His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is a world renowned and respected figure. He is best known for his logically sound preaching. Recently he proclaimed that prayer to God can’t be an answer to disasters created by man. This might sound strange coming from a religious leader, but is quite pragmatic if you think of it.
Brainwashed Society
This article is retrospection on one of the recent pieces which was published on his website. It points out to the brainwashing that civilization has been made to go through, the brainwashing which legitimizes war.
Now all of us are quick to speak out against terrorism as being heinous as against humanity, but the The Dalai Lama’s words makes one question whether we really believe in that or not. Because of you think of it, armies and wars are nothing but acts of terrorism which happen to be sponsored by the State. We have been conditioned to think of the army and war as a whole as something glamorous and great whereas when it comes to ground reality- war is nothing but humans slaughtering other humans.
A Hope For Peace
The Dalai Lama states that as long as these institutions of violence exist, we cannot hope for peace. In fact we have been so desensitized about the realities of war, that we glorify and exalt weapons of mass destruction. When the army acquires new fire power, new weapons, people are found discussing it with great zest, how many rounds it can fire, its Calibre, range and what not.
Nobody thinks beyond the machine and its specifications. The fact that this machine would be used on an actual human being is lost on everyone. Soldiers become faceless killing machines, identifiable only as ours or theirs. Are we no better than this, slaughtering masses from both sides on the command of a few people who are on top of the pecking order? There has to be a better way.
We have been conditioned to think of the army and war as a whole as something glamorous and great whereas when it comes to ground reality- war is nothing but humans slaughtering other humans.
