The True Battle

No one can deny the existence of war. It is a very real part of the world. But why must war exist? Fellow humans, slaughtering each other... for what? And how did such behavior come to be labelled by terms such as "honorable", "noble", or "heroic"?

However, any group, society, or nation that, out of anti-war conviction, refuses to fight, would soon be demolished by opposing forces.

Is that why everyone fights? Is it because whoever doesn't fight, will be wiped out? What do we say of the group who "lets down their guard" as an act of peace, but as a result, is ruthlessly attacked? Why is it, for instance, that groups like Catholics and Protestants are stark enemies - engaging in "war" for hundreds, if not thousands, of years? Was it not Christ himself who prayed, "I pray, Father, that they may be one"??

I believe, as Gandhi did, that the real battle does not exist on the battlefield, but within - against the evil inside one's own heart. This evil - the true cause of war - stands as a challenge: to uproot greed, to uproot hatred, to uproot delusion. To face these 3 poisons is to look into one's own nature. To master and to extinguish these corruptions is indeed an accomplishment, and is the pathway to true deliverance of the heart.