Weltanschaung

The Philosopher’s Stone

zenothestoic@protonmail.ch

Tag: Conflict

  • Processed for the Slaughterhouse.

    Processed for the Slaughterhouse.

    In the featured image, Leni Riefenstahl and a camera crew stand in front of Hitler’s car during the 1934 rally in Nuremberg.  Note the eerie order in the street, the crowd carefully controlled in the gutters to express their awe of the military behemoth.

    Earlier, in 1927, Fritz Lang had produced the unsettling film  Metropolis, where wealthy industrialists and business magnates and their top employees reign from high-rise towers, while underground-dwelling workers toil to operate the great machines that power the city.  And lo, a few years later……

    It struck me today while travelling from Zurich to London by air, that the way our society is now organised lays us wide open to dystopia in the not too distant future.

    Airports, airplanes and their employees seem to be closely related to the prison services.  The secret police. We are dehumanized and humiliated while in their clutches. We are frogmarched, searched  and sometimes seized and stripped. We become numbers; lumps of meat. Our society has created monsters in the wings waiting to enchain and enslave us when commanded so to do by the Hitler or Stalin of the modern age.

    Faceless men and woman roam at will with guns.  They keep us in line, push us shuffling towards what today might laughingly be called “transport” but could tomorrow so easily become the gas chamber.  Hundreds if not thousands of faceless officials are in support of those toting guns. Humor is strictly discouraged and a minor infraction of some petty rule will have you marched, arm twisted behind your back, to a dark guardroom and interrogation.

    If you attempt modern air travel, you will so easily understand why Hitler’s Germany was run by  clerks. Ordinary people who became institutionalized into monsters.  The station masters and train guards who transported the victims to the camps. The police who rounded up Jews and dissidents. The ordinary people, you and me, our neighbors who gave rise to the phrase “the banality of evil”: we are turning ourselves into Hitler’s railway clerks.  His Blackshirts. His Gestapo.

    The descent into totalitarianism is made so easy by modern technology.  What would Hitler have given for CCTV.  For a digitised society where our every move can be traced and tracked and minuted by automated software and replayed at whim whenever we are caught in some infidelity towards the hydra state.

    Am I exaggerating? Am I just feeling particularly down after a hateful day? I think not. The monolith I witnessed today could so easily be pressed into more sinister service. The common response of the common man after the Second World War was that there was nothing he could have done to stop the terror.

    And how right was that common man. Picture a group of strong men in control of modern media, the army, transport, banking. Our societies are so centralized, our freedoms so restricted that a gang of half determined thugs could walk all over us and we, the common men, could do nothing to resist them.

    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

  • All Victories are Pyrrhic

    All Victories are Pyrrhic

    Whether or not you win a conflict, something will have been lost.

    I have written a series of articles about a Pig, a Salesman and a Snob. Who happens to be one and the same person. He is also a bully who needs to get his own way at all costs.  The bully has been thwarted but he keeps on coming back for more. Like a punch drunk boxer he is determined to remain in the ring, determined to keep punching despite the pointlessness of his endeavors.

    He has been held at bay. His bullying has lead him nowhere except to destroy relationships all around him.  And do the “victors” feel any better?

    There are no victors in conflict. No victory can be obtained in this petty conflict nor the Armageddon of nations at war. Ruined lives are the inevitable result of conflict.  There has to be a better way of resolving our differences than anger. Anger can so easily and so often does escalate into physical violence.

    In petty domestic situations, the police may eventually have to be called upon to stop the Pig harassing his neighbors.  In international politics, disagreement usually leads to missiles, tanks and occasionally poisoned gas if you happen to be an unlucky Marsh Arab.  Or Jew.

    How can we behave better? How can we bring ourselves back from the brink?

    In the case of the petty dispute between two of my neighbors, I am suggesting arbitration. Passing the whole sorry matter over to a third party and letting them decide the rights and wrongs. But of course both sides will have to agree to be bound by the decision and to enter arbitration proceedings in the first place.  Let us hope that the Pig sees the good sense in this solution.

    It matters not who “wins” and who “loses” since lives will have been wrecked or lost in the process of the battle.  In the international arena, six million Jews will have been wiped out, or a race of Marsh Arabs. In the domestic setting, two sisters have been torn apart and seem unlikely to speak again.

