I don’t know why instead of mature and real historical stories, I turn to childish folk stories that I used to and loved to read when I began to explore the literary world. Perhaps the main reason is attitude. We hear a lot of good pieces about means and goals but when boil them down, we see attitude in all them. Those seemingly childish folk stories had stuck with my heart because they were about attitudes, not about means and goals as means and goals are time and need related issues and change accordingly. What really persist are attitudes which are not bound to any particular time and place.
From one side if we are historically condemned to face tragedies after tragedies, from another side we are also seeing some sparkles of hopes trying to not let these tragedies write our fate. One of these sparkles of hopes is writing of intellectuals who try to share their parts in a time of chaos. Is it really worth to give consideration to writing of few intellectuals? I am not going to put my judgment but rather let you to draw conclusions based on work of a single individual, Faiz Muhammad Kateb, a thin man with small body who used his intellect a century ago to record what oppressors wanted to eliminate forever. Information is not the same as facts as information have been used as the most effective tool of oppression. No one can stop the flow of information and it is what oppressors knew very well so they instead spread false information to make oppressed look to be deserved of what have been done to them.
While I am really glad that these intellectuals come forward to write but it is also natural to get opinion out of readings so I got an opinion and wanted to share it. Again, it would be funny if one starts suggesting what to write and how to think but having opinion is quite natural. It seems to me that most of these writings are “REACTIONARY” in nature. By reactionary, I mean that an event happens and then some come forward to say what it means and how should we react. No doubt that we need them but having said that it is my opinion that it is not the only job or only thing that intellect can do… Why am I saying this? It is just because it reflects an attitude. As I mentioned in the beginning that attitude does not reflect time but “means” and “goals” do. Writing as means of recording and guiding are among the best of means and they could be used for great goals yet attitudes will determine the directions and outcomes….
Abraham Lincoln says, “The dogmas of the quite past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew”…. It is what Abraham Lincoln said one and half century ago… If today America is standing tall among nations of world, it is not because they are different from others, it is just because “THEY THOUGHT AND ACTED ANEW”… Thinking and acting anew is an attitude that is valid all the time…. One really wonders when sees ancient Greek city names and ancient Greek architecture so prevailing in Northeast of USA… These prevailing of ancient Greek culture are reflecting the determination of then young nation to stick with attitude of “thinking and acting anew” just as ancient Greeks did… It would be repetition but again “Attitudes are not bound by time, whether it is in ancient Greek city states, Early Muslims, 13th century Mongols, Europe in Renaissance period and in newly founded American nation… it works and it works perfect”…
Wise were ancient people that instead of giving list of do and not to dos (which always have the danger of to be challenged) were telling them stories which were working as guides to their attitudes and no doubt that these guides are so simple and so common in appeal that were fitting to all ages and to all levels of intellects.
…………“ A MISER sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, “Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it.”… Story from Aesop’s Fables…
To me, limiting intellect only for reaction is like burying gold underground. I think it is the result of an attitude… The attitude of oppressed people who perhaps fear that thinking anew is dangerous and will add to their chaos…who want to stick to whatever small circles of stability left for them… Again, I am saying it is just my opinion and I like to see my opinion goes wrong by works that are beyond reaction and under a spirit of thinking and acting anew….
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Web picks on Economic Inequality
Occupy Wall Street is still going on. If you have read occasionally about this movement you know that this movement is evolving, though its evolution is more of reactionary than under tactics. Nobody knows, how it will look in its final form. Popular movements are usually unpredictable and it is what we are seeing in Egyptian Revolution. Currently we are witnessing the beginning of second phase in Egyptian Revolution while it was thought to have ended by general election. I thought it is interesting to learn the ideology behind the OWS movement...Here is a talk about the ideology of OWS movement,
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Heidegger, Sartre and identity crises (Is it going to repeat?)
Ancient Romans believed that, “Out of nothing, comes nothing” and ancient Indian, perhaps didn’t agreed with them because they were considering nothing as something of higher value and that was peace and tranquility. Muslims borrowed the idea of nothing from Indian and made it global in usage by speaking mathematics through it. Zero! Science can’t think nothing without it.
