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Beginnings

There is little evidence that prehistoric people fought wars.  

  Why People Like War

As a pacifist, I wonder about the attraction people have to fight. Why put yourself in danger, knowing that your life will be at risk? I can understand leaders who make citizens fight so they can acquire land and riches for their empires. They are well guarded and have others do their dirty work. But, ordinary people who move willingly into harm's way is a puzzle. A punch to the jaw or slap on the face is painful, a bullet to the chest can cause death. Why walk into them?

  According to research by psychologist Lawrence LeShan, war holds a deep attraction for large numbers of people in almost every culture. Views of reality change during wars to differ from peacetime. And, though people as far back as Herodotus in the fifth century B.C. tried to understand its cause, there hasn't been a theory developed yet that can stop it.

  There are ideas psychologists and sociologists have as to why war is enticing. They say there is a fundamental human need not only to be unique but to be part of something larger than yourself. Though we are separate individuals, we are part of the total cosmos and not apart from anything else. War heightens perceptions and sharpens the experience of our being, yet provides a way to belong to something greater and more intense.

  LeShan notes that war provides offers temporary solutions to psychological problems, and once begun there are strong social pressures to continue. Some people love it, lust for blood, and even martyrdom. Others relish the order and disciple that brings both security and an urge to rebel. Many who cherish the intensity and friendships made in combat feel lost when they return to civilian life. Some never adapt, though a desire to fight is against the very values we are supposed to be fighting for.

  A Scientific American article says that war is not innate to the human species, though there is some division in thought about that. Hawk anthropologists say wars go back hundreds of thousands of years among hunter-gather ancestors with an instinctive tendency to protect one's tribe and hate outsiders. The doves believe that though people have the capacity to engage in warfare, their brains aren't hardwired to do so. With the advent of agriculture, and a growing regional population, a concentration of resources, and high-volume trade made fights more likely to occur. Simple hunting and gathering societies with few possessions, for over 200,000 years cooperated with one another. Social arrangements such as cross-group kinship and marriage, cooperation in hunting, and sharing food let people move from one group to another, making them value peace and stigmatize killing.

  Countries toward war with thoughts of an evil enemy nation and that when defeated, the world would become a paradise. They carry the belief that taking action is a path to glory that will heighten existence. Many who participated in the January 6th uprising were led by this idea. Another propellant causing people to fight is calling those who do not agree, traitors. By the time that happens, war cries from the collective psyche are so powerful they are difficult to escape. Traitors and conscientious objectors are put in prison and sometimes killed as they were during World War II.

  There is also the mythic perception that God and destiny are on your side. It occurs during times when stress and uncertainty are strong pulls. The world gets divided into Good and Evil with activists certain they are fighting for justice. Many participants felt that way during the January 6th insurrection. Thousands joined in after Woodrow Wilson's "Make the world safe for democracy" speech that led to World War I.

  Though governments play a major role in perpetuating war, they are ineffective at preventing them. Once fighting starts, they become strikingly efficient, solving problems that might ordinarily take years. Officials at the highest level get charged with managing the war and given a large amount of money for defending the country. No one of equal caliber ever receives an equal position with resources to maintain peace.

  To be able to choose between war and peace without contamination by mythical thinking and social pull, it is important to meditate, engage in healthy play and activities that increase individual potential. It is difficult to free the mind from mob thinking, yet that is what has to be done. War has never made the world safer for democracy. It won't bring about the perfect society or develop into a lasting peace if people can't evolve to a higher plane of consciousness. 

  Please comment on my blog site at www. eichingerfineart.com/blog

Art is always for sale. Contact me at marilynne2eichingerfineart.com. Beginnings is 3-" by 40" acrylic painting on canvas/ available for $499.

References:

Ferguson, R.B. (2018) War s Not Part of Human Nature. Scientific American. retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/

Kasin,A. (2021) Why Men Love War. Esquire. retrieved from https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a28718/why-men-love-war/

Leshan,L. (2022 web site) Why We Love War. UTNE Reader. retrieved from WAR.