    It doesn’t really matter who is at fault. People suffer. The Pig is suffering too. Grossly overweight and bombastic, he has a weak constitution. He is a veteran of war with neighbors, he wields his mighty cosh with pride. But win or lose, the Pig has caused devastation all around him.  His mighty will has been challenged and he stands on the top of his heap issuing hollow threats.

    If the Pig finally admits defeat what then? Will anyone feel any better? Will the world be a better place? Will either sister feel any happier? Will anything worthwhile have been achieved?

    I would venture that the answers to all of the above are “no”.

    Or perhaps I have no Viking blood? Perhaps some still worship Thor and the gods of war? Perhaps to some conflict is glorious and victory, Pyrrhic or otherwise, is worth the sacrifices involved?

  • How to be a Happy Human

    How to be a Happy Human

    Given the basic needs of life and in the absence of physiological abnormality, the solution is fairly simple.  The trick is to keep applying it.

    Would that I were, or ever had been capable of taking and applying my own advice – but hey! We all have our blind spots. I will leave aside the usual crass (but nonetheless vital) banalities.  Yes, yes Dr Lederman I know: exercise, healthy food, the absence of harmful drugs and stimulants, a fulfilling occupation.

    Oops! The latter is by no means so simple in this shitty world we have created. And fulfilling occupations will become even more of a shibboleth as AI and Jeff Bezos lookalikes dominate our barren landscape.

    OK well leaving aside Bezos and the awfulness of capitalism, it is obvious we must negotiate the pleasure pain axis and go for the nicer end. So….and here at last I come to the point, if we think we know what gives pleasure, do we know how to avoid pain?

    No, I am not trying to be my usual deep, impenetrable, smug self here.  I am merely trying to learn my own lessons and to be better at applying them.  And I would say that one important element that stands at the pleasure end of the axis is “peace”, and its antithesis (which sits right at the opposite end of the pleasure -pain axis) is conflict.

    The absence of conflict, means, by and large that you will find yourself at peace. Peace is a surprisingly big word. Its not just for the sickly sweet god botherers (oops! conflict alert!) although we could all learn a lot from their source material.

    No, “Peace” is really big and grown up and important. And it exists.  It exists for some of us all too fleetingly, nonetheless once tasted we should be able to build “peace muscles” so that peace comes effortlessly to us.

    If I think about moments when I have felt true peace, it becomes obvious to me that those moments contained no conflict, internal or external.  Internal conflict is when your mind churns with one of humanity’s least attractive qualia: anger, envy, hatred, negativity for instance. External conflict (while the inevitable result of internal conflict) need not be full scale physical aggression to be harmful.

    So what happened yesterday? I took pointless issue with some self styled internet cult leader.  Did I get particularly upset? Was I thoroughly unpleasant and unnecessarily rude to this latter day “christian” nutter?  Well no, to any of those things, and yet I am only too well aware that I do tend to major in harmful polemic. How about my diatribe against the Pig, the Salesman and the Snob? Who happens incidentally to be a single bête noire who manages to roll into one awful golem all those characteristics.

    Well I really don’t like the guy’s behaviour and he has done a lot of harm Down Deal but is this the right way to treat him?  Certainly not from his point of view even though my polemic is probably objectively justified but, you know, why bother?

    So what should I do? What should any of us do? I think the answer must be to enter into conflict as seldom as humanly possible and only when utterly, completely unavoidable.  The Pig needed to be seen off but I did not need to write about him.  Conflict with the Pig is inevitable if you want to be left with a shirt on your back and shoes on your feet but that conflict should not be wallowed in, exaggerated or dwelt upon. Or written about.

    So I mustn’t do it anymore. He must be firmly slapped down every time he puts his awful snout in someone else’s trough but I must leave it at that. And how about Davos 2019? Was that conflict?  It was not meant to be and yet a friend took it as such. I thought humour, he thought polemic. I was indeed taking the piss out of the windbags who go there but I did not intend any particular malice and it did not wind me up; so perhaps the jury is out on that one.

    Where does this leave me? It leaves me sitting in a civilized study surrounded by antique furniture and books in one of the world’s most affluent cities.  Much to be grateful for.  That’s at the pleasure end of the axis. And there is a lot else I fill my life with which is also at the “good” end of that axis. Classical music, singing bass rather badly, writing, fiddling with arcane investment algorithms.  Poetry, art, walking, mountains, the sea.

    So, it is the pain end I need to work hard on. And apart from popping the occasional medicinal Magic Mushroom, that is best done by minding my own business and trying to write only positive things.  While ignoring all that, and all those,  which and who annoy me.