Western Philosophy were chiefly based on observations and were so absorbed by this method that almost missed to see that there is something also as “self” and for studying of that one doesn’t need observations but meditation. As observation requires something to be observed so nothing was missed in the process and yet even more importantly as observation requires something, other than the individual itself so the “self” was also missed.
Guess, when one turns to “self”? Of course one turns to self when self asserts its existence. When self’s voice becomes so loud then it becomes almost impossible to ignore it. And that is what happened in Europe by rise of Sciences. Science that begins with observations became dominant thinking mode and it deepened/strengthened the tradition of observation to only valid mode of thinking. In fact, Sciences in general were empowering men and there were senses of triumphant and zeal towards big successes. These great ambitions materialized in form of imperialistic behaviors and it turned European nations into competitors. The result was WWI and killings of 9 million people. The defeat of Germany in WWI was a shock to Germans and it caused an identity crisis (And you the rest of story).
I guess the German Philosophers (Existentialism was born in Germany and grown up in France) in general felt that Science is not Almighty and not always a good insurance policy for triumphs and they turned to self in a search of a perspective in a time of national despair. .”… Heidegger felt that Philosophers have missed the main point, what German people were feeling and expressing in language but was not able to be clear about it and he says it this way, “The German language speaks Being, while all the others merely speak of Being”… In other place he expresses the need for thinking about missing point, “The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.”… The problem is that one can’t bind “self” strictly with time and space in measurable manner and that makes it very difficult to put it in a logical manner and perhaps it is why most of Philosophers were shying away from it. Realizing this Heidegger says, “Thinking begins only when we have come to know that reason, glorified for centuries, is the stiff-necked adversary of thought.”… OR, “When modern physics exerts itself to establish the world's formula, what occurs thereby is this: the being of entities has resolved itself into the method of the totally calculable.”… I think, one can see the uneasiness that he was feeling regarding existence of two distinct worlds, “Physical world” and “being” and no way to link them together in a coherent entity. Though Sciences have an advantage of simplicity and applicability but “being” is also very sticky thing and asserts its existence. Heidegger even one time questions, “Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing”… By coming so close to Eastern Philosophy, Heidegger also misses the point as he can’t disconnect himself from Western trends so instead he turns to “time” and “language” (two external things; how naïve :( …) to find being and he writes his most famous book, “Time and being”… “Language is the house of the truth of Being.” He says but I guess he was realizing the mistake and it is why said, “Making itself intelligible is suicide for philosophy.”…..
By rise of Nazis, there comes a hope for a comeback of German national pride so Heidegger joins Nazis. His hopes were so high for German Nazis under leadership of Adolf Hitler that he said, “The Fuhrer alone is the present and future German reality and its law. Learn to know ever more deeply: from now on every single thing demands decision, and every action responsibility.”…
While Germany national socialist reasserted Germany identity, it created crises for other European identities, especially French whose pride was down by German pride. Sartre a French Philosopher was the contemporary of Heidegger. The German occupation of France provided him with a new insight to look into “being” and that was “Freedom”. Instead of understanding “self” or “being” let it free. Freedom is expressed mainly by actions so he stresses on actions and of course actions require responsibility. All we see in Sartre is Freedom, Responsibility for action and Becoming as a result. So clearly he denies that there is something as “Being” in advance. “Being” is actually what we becomes. Of course, Existentialism is what he became to live freely because French collapse was convinced him that freedoms insured by societies can fall anytime to any power and he says it, “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”… May be you say it is a common tragedy of mankind and has nothing to French occupation so let’s see what Sartre says more about freedom, “Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.”…
Why am I calling works of Heidegger and Sartre as products of identity crises?
The main reason is that their Philosophies are mostly reactionary to events of their time and also we don’t see anything serious about “being”. If one reads them it becomes clear that they tried to look to something that was overlooked but could not disconnect from Western roots and that was observation and as “being” was not observable (but rather something to be felt) they turned instead to external things, “Time and language” in case of Heidegger and “Freedom, responsibility and action” in case of Sartre.
