War is the law of life and eternal peace a dream. Life means
struggle and struggle is another name for war. A land of eternal peace
would be a land of sloth, inactivity and ennui – like the world of the
Lotos-Eaters. An empty mind is the Devil’s workshop and such a world
would soon become a hot-bed of mutual bickerings and jealousies, family
feuds such as prevail among the savages. For the natural process of
evolution which is going on in the world, for a just struggle for existence,
we would have constant fights, ugly quarrels about trifles and an
fatmosphere of jealousy and ill-will. always been in periods of struggle that man made his advance in
social,
its frequent recurrence, mankind has managed to get along. In fact, it has
Was has been in existence ever since the world began. In spite of
political and economic spheres. War typifies and embodies physically tha
aspect of battle which belongs to all life, in a world whose method is a
meeting and wrestling of forces which progress by mutual destruction.
peace would be a land of stagnation. The blessings that peace confers on a
That world may progress, war is essential. A land of eternal
peace”, says Ruskin, “are founded on war; no great art ever yet rose on
land depend for their usefulness on war. “All the pure and noble arts of
shepherd agricultural to a nation but
earth, but among a nation of soldiers. There is no art among ag
people, if it remains at peace. There is no art among an
people, if it remains at peace. There is no great art possible
that which is based on battle. This is supported by the history of the rise,
progress and decline of art in Egypt, Greece and Rome. The best art was,
of course, that of Greece, where it flourished under the aegis of war, as is
evident from the representations of Greek gods and goddesses in warrior
shapes.” This art that was born in war died when there followed a long
interval of peace in Europe.
Of course, war has its destructive side, and some warfare
conducted for plunder, aggrandizement, or on account of the intoxication
of military power. Such wars cannot be too highly condemned. “The
creative or foundational war”, according to Ruskin, “is that in which the
natural restlessness and love of contest among men are disciplined into the
aggressive conquest of surrounding evil; and in which the natural instincts
of self-defence are sanctified by the nobleness of the institutions and purity
of the households which they are appointed to defend. To such war as this
all men are born; in such war as this any man may happily die; and forth
from such war as this have risen, throughout the extent of past ages, all
the highest sanctities and virtues of humanity.”
So long as man is imperfect – and he will remain so `this side of
the tomb’ – he must struggle and suffer until perfection is achieved. No
sooner he stops the struggle than his progress towards perfection becomes
stationary. Peace, no doubt, we all desire, but not the peace enjoyed by
the Lotos-Eaters. We cannot subscribe to their opinion:
“What pleasure can we have
To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave?
All things have rest, and ripen towards the grave
In silence; ripen, fall and cease:
Give us long rest or death, or dreadful ease.
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Such a dream is surely not a beautiful dream. The world is full of
struggles. One thing lives on another: one conflicts with another in the
process of evolving and perfecting forms. Perfect peace is only an empty
dream. We find “the flaw in the territorial scheme by which what was
good for God’s birds was bad for God’s gardener.” In such a world man
is thrown to fulfil his part-to struggle and to become perfect in body and
soul.
WHAT IS WAR?
It is the demon of barbarity. which, giving up all pretence,
emerges with unconcealed fangs and teeth, ready to tear up the world and
spread devastation. From one end to the other, the poisonous fumes of war
defile the atmosphere. This plague of persecution raises its head to create
havoc and to desecrate man. War rouses the animal lust in man. He
becomes despotic and bureaucratic. War – the devastator of millions of
innocent human beings – is the merciless monster of human history. Why
should it be fought after all, it is difficult to answer. In spite of the efforts
of the Language of Nations, World War of. 1939-1945 could not be
avoided. From the earliest days history abounds in wars, big or small.