    There! And end to conflict will make me a happier human and it will do the same for you.

     

  • The Pig

    The Pig

    The Pig is really a most unfortunate combination of every absurdity known to modern man.

    For a start he is ill educated and stupid but does not appear to realize it. The Pig seems to get through life by the twin weapons of bullying and dogged persistence.

    No sooner have you got his horrible, greedy snout removed from your front door than you discover he has gone round the back for a another attempt to swindle and bamboozle you with his ridiculous, pompous, self serving bullshit.

    The mailed fist is the only way to deal with the Pig. Metaphorically speaking of course. Because the Pig is unable to understand rational argument. Or if he has a glimmer that what you are saying might have the merest seed of truth, he will choose to ignore that truth.

    The Pig is a conman, a liar, a cheat. In a small, mean and chiseling way. He will engage in petty swindles wherever and whenever he can. He is “Dell Boy Trotter” without the charm.

    The Pig is also a terminal and petty snob. He bolsters his ego by mixing only with those he considers the great and the good.

    He is also an arse licker of the first order, with a nose so brown you know exactly where it has been.

    In more charitable moments one is tempted to ignore the Pig. As long as your paths don’t cross that is an eminently possible and sensible solution. Trouble is when you are forced to confront the Pig, he brings out the worst in you and makes meaningless your very best intentions.

    The New Testament tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth. We are told to turn the other cheek. When faced with the Pig we are ashamed to say all our good intentions fly out of the window. We are tempted to say “bollocks to the New Testament”. Oh dear, we really wish we didn’t have to admit that.

    I wish I could behave myself better. I wish that I need not yield to the temptation of anger. Should I give in then? Should I let the Pig trample all over people? Victimize them with his petty swindles and larcenous ways? Well, probably I should. But I am only human, alas.

    The only way to deal with the Pig is to wipe him out of your life as you would remove excrement from your shoe. If only it were that easy.

  • Taking Sides

    Taking Sides

    Can it ever be right to take sides in a dispute? Does it ever help?

    I have had unfortunate peripheral involvement over the years in a number of divorce proceedings and it is always a harrowing affair, even for the onlooker.

    The problems begin when you get drawn in and asked to take sides. It is never a winning proposition. Yesterday a relative of one party telephoned me and told me he now had to take sides. He would from henceforth only speak to X and not to Y.

    I told him that in all honesty I had never taken sides in this long running marital dispute. I had only ever tried to broker peace and certainly did not intend to act any differently now that divorce proceedings had been filed. I was rather shocked at the attitude of someone who had become a friend over the years.  I felt his attitude was immature, unhelpful and primitive.

    As seems inevitable in the collapse of any relationship, there had been fault on both sides. The husband had spent decades shagging his way round the world, spurning neither his own domestic staff nor the County wives.  And many more spread as far afield as Hong Kong and Australia.

    The wife was a demanding woman who became, sad to relate, ever more self obsessed and aggressive.  Not an easy person to live with, I would imagine, and totally unable to accept that even the smallest part of the blame could possibly be hers.

    The end of a relationship must, it seems, be sad and difficult at best. Vicious and acrimonious at worst.

    To take “sides” can only make it worse. To take “sides” in any situation must inevitably fan the flames and escalate the situation.

    As in domestic relationships, so in the breakdown of political and economic affairs.  I have taken sides in the past and I believe wrongly. Not in this particular marital dispute but in others and in various petty matters which seemed at the time to need my crusading efforts. How wrong I was, in retrospect.

    Peace can only achieved through strictly neutral negotiation and mediation. Anything else will lead to ruined lives in one way or another. You can not, should not take sides. You can and should try and get the parties to resolve their differences peaceably and to part on terms which, if not amicable, are at least not going to wreck the lives of all around them.

     

     

     

  • The Internet Troll and the Origins of Conflict

    The Internet Troll and the Origins of Conflict

    Internet forums are the perfect place to understand the petty origins of conflict.  The Troll must be studiously ignored.

    Forums are full of small people with small goals and short tempers.  People with minor personality disorders, whose chief joy in life is to pick a fight.  People with inflated egos and superiority complexes.

    Which of our beloved “qualia” is responsible for internet pettiness? Boredom maybe?  Anger, possibly? Or are there lesser qualia perhaps, such as “testiness”, or “pettiness” which, if left unattended, can grow into one of the big nasties like “anger“?

    They key response to anger and pettiness on the internet is the same as any other forum in life: avoidance, refusal to engage, leaving well alone.