German occupation made Sartre to become very sensitive about Freedom and he knew that only thing that can restrict freedom is fear, “You must be afraid, my son. That is how one becomes an honest citizen.”…. “Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.”…. so for him, being simply means existence and of course existence could only be felt by life , “Life has no meaning the moment you loose the illusion of being eternal.”…” Life begins on the other side of despair.” And here you go, Sartre comes to nothing but very with different results than Ancient Indian Philosophers. If for ancient Indian Philosophers, nothing means peace and tranquility, for Sartre it means, meaninglessness and Despair.
Though Existentialism has lost appeal as people have forgotten the bitter days of two world wars and “long” break in any big scientific breakthroughs but I think, the world is moving towards another big identity crisis and this time, it is going to be global. There are two main causes besides other small ones for seemingly coming global identity crises, the failure of capitalism as global economy and failure of US to stay as a superpower. If capitalism survives the economic meltdown and US does not take it as a defeat or simply she maintains her position then the identity crises is not going global but will be national or at least regional. I don’t know what kind of Philosophy will emerge out it but my guess is, the time is ripening for emergence of a new one… Let’s see…
Western Philosophy were chiefly based on observations and were so absorbed by this method that almost missed to see that there is something also as “self” and for studying of that one doesn’t need observations but meditation. As observation requires something to be observed so nothing was missed in the process and yet even more importantly as observation requires something, other than the individual itself so the “self” was also missed.
Guess, when one turns to “self”? Of course one turns to self when self asserts its existence. When self’s voice becomes so loud then it becomes almost impossible to ignore it. And that is what happened in Europe by rise of Sciences. Science that begins with observations became dominant thinking mode and it deepened/strengthened the tradition of observation to only valid mode of thinking. In fact, Sciences in general were empowering men and there were senses of triumphant and zeal towards big successes. These great ambitions materialized in form of imperialistic behaviors and it turned European nations into competitors. The result was WWI and killings of 9 million people. The defeat of Germany in WWI was a shock to Germans and it caused an identity crisis (And you the rest of story).
I guess the German Philosophers (Existentialism was born in Germany and grown up in France) in general felt that Science is not Almighty and not always a good insurance policy for triumphs and they turned to self in a search of a perspective in a time of national despair. .”… Heidegger felt that Philosophers have missed the main point, what German people were feeling and expressing in language but was not able to be clear about it and he says it this way, “The German language speaks Being, while all the others merely speak of Being”… In other place he expresses the need for thinking about missing point, “The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.”… The problem is that one can’t bind “self” strictly with time and space in measurable manner and that makes it very difficult to put it in a logical manner and perhaps it is why most of Philosophers were shying away from it. Realizing this Heidegger says, “Thinking begins only when we have come to know that reason, glorified for centuries, is the stiff-necked adversary of thought.”… OR, “When modern physics exerts itself to establish the world's formula, what occurs thereby is this: the being of entities has resolved itself into the method of the totally calculable.”… I think, one can see the uneasiness that he was feeling regarding existence of two distinct worlds, “Physical world” and “being” and no way to link them together in a coherent entity. Though Sciences have an advantage of simplicity and applicability but “being” is also very sticky thing and asserts its existence. Heidegger even one time questions, “Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing”… By coming so close to Eastern Philosophy, Heidegger also misses the point as he can’t disconnect himself from Western trends so instead he turns to “time” and “language” (two external things; how naïve :( …) to find being and he writes his most famous book, “Time and being”… “Language is the house of the truth of Being.” He says but I guess he was realizing the mistake and it is why said, “Making itself intelligible is suicide for philosophy.”…..
