Killer Instinct

In the days of old an instinct for warfare was developed in the struggle with wild animals; this is no longer necessary; nay, rather, co-operation and mutual understanding are seen to produce the greatest welfare of mankind. Enmity is now the result of prejudice only.

(Abdu’l-Bahá, Abdu’l-Bahá in London, p. 19)

A few days ago, as I was walking to work, I saw a cat approaching in “attack” mode. Claws in the air, it jumped out in front of me and then immediately went into “make a friend” mode. It seems that when he noticed the relative size of his intended victim, friendship seemed like a better idea. As he purred and rubbed up against my legs, I tried to reason with him, but to no avail. It seems trying to reason with a cat is an act of futility. However, he did draw my mind to some facts of nature.

When animals are domesticated their instincts remain. In their natural setting, cats needed to hunt for food. Now being fed by humans their hunting is no longer necessary, but the instinct remains so we often see them out chasing birds or other small creatures. So long as you don’t leave a cat alone with your budgie or hamster no real problem occurs.

Dogs are another matter. Having worked with a turkey farmer in the past, he told me how pet dogs were the worst menace to his free range turkeys. When recognizing a neighbours pet chasing his turkeys, he would inform the neighbour who claim that it could not have been his dog since it never left his farm. Many times, unknown to the owners, pet dogs join together at night and form hunting packs that may even attack humans. These animals, in nature would kill their food. Now, as pets they do not need to do that, but the killer instinct is still there. This turkey farmer informed me that a wild animal may attack his flock and kill one bird which it would haul away and devour. These pets aren’t hungry, so they attack and kill many birds and leave them there to rot.

Now we bring this up one level to humanity. Ancient humanity lived by hunting and gathering. They not only had to kill what they would eat, but had to protect themselves from wild animals that were sizing them up for lunch. In modern society this is no longer necessary; however man does possess the killer instinct. The difference with man is that he has a spiritual side and has reasoning powers that animals don’t possess. When humans develop their spiritual side the desire to kill is abolished and they live peaceably with their own, but animalistic mankind still wants to kill for personal gain or to squelch a perceived threat. It has been said that when a man acts like an animal he becomes lower than the animal. The animal has no reasoning power and acts on instinct through ignorance. When man allows his animal nature to take over, he has reasoning power and can override his instincts, so he knowingly inflicts cruelty on his fellow man and is worse than the ferocious beasts.

Let Us Try Peace, as an Experiment

Whatever thou dost and upon whatever occasion thou showest any effort, the end will prove fruitless except in teaching the Cause of God and in serving the divine Kingdom.(Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdu’l-Bahá v1, p. 212)

Although the London World Peace Forum has attracted a great deal of interest, yet those who have looked have not participated. Yes, you are free to leave comments and even post your own blog on this site. Email me at peace@drdiscount.ca for more info.

Is peace achievable without religion? In my view, I think not. How can religion be the cause of peace when so many wars were fought in the name of religion? Yes, religion has been corrupted by man and used as an excuse for war, but the essence of true religion is peace. God commands us, “Thou shalt not kill,” (Exodus 20:13) but man does not listen. Christ Jesus expanded this,

Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5: 21 - 24)

If there is one God, There must be one religion. If we are all God’s Children, then we must love one another. We are one family. We share one Earth. The multiplication of gods has always been regarded as evil. If your god tells you to kill me because I do not follow in his ways, then one of us must follow a false god. The True God that created us to know Him and to worship Him tells us that we are not even to get angry with one another.

God periodically sends messengers to us to keep us on track. There was Adam, Abraham, Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Mohammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh to name a few. So many times mankind has clung to the messenger and forgotten the message. They all taught us to love. They all taught peace. When we use their names as an excuse to go to war, we do Them a great injustice.

You do not need to agree with me. Only turn to the message that your religion has brought and find in it a reason to love all mankind. As I said, there is only one true religion and the fact that it has been called by different names throughout the ages in inconsequential. If you have a different concept of God than I do, that is not surprising. God the creator must be infinitely greater than His creation. Therefore He is beyond our comprehension and we may have experienced Him from completely different aspects. The Ocean is only a tiny part of His creation, but someone living in Hawaii would have a different perception of the Ocean than someone from Alaska. Do we need to kill each other because one sees it as warm and the other cold? No, but we can learn from each other and get a greater understanding of the Ocean.