    In real life sometimes it is not so simple. In real life someone will always be trying to compete with you, steal from you, do you down, best you and to turn the other cheek, regrettably, may not always be possible.  Sometimes such people need to be slapped down so that they will back off and leave you alone. But of course “slapping down” at a national level leads to brinkmanship and eventually armed conflict. The meek may not inherit the earth but perhaps turning the other cheek where at all possible is better than armed confrontation.

    On internet forums absolutely no harm whatsoever can come from turning the other cheek and avoiding conflict.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You may feel annoyed, irritated, insulted (more lovely human “qualia”) but it is guaranteed you will feel worse if the conflict escalates and you trade insults with a troll.  That is what drives trolls – they love a fight.

    Internet trolls may be violent people in real life but more often than not they are probably just intellectually pretentious point scorers, petty individuals with irritable personalities and nothing better to do.

    It is undoubtedly best for you and for them to ignore such people.  There is nothing, nothing whatsoever noble about conflict.

  • The Arab Israeli conflict is very, very Simple

    The Arab Israeli conflict is very, very Simple

    The Arab Israeli conflict arose from vibrating energy “strings” – it really is that simple in a sense, if you want to take a purely reductionist view.  Which you probably should.

    The Tao Te Ching talks of the “ten thousand things” and suggests we largely let them float by us.  As with Eastern religion in general, the idea is “flow”, and effortless “going with”.

    We don’t really need to take too much notice of the “ten thousand things” – we notice them and let them go. Or at least that is the general intention. Not that Taoism or any other doctrine or religion has managed to achieve what it promises: liberation, the alleviation of suffering, wisdom, moksha.

    At one level life can seem extraordinarily complex. I was writing about the Arab Israeli conflict earlier and some would see the situation as serpentine, byzantine, incapable of unravelling.  I would take a different view.

    At heart science has shown us that our universe is extremely simple at the most basic of levels. What we see around us may seem complex in the extreme but it appears that a few simple rules are all that it requires to exist, grow, expire.

    Emergence occurs when “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” meaning the whole has properties its parts do not have.  At rock bottom the latest theory is that our universe is built from one dimensional vibrating strings. From which everything else emerges, including our own consciousness.

    Conway’s Game of Life is a good way of understanding how evolution has made everything around us from a few basic rules.  The same can be said for chaos theory and the Mandelbrot set.  The beautiful images are produced by a formula of extreme simplicity: a vast complexity again arises from a few simple mathematical rules.

    And so it is with human society.  The incredible complexity of human affairs arises from a few basic, simple human needs: food, water, shelter and medicine.

    And these simple physiological needs bring with them human emotions and qualia.

    I am not so foolish as to claim that such things are easy to understand. What I do say is that human behaviour is easy to understand when you see where it comes from. And then complexity falls away and we are left with utter simplicity.

    Every conflict in human history results from our physiology and our needs.  All of which (remember) arose from vibrating energy “strings”; or so the theory goes!  And that’s it.

    So back to the Arab Israeli conflict.  Do you need to know much about Hamas, the PLA, Ben Gurion, Zionism, Arab Nationalism?

    Well actually, no you don’t. Despite the fact that countless thousands are:

    • employed reporting the conflict,
    • engaged in it
    • trying to solve it.

    It’s about basic human need and basic human behaviour. Jews and arabs alike need food, water, shelter and medicine. Jews and arabs alike suffer from human emotion and qualia. Jealousy, anger, pain, pleasure.

    Oddly enough it’s the philosophers and the more balanced clergy who get it right.  Certainly not the politicians, all of whom have their own agenda.  Bishop Michael Curry calls it love.  Philosophers would put it in a more sophisticate way but nonetheless the entirety of human conflict and its avoidance boils down to the way we treat each other.

    And the necessity to tame our baser instincts.

    It may not be easy to achieve, but please do not tell me that it is complex. It is not.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Fauda – Do we, Should we Watch It?

    Fauda – Do we, Should we Watch It?

    My latest Netflix Binge is Fauda – a violent, compelling and visually superb take on the Arab Israeli conflict.

    Typically with a subject of such sensitivity, there is much hand wringing in the press. As usual The Guardian takes a staunch anti Israeli approach and calls the series Israel’s Brutal TV Hit. Israeli Newspaper Haaretz calls the show “morally dubious”. The New Yorker and the New York Times are a little more even handed as is the BBC (uncharacteristically).