By rise of Nazis, there comes a hope for a comeback of German national pride so Heidegger joins Nazis. His hopes were so high for German Nazis under leadership of Adolf Hitler that he said, “The Fuhrer alone is the present and future German reality and its law. Learn to know ever more deeply: from now on every single thing demands decision, and every action responsibility.”…
While Germany national socialist reasserted Germany identity, it created crises for other European identities, especially French whose pride was down by German pride. Sartre a French Philosopher was the contemporary of Heidegger. The German occupation of France provided him with a new insight to look into “being” and that was “Freedom”. Instead of understanding “self” or “being” let it free. Freedom is expressed mainly by actions so he stresses on actions and of course actions require responsibility. All we see in Sartre is Freedom, Responsibility for action and Becoming as a result. So clearly he denies that there is something as “Being” in advance. “Being” is actually what we becomes. Of course, Existentialism is what he became to live freely because French collapse was convinced him that freedoms insured by societies can fall anytime to any power and he says it, “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”… May be you say it is a common tragedy of mankind and has nothing to French occupation so let’s see what Sartre says more about freedom, “Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.”…
Why am I calling works of Heidegger and Sartre as products of identity crises?
The main reason is that their Philosophies are mostly reactionary to events of their time and also we don’t see anything serious about “being”. If one reads them it becomes clear that they tried to look to something that was overlooked but could not disconnect from Western roots and that was observation and as “being” was not observable (but rather something to be felt) they turned instead to external things, “Time and language” in case of Heidegger and “Freedom, responsibility and action” in case of Sartre.
German occupation made Sartre to become very sensitive about Freedom and he knew that only thing that can restrict freedom is fear, “You must be afraid, my son. That is how one becomes an honest citizen.”…. “Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.”…. so for him, being simply means existence and of course existence could only be felt by life , “Life has no meaning the moment you loose the illusion of being eternal.”…” Life begins on the other side of despair.” And here you go, Sartre comes to nothing but very with different results than Ancient Indian Philosophers. If for ancient Indian Philosophers, nothing means peace and tranquility, for Sartre it means, meaninglessness and Despair.
Though Existentialism has lost appeal as people have forgotten the bitter days of two world wars and “long” break in any big scientific breakthroughs but I think, the world is moving towards another big identity crisis and this time, it is going to be global. There are two main causes besides other small ones for seemingly coming global identity crises, the failure of capitalism as global economy and failure of US to stay as a superpower. If capitalism survives the economic meltdown and US does not take it as a defeat or simply she maintains her position then the identity crises is not going global but will be national or at least regional. I don’t know what kind of Philosophy will emerge out it but my guess is, the time is ripening for emergence of a new one… Let’s see…
Friday, December 16, 2011
Pakistan; a victim of identity crises
Intelligence has its costs and questioning stands at the core of the intelligence. If intelligence has benefited human to question about the nature, learn, discover and master it in their benefits, the same intelligence had also questioned the “self”. The children are so occupied to learn and discover whatever they encounter that when they grow enough to reason, they find themselves, “preoccupied” with a coherent set of beliefs, culture, ideas and behaviors through which they picture themselves and the world around. This is a critical stage in the life of every individual because it requires a very messy calculation of value ratio between “me”, “ours” and “others”. Let me dare to say that there is no accepted or universal formula to say what is the “right” proportion between “me”, “ours” and “others”? Why”? The answer is very simple, the gravitational force and here the gravitational force is unfortunately “power” or what Nietzsche was coined, “Will to power” (My next knol will be “Heidegger, Sartre and identity crisis”)…
If today modernization means “westernization”, it is because West is the superpower. It is a fact that nobody can deny and people across the globe like to be westernized even if they categorize the west as “others”. In areas that “our” is rising, powerful or distinct, it is beyond doubt that we are quick to take pride and identify ourselves with. Coming from others to ours to “me” is very sensitive. “Me” starts with a search for a “role” as early as one step in adolescence. This is actually an effort to see “me” fitting within “ours” and somewhat within “others”. I think, this is just the beginning and “me” slowly grows to discover and assert more of “me” later in his/her life.
So, overall the ratio between “me”, “ours” and “others” depends on the position of one. There is a constant struggle over the ratio both within and externally. All this is not just fitting to individuals. Nations also pass through this struggle. Nations are different than individuals in the sense that they go through “succession”. Though succession is an ecological process but it is how nations define their birth. With every crisis, nations are reborn and the process of value-ratio restarts. That is a luxury that individuals can’t have though some religions teach reincarnations.