This is the purpose of this forum. We learn from each other about our own humanity and no longer fear the unknown. When I learn that you desire peace and security, a good life for your children, and have much the same concerns that I do, I learn that you are not much different than me. Now we can help each other instead or fearing each other. Fear leads to hate and hate leads to war. Now learning from and about each other makes the unknown to be known, fear to vanish, hate to transmute into love and war to become peace. Is that not better? We can at least try it to see if we like it. We can always go back to hatred and war if we think that is better. But let’s at least try peace.

As for the Atheist, I have not forgotten you. I once had a friend that would tell those who did not believe in God that she also did not believe in the God that they didn’t believe in. In order to say we do not believe in God, we need to have a concept of God that we don’t believe in. If I said I didn’t believe in xwvrptskd, you would say, “What is that?” You couldn’t say whether or not you believed in it until you knew what it was. So the concept you have of God that you don’t believe in, well I don’t believe in that concept of God either, so we don’t need to kill each other over that either. If I keep going, there will not be any excuse left for war, and that is what I am attempting to do, but I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts whether or not you agree with me. Let’s get this discussion going and start learning what makes each other tick.

Don't be a Bully

A world Peace Forum would not be complete without a message about anti-bullying. This has become a big problem in schools and workplaces and affects people of all ages. When it happens among children it is especially harmful because our young people are forming traits and habits that they may carry with them for life. Whether it is the bully who learns to get what he/she wants by bullying others or it is the victim who learns that the world is evil and grows up with hatred in her/his heart, harm is done and a perverted sense of worth is carried into adulthood.
One of my heroes in life is a young lady from St Thomas who has devoted her life to stamping out bullying and instilling a sense of self worth into the children of this generation. She takes her message to the schools and anywhere else she is invited to go. Mixing the positive message with hip hop music gets the kids’ attention. If you haven’t guessed yet I am talking about Saidat. Just click on her name to go to her site and learn more.

If you’re on facebook, go to One Million Fans for Saidat register there then click the link to her face book page and click the like button to become a fan.

If you appreciate this article, or if you don’t, feel free to leave be a comment or send me an email to peaceforum@drdiscount.ca

Agreement of Science and Religion / Spiritual and Physical Healing.

Religion and Science are inter-twined with each other and cannot be separated. These are the two wings with which humanity must fly. One wing is not enough. Every religion which does not concern itself with Science is mere tradition, and that is not the essential. Therefore science, education and civilization are most important necessities for the full religious life.
(Abdu’l-Bahá, Abdu’l-Bahá in London, p. 28, 29)

Agreement of Science and Religion is one of the basic principles of the Baha’i Faith so when we see its realization outside of the Faith, we are not surprised, but it excites us to see the Divine Plan of God coming together.

In answer to question from a physician regarding the sympathetic nervous system of the human organism, Abdu’l-Bahá says:

The powers of the sympathetic nerve are neither entirely physical nor spiritual, but are between the two (systems). The nerve is connected with both. Its phenomena shall be perfect when its spiritual and physical relations are normal.
When the material world and the divine world are well co-related, when the hearts become heavenly and the aspirations grow pure and divine, perfect connection shall take place. Then shall this power produce a perfect manifestation. Physical and spiritual diseases will then receive absolute healing.
The exposition is brief. Ponder and thou shalt understand the meaning. Although, on account of lack of time, the answer is short, by close reflection it shall be made long.
(Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdu’l-Bahá v2, p. 308)

London World Peace Forum

Discussion and prayers for peace. If there is only one GOD, why do those who believe in HIM kill each other? London World Peace Forum is a Blog for world Peace. We approach the process of World Peace at a grassroots level where each individual member commits to a non violent life style and attempts to influence at least one other person to do the same each year. This blog is a place where ideas can be exchanged and members can share their successes and struggles in their attempts to influence others. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and your successes in establishing world peace in your community. Every Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm we gather at my store, DR Discount & Wholesale, 639 Nelson St. London, ON N5Z 1J6 to pray and share ideas. If you wish to join us call 519-850-6651 to confirm you are coming and to be sure that the date or location has not been changed. This week’s question for reflections is, “If there is only one GOD, why do those who believe in HIM kill each other?” We welcome all Faiths, religious persuasions, ethnicities, etc, to join in. I believe when we get to know each other we will learn to trust and respect each other. As Sting said in his hit song Russians; “What will save us, me and you, is if the Russians love their children too.” When we learn that we have common values and all desire to live with peace and security, we will not longer live in fear and hatred. Come back soon for an article on healing and peace.