    I don’t much care what the various commentators are saying about this particular drama, or the world in particular. I do rather question my own motive for watching the program and feel surprise that it affords me much interest and absorption.

    Let me fess up to the origins of my quandary. I have Jewish heritage somewhere along the line and a deep fascination with Jewish culture, as a result both of my ancestry and of my Church of England upbringing.

    What child would not be fascinated by the stories of the Old Testament? Sodom and Gomorrah, Daniel and the Lions Den, Moses in Egypt, Joseph and his coat of many colours. Those apparently wicked Midianites and Babylonians! The terrible Pharaoh of Egypt! How very partisan, this musty old book – biased musings of an ancient desert tribe. Much like the equally unamusing bias of the Koran and its equally bloodthirsty, tribal raving.

    At the same time I was fascinated by all things Middle Eastern and indeed Islamic. The haunting beauty of the call to prayer, the exotic food, the eerie and beautiful folk music. The exotic countries. The warm people, the lovely women. Sufi poetry, intricately decorated mosques, religious devotion (ever so foreign to my secular mind)

    And then the disillusion set in as romance was replaced by reality. I remember vividly my sad awakening to the brutality of the Israeli state following the Sabra and Shatila massacre. I was sitting next to a beautiful young Jewish woman engaged to a young Israeli about to do his National Service; the massacre was fresh in my mind and I sorrowfully told her of my disappointment.

    Did I ever fully understand the events which lead up to the formation of Israel? Did I condone the terrorism of Ben Gurion and his ilk or compare it to that of the Palestinians?

    No, I don’t think I ever thought any of that through but I am not sure it would have helped. We humans are rats in a cage and will fight and kill over land, possessions, food water and power. Sadly I don’t think there is much more to know.

    But what of Fauda (meaning “chaos” in arabic apparently)?

    Well the banal aspect of my attraction to the programme is to see something of the life and countryside in Israel. Safer from my own armchair, much as I would love to see those mythical Biblical lands in the flesh.

    My next recognition (or at least I thought it was recognition) was that this was a rather even handed account of the tragic Arab Israeli conflict. The arabs are not all viewed as monsters. They have exquisitely beautiful women folk, children, wives, husbands. The sun shines, the architecture is attractive, the people seem normal. Well of course they do – they are.

    But the the brutality shocked me – torture and bestiality is portrayed as the normal course of events on both sides of the divide. The Israeli hit squad mercilessly torture captured arabs from Hamas or Isis. The arabs kill and maim the Israelis. It is business as usual in the human zoo.

    The Americans in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the inexcusable extraordinary rendition. The bombing of civilians throughout the Islamic world, the merciless hunting down of Bin Laden and his extra judicial execution. The hideous Isis executions, the savagery of many Islamic states towards women and gays.

    The human zoo. It is business as usual the world over.

    So should I be watching Fauda? Should I find it so utterly captivating? Well the answer is probably no on both counts. But I am afraid I can not help that and shall continue to watch each series as it is brought out.

    I do not condone or agreed with any side in this conflict or any other conflict. There must be a better way to resolve our differences.

    On reflection I find this Israeli based drama pro-Israeli, although it does its best to bring out the humanity of Israel’s opponents while not hiding the bestiality prevalent on both sides.

    I would like to redress the balance by seeking out some Arab drama. I am not at all sure I have ever knowingly come across any but it would be an interesting exercise. Neither side are without blame, neither side are without legitimate grievance.

  • How should you deal with a pig?

    How should you deal with a pig?

    I have come to question my behaviour when dealing with a pig over the past couple of years.  Well, pigs actually.

    How do I know I’m not the pig and the others perfectly innocent and reasonable people?  First and foremost I think it is right to ask the question even if the answer is less simple.  I am deeply suspicious of the self righteous and those of deep unquestioning certainty.

    I have been trying to help a couple of waggy labradors who tend to turn the other cheek and suffer in silence when assaulted on all sides by creatures of apparently great malice.  Said labradors are unfortunately natural victims – pleasant, happy go lucky people who tend to get trampled on by the selfish, the malicious and the venal.

    The particular pig in question has tried to short change the labrador couple for the past couple of years on a transaction.  The other pigs in question, for reasons best known to themselves, turned against the waggy labradors and made unforgivable and slanderous accusations of theft and all sorts of other unpleasant nonsense.

