War. I do not understand it. I cannot see the point of it. It is an abomination — and yet, humanity continues to strive for it, to participate in it, to justify it.
Wars are waged by those who hold power — political, material, ideological — who persuade us, as a species, that there is something to gain in killing one another. They convince us that violence is purpose, that destruction is meaning. And we follow. We follow the most irrational of all irrational narratives.
Why? For what purpose? What do these people say that makes others willing to sacrifice their lives?
They are safe — always safe — behind the walls we have built for them, in the palaces we have maintained for centuries. From their distance, they decide the fates of those who will die, while never touching death themselves. What kind of people are they?
But perhaps the deeper question is:
What kind of people are we — who still believe we are worth less than those who command us?
Why can a species not evolve beyond this?
Why can it not think of itself as a whole — a single, living organism?
Why can we not recognize that humanity is one species, one consciousness, one breath?
Why do we continue to divide ourselves into nations, borders, and flags — illusions that separate what was never divided to begin with?
Zen reminds us that separation is illusion.
When the mind divides, it suffers.
When it believes in “us” and “them,” it creates its own war — long before the first weapon is drawn.
War is not born on battlefields; it begins in the human mind.
It begins in the subtle belief that “I” am not “you.”
That my life, my culture, my truth — is somehow more real than yours.
If we could see clearly, even for a single breath, we would see the absurdity of this blindness. We would recognize that every wound inflicted is self-inflicted. Every victory is a loss disguised.
Peace cannot be imposed through treaties or power.
It emerges only through understanding — through the awakening that sees beyond the boundaries of self and other.
Only when the illusion of separation dissolves does compassion arise naturally, as effortlessly as breath.
And perhaps, when the human mind finally awakens to its own unity, there will be no need to speak of war, or peace, or victory — for there will be no division left to heal.
Until then, we must ask ourselves:
Don’t you know that there is a soul that has to be nurtured, instead of being destroyed?
