War..

In 637, the city of Jerusalem came under Muslim control following its conquest by Caliph Umar I. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque were soon constructed on the Temple Mount, with the Dome of the Rock standing on the site of the First and Second Temples. Under the rule of early Caliphs, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived in relative peace and mutual respect, so much so that one church was used as a Mosque on Friday, and a Church on Sunday. Unfortunately, with the rise of the Turkish Seljuk dynasty, religious intolerance once more reared its ugly head, and by 1095, conditions had deteriorated to such an extent that Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade against ‘The Infidels’ (which just means a person who will not acknowledge your God), and Jerusalem fell – temporarily – to Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099.

The causes of war are many. We have gone to war over land or religious beliefs. We have started wars because we saw oppression and decided to stop it. We warred against nations who our politicians saw as having more natural resources  than us (like oil) or who the politicians vowed had Weapons of Mass Destruction. If that were the only criterion, then we should be at war with the United States, China, Russia, England, France, possibly Israel, and a few others we don’t know about but are suspicious of anyway!

As we look through history, all too often we read of yet another war, with all its attendant horrors of death and worse; and yet there are always men, and women, who are eager to join in the conflict. Why do people come forward in times of warfare to offer their services?

In some cases, their rulers have told them that it is their duty to their homeland, or their God, or their way of life. Our Bible is full of stories that tell of God demanding that the Israelites make war upon some tribe or other, but the writers of those particular stories may have just been looking for a way to excuse their own behaviour. Sometimes the people themselves demanded that their rulers make war against a neighbouring state. Whatever the reason, war has always been a part of our history. And what of the Service Men and Women that serve in our Armed Forces? Those men and women who would not let our way of life and our beliefs be subjugated under a foreign power, even to the extent of sacrificing their own lives

Our world would be a very different place without warfare. Someone has suggested that without war, or conflict of some kind, we would still be living in caves, because many of the materials things we enjoy today are a direct result of research into better weapons.  For example: Scuba, or Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus; the Microwave Oven is an off-shoot of the development of RADAR – RAdio Detection And Ranging; and barbed wire, without which farmers and graziers could not protect their herds or crops. The German Enigma machine can be seen as a very early type of computer; and Penicillin has saved millions.

 War will always be a part of our world, for this Earth Plane is where we come to balance our past Karma – not only the Karmic debts we may owe, but the Karmic credit – the Spirit Coin – that we may have amassed through good works in our past lives. As depressing as the thought of war may be, we are, very slowly, working our way to a world where warfare will be but a distant memory, and all people may live and work together in harmony, taking an interest in others’ beliefs – not to criticize, but to appreciate and celebrate in the words of the old African American Hymn, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”