    The property pig has been on a land grab. He was buying one half of a property, the labradors the other. Said pig first tries to claim the labradors are only entitled to a island of land in the middle on which sits a crumbling cottage without access to any roads.  Said pig claims the deeds say he is entitled to the rest.

    Once said pig is seen off, he turns his attention to restrictive covenants and insists he will only contract to buy the property if he gets any and all covenants he requires: the labradors will be able to do nothing with their property other than sell it to Mr Pig for twopence.  Again Mr Pig was largely seen off.

    Unfortunately Mr Pig insisted on having ownership of the access road and obtained planning consent without consulting the labradors or thinking of their needs.   If carried out the planning consent would be in breach of covenant but said Mr Pig refuses to concede.  So the labradors’ access to their cottage is to be narrowed if Mr Pig has his way  and it would be very difficult for the emergency services to get in.

    I have dealt sternly with Mr Pig and all the other Pigs. I have let them get away with as little as possible. And yet pigs have a habit of trying to make you feel the dirty one.

    Could I have handled the situation better? Yes. Could I have been more tactful and less abrasive? Probably. Am I wrong and the pigs right?  No, I really don’t think so.  If I had been fighting my own corner I would probably have felt far less sure that I was right.  Happily I was only trying to help the labradors.

    But what should I have done? Is it right to “fight”? To stand up for people’s right not to be dumped on? Or should I too have turned the other cheek? Walked away?  Let the labradors get swindled and cheated?

    Well I suppose it would have made for a quieter life and saved me a lot of effort, soul searching and anxiety.  My wife is also a waggy labrador – or Pollyanna. She believes that the meek inherit the earth and also tends to let herself get trampled on.  What would she have done? Who knows, I didn’t ask her.

    If pigs treated labradors as they themselves would like to be treated, the whole world would be fine and dandy. But if the pigs hear such a message they trample the message bearer to the ground.  Pigs will always be pigs I guess. Thank heavens most of them eventually get turned into bacon.

  • Conflict in The Middle East

    Conflict in The Middle East

    An end to “Conflict in The Middle East” is unlikely to be achieved by conventional and time worn solutions which have achieved nothing over the decades.

    At least 41 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on the same day the US fulfils its controversial promise to move its embassy to the contested city of Jerusalem.

    This is not about politics. Or land. Or religion. It is about something much more basic and much more invidious. It is about human nature and how to change it.

    Some would say that the Arab Israeli situation is complex.  Some would claim that you must be an Arabist or a specialist in Middle Eastern politics and history to understand and resolve the sad mess.

    Not so. The facts are simple enough as are the causes of conflict.

    Humanity has certain basic needs and certain basic emotions which will result in violence if left unsatisfied.

    The physical needs can and should be satisfied: shelter, food, medicine, safety, a meaningful job to name but a few.  That such needs are not met in the middle east is hardly unique in a world full of conflict and poverty, so we should not be surprised.

    The emotional needs are far harder to satisfy. We are all part of the animal kingdom and when put in a cage we will behave like the animals we are: we will fight tooth and nail for survival. We will operate on automatic response; our stress will rise, and our reason will fade. It is usually called “fight or flight” and all too often there is nowhere to flee so fight is what we do.

    This is not to belittle the conflict. Or indeed any conflict. But a solution is going to require wiser heads than are currently engaged in the puzzle and solutions which have as much to do with psychology and physiology as “mere” politics.

    Unfortunately, all parties in this and every other conflict in human history have hidden motives, secret agendas. They, we, all of us are fighting our own narrow corner, protecting our own narrow interests.

    Despite the laudable aims of the so called “United” Nations we are a deeply divided world. The divisions are tribal; the squabble is a vast version of a dog urinating to mark its own territory.

    All of nature marks its territory. All of nature will tear throats to win, to survive, to ensure it gets food and water, shelter and territory.

    So, looked at with this broad overview the problem becomes straightforward to understand, if less so to overcome. We need to change our very nature. To take more notice of Confucius, Lao Tze and the Buddha and less notice of Trump, or May. Or Israelis or Palestinians.

    Reach the children and educate them in peace and humanity. Wean them from narrow prejudice and divisive tribal religion. Treat the ills, provide food, shelter, medicine and peace.

    Persuade all those you can to drop hostility and to embrace reconciliation and peaceful co-existence.

    Brave words easily spoken from the peace and safety of an English spring garden. No doubt many will deride my words and my sentiments. But somewhere they will realise that deep down the only end to eternal conflict is an abandonment of Darwinian evolutionary struggle and the adoption of enlightenment.