Because I was born and grew up in Pakistan so I tend to give reference to Pakistan and I think as young as the nation is, so is deep the identity crisis. And to me the main reason for identity crisis in Pakistan is “self-deception”. Pakistan has inherited an “enemy” by her birth, India that is bigger than Pakistan in every regard and this has been the source of existential threat. So the case of Pakistan as a nation is much severe than individuals who face identity crisis at adolescent. Pakistan was “preoccupied” with identity crises even before her inception. Pakistan was in need of a strong and coherent “ours” to counter India that is one of the world’s most ancient and rich civilizations. Of course, Islam was alternative civilization that could counter Indian civilization but the problem is that, Islam is a religion, not an indigenous civilization to Muslims of Subcontinent and there are more than 56 countries recognizing themselves as Muslims.
As I pointed in previous paragraph, to make problems even worst, Pakistan inherited identity crises even before her birth. The educated layer of subcontinent Muslims who were mostly from North India were converted Muslims who couldn’t disconnect themselves from their Indian civilization and at same time couldn’t embrace it and still couldn’t come up with an alternative indigenous culture. This had been the source of divisions and identity crises among educated core of Muslims that have not been resolved to this day. The Part of Northwestern India that was mostly rural a tribal was so self-absorbed in their own world that were harshly resisting to changes going on in modern world.
In short, Pakistan since her birth inherited a society that was moving with different speeds. Self-absorbed tribal areas were “too proud” of their own identity that to them outside world were not making sense to them at all. The rural areas and large cities that had to come up with a coherent indigenous Pakistani culture or identity remain busy with same identity crises that they were struggling in sub-continental India (India before partition).
May be, it doesn’t look so serous to you but let me give you just one example so you could feel, how deep it the problem. When Ottoman Empire collapsed, there was a Khilafat movement in British India for restoration of Ottoman Empire. There was no way to restore the Ottoman Empire because Turkish people already had rejected it but in 90s, soon after Soviet Union’s collapse, while US was looking for a new world order, at same time some religious scholars were selling their own world order to restore Khilafat and all know the rest of story. Mullah Omar was declared Caliph (Ameer Al Monin). Here is a video to learn about the root of these identity crises,
I don’t know how much did you get out of it, but in fact this is actually the denial of Pakistan as a nation state because accepting Pakistan as a nation state means rejecting the concept of Khilafat and it is the main cause that these forces try to assert “Islam” as a system beyond the border of country. Here is an interview by Dr. Israr Ahmed where you can clearly see this mindset (Pakistan as a state is an obstacle to Islam as a system),
Now to neutralize this thinking there are scholars like Javed Ahmed Ghamidi who believes that it is the right of people to choose what kind of system they want rather than individuals or organizations to force them for a system.
Though, these thinking is much helpful in dealing with identity crises however it takes much time until Pakistanis realize that identity crises is posing an existential threat to Pakistan. The radicalization of Pakistani society as a result of identity crises has demoralized the nation by terrorist attacks, economic crises and rise of tribal nationalism. Though late but some bitter responses are coming from intellectuals,
I am not sure where all these are going to end? Whether, Pakistan will resolve the identity crises that are the mother of all other problems (Economic crises and tribal nationalism are side effects of identity crises) or not? Let’s time decide.
Intelligence has its costs but it also helps in resolving the crises to come victorious. I think, it is time that Pakistani Society focuses more on developing a coherent identity than struggling with Indian ancient civilization, countering the West or serving for Ottoman or Arabian Empire.
If today modernization means “westernization”, it is because West is the superpower. It is a fact that nobody can deny and people across the globe like to be westernized even if they categorize the west as “others”. In areas that “our” is rising, powerful or distinct, it is beyond doubt that we are quick to take pride and identify ourselves with. Coming from others to ours to “me” is very sensitive. “Me” starts with a search for a “role” as early as one step in adolescence. This is actually an effort to see “me” fitting within “ours” and somewhat within “others”. I think, this is just the beginning and “me” slowly grows to discover and assert more of “me” later in his/her life.
