The Inevitability of War – Consciousness, Crisis and Systems Change

A friend recently posted about his empathic reaction to the bombing of a place in Ukraine he had personal connections to. In it, he brought up the need for changing ourselves before we can change the world. Upon invitation, I felt called to respond and shared a longer reflection on the bigger context and how war is a systemic inevitability calling us to transcend the system based on a new consciousness (i.e. way of seeing the world), instead of attempting cosmetic fixes.

Here is my response to his original Post:

I was in this part of the world in 2019 for the Emerge Gathering. Already back then we could feel that something was coming, and it’s tragic to see how we still collectively create results that no-one individually wants.

And yet, situations like these are also a collective initiation through crisis that ask us what it means to be human and call us to respond.

War is an inevitability (or “collateral”) in a capitalistic system that is based on infinite growth. We need to turn the natural world into goods and acts of community into services in order to feed the mega machine. And this ultimately leads to violence if anyone tries to resist this mechanism (e.g. refusing to pay national interest bearing debt and the resulting structural violence).

The Waters we swim in

This is not an attempt at an overly simplified analysis of what’s going on in this specific situation. It is rather a pointer how much we are at war with the natural world and each other, how materialism, rationalism and separation are the waters we swim in without noticing.

And these crises wake us up and shock us deep in your hearts if we still allow ourselves to feel and are attentive to the sensitive parts within ourselves. We crack open a little more and more with every crisis. And we are reminded how what is happening outside and sometimes geographically closer or further away from home has very personal meaning and a connection to our lives, our choices, our mindsets and how we see the world and “others”.

The only Way out is through

I’m not offering an easy solution, and I believe there is intelligence to life that is guiding us exactly where we need to be. And the more we allow ourselves to feel deeply in face of the pain, the more we feel our truth, our intuition, our inner guidance that is telling us, that this is not right. This is not the game we want to play.

More than ever I believe in the power of collective leadership, that once a tipping point has been reached, we just stop supporting the system and create new systems that disrupt the old – not with force or violence. But just simply by creating something new, based on a new understanding of who we are, that will make the old obsolete. We know what to do.

From small acts of kindness on a personal level, up to large ecosystems of organizations that choose to cooperate, share profits and take care of the commons together are examples that don’t make any sense in short term capitalistic logic. And yet, millions of people already dedicate their lives to this new and emerging world. Hollowing out the system from the inside.

Ending the War within

I believe, this world will be birthed through a new consciousness, based on interconnectedness, cooperation and in service to all life. And we need to start within, by stopping the war against ourselves, the ways in which we force ourselves to function in a system that isn’t respecting or representing our truth of who we are – our humanity.

If I manage to be a little kinder to myself, my body, my nature, this part of earth that I get to steward, then I can expand this level of care to my family. And from there to my organization. And from there to all humans, to the more than human world and the cosmos.

Expanding levels of care, that is maturation to me. And it goes in both directions, the micro inwards and the macro outwards. And truth be told, I don’t think it will ever end. It is a journey that we’re walking forever.

But I do feel a shift is coming.
And it needs courageous leaders who live embodied examples of this consciousness.

Thank you for reading until here! Much appreciated and thank you for your care!