In Northern Nigeria huge numbers of Christians and Muslims, who would live peaceably together, have fled fighting. It is said that some of the Muslims have risen up against their Christian neighbours, and that the trouble has been on going for some time. It may be significant that the violence has erupted so severely at Christmas. And it may be significant that in Nigeria the Muslim practice of female genital mutilation is widespread. We may infer that the Muslim female principle is outraged by the practice, and that the anger of some of the Muslim community is thrown outward towards the Christians, and most particularly when the Christians are celebrating the birth of their Saviour. We may understand that the outraged Muslim female principle asks, 'Who will save us?' We may well speculate that the practice of genital mutilation began as an effect of the trauma of the late Matriarchy.
We have also had a glimpse of life in North Korea. We have seen the mass of citizens mourning the loss of their late leader. News reports have suggested that the people mourn so loudly because they have been intimidated by the security forces there, and that unless they are publicly fervent in their grief the people fear they will be punished. This may be partly true. But surely there is something much deeper underlying the closed and secretive nature of this state. We may speculate that at some time during evolution, the region was struck by a savage natural disaster which caused very severe psychological trauma to the ancestors of that specific region, and the effect of that trauma has been a lasting self punishment there. Though we see that it is the leaders who dominate their country, we may understand that this domination is built on fear and the hope of redemption. We must hope that the new leader of that sad country is more enlightened than his predecessors, that he will take courage, and that the rest of the world's leaders will help him to overcome the particularly savage difficulties of the past.
Jewish, Christian and Muslim peoples are all monotheists and all worship the one God. But there is a lack understanding between the three faiths, and often at a very basic level. For instance, Jewish and Muslim peoples seem unaware that no one can be born Christian. One is Jewish if his or her mother is Jewish; I believe that a child born into a Muslim family is Muslim - though it is difficult to be exactly clear, because there are so many different points of view on Islamic matters. But no one can be born Christian. The Christians must be baptised into the Christian faith. Originally, this was revolutionary, and early Christians made the choice to join the faith. Now, of course, most Christian parents have their babies baptised before the child can make any choice for himself or herself. This seems to me to be very wrong and against the revolutionary spirit of Christianity: freedom of choice. We may understand that Christ wanted to offer all his neighbours the chance to have access to the one God by freely choosing the simple ceremony of baptism.
Many Christians forget that Jesus was Jewish, and seem unaware that the Jewish people would not murder their own Rabbi, their teacher; they would discuss and argue with him or with any teacher as they would discuss and argue with God. And the majority of Christians do not know that the Emperor Constantine, around 325AD, severely perverted the teachings of Christ into a warlike message.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Christianity is the dogma of the three gods in one. In the Jewish faith one has direct access to God. The individual may talk to God, may argue with God, and God welcomes and encourages discussion and argument. We may call it talking to God or we may call it using the higher cortical function: thinking, and thinking for ourselves. The Jewish faith encourages us to think for ourselves. When I was a small child I was introduced to the concept of God, as I have described, and immediately and very happily accepted the information. In my mind, I talked to God with great delight, and as far as I knew God was pleased. I knew I wasn't Jewish, but wasn't told it mattered. A little later, I was taken to church to be baptised as a Christian. The sight of Jesus hanging in agony on the cross was shocking. But what caused me most grief was the three gods in one. I found it intellectually and morally impossible to understand and could never accept this dogma. The one God provides focus, the three in one blurs and mystifies - in fact the Christians call it a Mystery, and are discouraged from understanding it - and the connection with the one God is broken. One is intellectually and morally damaged by the dogma which divides one from God, from clear thinking.
The facts are all before us all, but Christians are discouraged from thinking for themselves. It is a tragedy.
Judaism recognises the importance of the female principle and includes women, for the child's Jewishness is conferred by the mother's Jewishness. Judaism thus absolves women from the 'guilt' of the events of the late Matriarchy, and seeks to protect men and women from the hidden memory of those events. Christianity, originally, hoped to include all men and women in this absolution and protection.
While it is difficult for me to be sure, it seems to me that Islam is the attempt of the male principle to understand the events of the late Matriarchy. The practice of female circumcision is undertaken by the women, and women thus punish themselves for the 'guilt' of the events. But the male principle wants to understand what did happen 10,000 years ago. It is a very difficult undertaking, the taboo is determined that we must not remember, and no man may talk about it. The female principle forbids it. One must respect the mother. And the female principle hides from the guilt and shame, the embarrassment, as well as from the horror of those tragic events.
We observe in religious fundamentalism that the male dominates the female, the men dominate and restrict their womenfolk. I think we must understand this male domination as protective and preventative, as well as recognising the wrongs of such domination. Human nature is fundamentally good, and human intentions are originally good.
In our civilisation we are taught to fight. We are told that we must fight to the top, fight all obstacles, fight disease, fight against the elements, fight to give birth, fight against nature, fight against each other. And yet we all long for peace. It seems to me from this deep and abiding longing, that peace is a given, like freedom. Peace is the natural state of humanity, and of life.
Across the world in their different countries, the tyrants rule. They have vision, and with their ministers and armies they have unity of purpose. Revolution will always fail without vision and without unity of purpose. We must ask, 'What are we fighting for?' and if we are to have any chance of success, we must be very clear that we know what we are fighting for.
But I must now ask, 'Must we fight? And if so why must we fight?' And I ask because I am aware that fighting is somewhat inefficient in bringing freedom.
And, yes, I am aware that we do have some very valuable freedoms here in England, which have been fought for over many centuries. We have freedom from state sanctioned torture, and we have habeas corpus, by which no one may be locked away without access to legal representation, and without a state funded fair trial before a jury; and we have a great measure of freedom of speech. And I was taught that we must always be on our guard not to lose these valuable freedoms. Even free speech has been under threat, and even trial by jury has been under threat.
Most of the other freedoms that I can think of that we have here are invitations to join the fight: fight for what you want; fight to get to the top; fight the opposition; fight for your rights. Everything here now seems to be conditional on having money. So, fight to get the money; fight to get a job; and struggle to pay the bills. Very many people here are poor; very many children live in poverty with their families; the elderly and other vulnerable adults often struggle alone. And you see, where there is money there is corruption, as I have observed over many years of working in different industries. There is always a scam, some of them very ingenious, and these crooks are often already wealthy.
Yet, I am lucky to live in England. And I must be very careful what I say because I have never had the experience of living in a dictatorship. I have the freedom to write this, the freedom to post it on the internet; and I have enough money to live on, so I don't need to fight. I think that if I had no money, I would go, for one cannot stay here without some money. I do not know what I would do if I were living in a dictatorship. But I will say this: the Id does not want to fight. The Id, the human psyche before the onset of the great phylogenic traumas, does not know how to fight, is incapable of fighting. The Id is good, good natured and is free, lives in peace and freedom until the traumatised Ego chains it up and teaches it to fight.
Violence and fighting are products of psychological trauma; violence and fighting cause more psychological trauma, and thus perpetuate the state of trauma.
I would be free of the effects of phylogenic trauma. I would have the human Id free and at peace.