Saturday, October 29, 2005
Why not Wage a War on Dogma?
Although the drama unfolding at the top levels of US politics is fascinating, it is a familiar second-term debacle. The prolonged and meaningless war in Iraq, directly or indirectly connected with the Scooter Libby case, is of more concern to me. And the displays of militant religious fundamentalism in Iran are more alarming to me. No WMD were found in Iraq; but, under the current circumstances, does anyone really need to look for WMD in Iran?
The question is what to do about Iran. In 1984, in Yoga Tattva Part 2, I wrote as follows:
Violence only begets violence. In every violent action is the germ of a violent reaction. It may be possible to make some superficial changes to society with the help of brute force. It may be possible to maintain oneself in political power for some time with the help of brute force. But when brute force is used for such purposes, there will inevitably be a violent reaction that, very likely, will eliminate any progressive changes that were brought about if there was no corresponding expansion in the psychic sphere. A current and obvious example that comes to mind is Iran. Whatever progressive changes the former Shah of Iran had achieved through physical force (whether monetary or military) were swept away overnight by the so-called Iranian revolution. This was simply because the mentality of the people had not changed despite a variety of mundane reforms. Actually, there has been no real revolution in Iran yet. All of thechanges at the top levels of society made little change in the physical life and virtually no change in the mental life of the common Iranian people.
I believe that the challenge remains the same - to change the mentality of the Iranian people. For that matter, the challenge is also to change the mentality of the American people and, indeed, of all people. Instead of waging a war on terror, why not wage a war on dogma?
The question is what to do about Iran. In 1984, in Yoga Tattva Part 2, I wrote as follows:
Violence only begets violence. In every violent action is the germ of a violent reaction. It may be possible to make some superficial changes to society with the help of brute force. It may be possible to maintain oneself in political power for some time with the help of brute force. But when brute force is used for such purposes, there will inevitably be a violent reaction that, very likely, will eliminate any progressive changes that were brought about if there was no corresponding expansion in the psychic sphere. A current and obvious example that comes to mind is Iran. Whatever progressive changes the former Shah of Iran had achieved through physical force (whether monetary or military) were swept away overnight by the so-called Iranian revolution. This was simply because the mentality of the people had not changed despite a variety of mundane reforms. Actually, there has been no real revolution in Iran yet. All of thechanges at the top levels of society made little change in the physical life and virtually no change in the mental life of the common Iranian people.
I believe that the challenge remains the same - to change the mentality of the Iranian people. For that matter, the challenge is also to change the mentality of the American people and, indeed, of all people. Instead of waging a war on terror, why not wage a war on dogma?
