Before the Dawn of Civilization there was violence in its most tangible form—War. Some people believe that human beings are inherently violent. And human temperament is a reflection of their animal instincts repressed during the domestication process.
When we are born our mothers provide our basic needs to survive, and we generate dependence on the cycle. Later when we grow up, we develop the “I” image to differentiate ourselves from others, which is later known as property. We have “our” mother, “our” food and “our” roof. In the society in which we grow up, this feeling evolves into territoriality and competition, the concept of adversary includes anyone different from us, some think of skin color, others of sex, ability or beliefs. We believe that it is our right to own things, but we do not realize that we arrive alone and naked in this world, and even our mother or our children are not our property.
The concept of mother property evolves into that of “Motherland,” a concept taught to children around the world, transforming them into soldiers, inventing borders, governments, money and religions. The word soldier refers to a member of a country, and in some languages it is derived from the word war.
The truth is that no one knows precisely the causes of war, but most human beings know its effects. I have seen them—in people's eyes—eyes full of anger, hatred, sadness, pain, despair, madness, suffering, which clouds their vision to the point of not being able to recognize their “own” mother.
So why do soldiers fight? Why do humans fight?
Is it fair to fight for a country or land that was once a single undivided entity called Pangaea? Or for a plant or animal that never issued a certificate of ownership to man?
Who or what gives us the right to call anything beyond our body “MINE”?
Are those lines, divisions, possessions and borders real outside our minds?
M. Ch. Landa