So, overall the ratio between “me”, “ours” and “others” depends on the position of one. There is a constant struggle over the ratio both within and externally. All this is not just fitting to individuals. Nations also pass through this struggle. Nations are different than individuals in the sense that they go through “succession”. Though succession is an ecological process but it is how nations define their birth. With every crisis, nations are reborn and the process of value-ratio restarts. That is a luxury that individuals can’t have though some religions teach reincarnations.
Because I was born and grew up in Pakistan so I tend to give reference to Pakistan and I think as young as the nation is, so is deep the identity crisis. And to me the main reason for identity crisis in Pakistan is “self-deception”. Pakistan has inherited an “enemy” by her birth, India that is bigger than Pakistan in every regard and this has been the source of existential threat. So the case of Pakistan as a nation is much severe than individuals who face identity crisis at adolescent. Pakistan was “preoccupied” with identity crises even before her inception. Pakistan was in need of a strong and coherent “ours” to counter India that is one of the world’s most ancient and rich civilizations. Of course, Islam was alternative civilization that could counter Indian civilization but the problem is that, Islam is a religion, not an indigenous civilization to Muslims of Subcontinent and there are more than 56 countries recognizing themselves as Muslims.
As I pointed in previous paragraph, to make problems even worst, Pakistan inherited identity crises even before her birth. The educated layer of subcontinent Muslims who were mostly from North India were converted Muslims who couldn’t disconnect themselves from their Indian civilization and at same time couldn’t embrace it and still couldn’t come up with an alternative indigenous culture. This had been the source of divisions and identity crises among educated core of Muslims that have not been resolved to this day. The Part of Northwestern India that was mostly rural a tribal was so self-absorbed in their own world that were harshly resisting to changes going on in modern world.
In short, Pakistan since her birth inherited a society that was moving with different speeds. Self-absorbed tribal areas were “too proud” of their own identity that to them outside world were not making sense to them at all. The rural areas and large cities that had to come up with a coherent indigenous Pakistani culture or identity remain busy with same identity crises that they were struggling in sub-continental India (India before partition).
May be, it doesn’t look so serous to you but let me give you just one example so you could feel, how deep it the problem. When Ottoman Empire collapsed, there was a Khilafat movement in British India for restoration of Ottoman Empire. There was no way to restore the Ottoman Empire because Turkish people already had rejected it but in 90s, soon after Soviet Union’s collapse, while US was looking for a new world order, at same time some religious scholars were selling their own world order to restore Khilafat and all know the rest of story. Mullah Omar was declared Caliph (Ameer Al Monin). Here is a video to learn about the root of these identity crises,
I don’t know how much did you get out of it, but in fact this is actually the denial of Pakistan as a nation state because accepting Pakistan as a nation state means rejecting the concept of Khilafat and it is the main cause that these forces try to assert “Islam” as a system beyond the border of country. Here is an interview by Dr. Israr Ahmed where you can clearly see this mindset (Pakistan as a state is an obstacle to Islam as a system),
Now to neutralize this thinking there are scholars like Javed Ahmed Ghamidi who believes that it is the right of people to choose what kind of system they want rather than individuals or organizations to force them for a system.
Though, these thinking is much helpful in dealing with identity crises however it takes much time until Pakistanis realize that identity crises is posing an existential threat to Pakistan. The radicalization of Pakistani society as a result of identity crises has demoralized the nation by terrorist attacks, economic crises and rise of tribal nationalism. Though late but some bitter responses are coming from intellectuals,
I am not sure where all these are going to end? Whether, Pakistan will resolve the identity crises that are the mother of all other problems (Economic crises and tribal nationalism are side effects of identity crises) or not? Let’s time decide.
Intelligence has its costs but it also helps in resolving the crises to come victorious. I think, it is time that Pakistani Society focuses more on developing a coherent identity than struggling with Indian ancient civilization, countering the West or serving for Ottoman or Arabian Empire.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Can we blame evolution for terrorism?
