only by cooperation based on principles of equality of rights, justice and reciprocity.” It turned out, that an independent, well-armed, strong state couldn’t automatically assure security for its citizens. The security of citizens and security of state are two different facts. The world facing terrorism should not talk about international demilitarization only, but it should stronger than ever emphasize the fight against omnipresent and continually refining violence in the everyday life.

Our civilization is heavily saturated by violence. It is like a disease, a cancer living together with us. It is at every step, every move of a man, like a basic principle of life style. We have dignified it, like a golden calf. Violence in the children games, in media, show business, movie, theatre, literature, galleries… fury in words and acts. Terrorism is a wrong mirror of endangered life reality. Virtual space, erasing border between possible and impossible seems not to need organic form of life and digital democracy seems to refuse a citizen. War without presence of cameras of CNN is quite improbable, seeming not to exist (as was shown during the Operation Sand Storm)

A terrorist in an elegant flying silver torpedo full of passengers getting closer to buildings full of active, optimistic people knew about cameras that would picture his awful act. He was sure, that this violence is meaningful, why it sanctifies his fanatic, ill goal: to humiliate the world of the powerful ones and destroy at least a part of it. To question the feeling of security even there where it seems to be perfectly sure. To question all the securities, including the human life and to establish the cult of death and fear, such is the goal of terrorism. It is the most vivid fruit of violence and hatred. Virtually modified global world of the sterile digitalization was only a dangerous illusion. It has produced the computer cyber terrorism; it has degraded the common goodness. Goodness for whom? What for? Good is, what could be consumed or destroyed. The rest is badness. Like if the basis of modern technologies started to collapse. And the open abyss shows us the dark wrath of our demons, emotions, passions and sins.

Ethic Conrad Lorenz spent a significant part of his life searching the interspecies aggression. The human one has an outstanding place. Seeming to be suppressed, time-to-time it erupts with great intensity like if it wanted to show its never-ending abilities of destruction. It is a horrible potential of unknown vitality that has to be transformed to dreadful shape, based on the energy spent for suppressing the inherent destructive inclinations. The civilization we have created is kind of a tool for transforming the destructive energy into creative one. But it may not be subdued by the cult of violence. So where should we look for the exit from this empire of demons we have created?

The Dalajlama of Tibet, a great spiritual leader of this world has presented his plan for the peace in Tibet at the US Congress in the year 1987 already. He appealed on the whole world to turn the great plateau in Himalayas into a peace zone, reservation of calmness where the people and animals could live in harmony. This zone of ahinsa- temple of peace, should become kind of free haven, open for every inhabitant of the world looking for the truth and balance, inner peace. The plateau of Tibet would in the spirit of this vision turn into the world greatest national park, biosphere with sophisticated system of environment protection and healthy regulation of usage of its wealth.

“The height of Tibet, its size as well as its unique history and deep spiritual heritage make this land ideal for the role of altar of the peace in the strategic hearth of Asia.” Dalajlama said when receiving the Nobel peace prize at Oslo in 1989It seems that this way, as the exit from the circle of violence we are moving in. may have more then a symbolic meaning only. Globalization like the method of convergence of world, based on the information explosion and high tech avoids the human nature, all the dark threats of the human consciousness including the tendencies to violence. The real zone of non- violence, physical, not only virtual world refined by the best a man has during his search for public wealth found, may mean more than all the appeals and decisions of politics and leaders. The spiritual oasis massively cultivated by all the positives that have stayed in the states and individuals may become a real barricade against all the unknown threats, which will come into being. As an alternative to military punishment for crime, like a symbol of survival of humanity, it would fertilize our planet with the new vision based on the new culture of non-violence that would spread from the roof of world like a waterfall and nourish all the founts of new hope, new knowledge.