May be the quote of Martin van Creveld, "War is the greatest fun you can have with your paints on" seems improper to a lot of people but I like to repeat it because it reminds us of a tragedy that is the gift of nature (evolution). Creveld says this evolutionary tragedy as, "Men love war and women love warriors" and as you know well that "female preferences" in evolutionary studies are popular driving force for a lot of bizarre evolutionary trends in male animals that have evolved at cost of lowering their survival rates. Some well known examples are bright coloration, elongated tails, feathers, fins, horns etc. Males in order to attract female mate also compete with each other and sometimes these competitions are fatal. When it comes to men, men have not evolved horns, bright coloration, long feathers and tail but instead have evolved cultural products. Among these cultural products are "glory" and "honor"... Glory and Honor are actually the same as coloration, long feathers and horns in animals...
Some pictorial presentation of evolution in response to female preferences,
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But what it does mean to us? That is the key question. If warrior nature had evolved only as a matter of defense and protection, we could expect that by growing awareness the levels of wars would drop and we could hope for an ultimate peace but the fact of matter that the love of war is something also linked with female preference is dangerous. Because it makes wars glorious and sadly it is the case. Most of time wars are not fought based on necessary (defense) but for glory, national glory or personal glory and we unfortunately we can blame evolution for this....
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Almost all cultures both ancient and modern saw war as a source of glory and it is also indicative of the fact that it will remain so in future. Though Sports present an alternative to this evolutionary need and both nations and individuals are earning glory through sports but I don't think that sports have been successful as an alternative to war so far...
The biggest concern is the shifting modes of wars. As armies are increasingly shying to face each other they use proxies to harm each other and this method has emerged as main cause for rise of terrorism. It is said that evolution is blind and this concept sadly looks true when we see a link between terrorism and evolution. When I see terrorists take pride of the killings of innocent unarmed citizen and pose themselves as heroes, I can see the true drive under their skin. Though they try to legitimize their acts based on religion or ideology but their acts are more than simply driven by ideology or religion. It is the "Peak experience" or "sense of glory" that drives the killings... In a way poverty is also makes terrorism attractive. Poverty denies or reduces the chances of having "Peak experiences" through constructive achievements and as terrorism provides very cheap chances to fill the "empty experiences" with "Peak experiences" so individuals with weak psyche get attracted to it.......
Following is a talk from Aljazeera and I thought it has some link with our topic...
....................................................................................
Some pictorial presentation of evolution in response to female preferences,
......................................................................................
But what it does mean to us? That is the key question. If warrior nature had evolved only as a matter of defense and protection, we could expect that by growing awareness the levels of wars would drop and we could hope for an ultimate peace but the fact of matter that the love of war is something also linked with female preference is dangerous. Because it makes wars glorious and sadly it is the case. Most of time wars are not fought based on necessary (defense) but for glory, national glory or personal glory and we unfortunately we can blame evolution for this....
...........................................................................................
Almost all cultures both ancient and modern saw war as a source of glory and it is also indicative of the fact that it will remain so in future. Though Sports present an alternative to this evolutionary need and both nations and individuals are earning glory through sports but I don't think that sports have been successful as an alternative to war so far...
The biggest concern is the shifting modes of wars. As armies are increasingly shying to face each other they use proxies to harm each other and this method has emerged as main cause for rise of terrorism. It is said that evolution is blind and this concept sadly looks true when we see a link between terrorism and evolution. When I see terrorists take pride of the killings of innocent unarmed citizen and pose themselves as heroes, I can see the true drive under their skin. Though they try to legitimize their acts based on religion or ideology but their acts are more than simply driven by ideology or religion. It is the "Peak experience" or "sense of glory" that drives the killings... In a way poverty is also makes terrorism attractive. Poverty denies or reduces the chances of having "Peak experiences" through constructive achievements and as terrorism provides very cheap chances to fill the "empty experiences" with "Peak experiences" so individuals with weak psyche get attracted to it.......
Following is a talk from Aljazeera and I thought it has some link with our topic...
....................................................................................
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