My god–your god: The conflict within
During human evolution, as the brain began to evolve, the power of reasoning and the need to ‘believe in something’ at the individual or community level to ensure survival must have also begun to evolve.
Happenings and experiences of achieving a desired objective, as an outcome of ‘believing in something’, may have reinforced a belief system, which could have been passed down to subsequent generations.
When civilisations began to expand, the concept of ‘believing in something’ grew beyond merely acquiring food, land, natural resources, or even choosing a suitable mate.
The system of ‘belief’ transgressed into something more profound – belief in the power of a Creator, a Supernatural Being who created us and all other living and non-living beings of the universe, thereby signifying ‘Arrival of God’ in human space.
The ‘belief system’ associated with ‘Creator’ also evolved differently in various parts of the world. ‘Belief systems’ either brought communities together or separated them into several religions and sects all over the world, depending on which form, variation, or narration of the creator they believed in and worshipped.
Besides reasons for conflict over food, land and natural resources, the evolution of different belief systems provided another potential source of human conflict, often interacting with political, economic, and territorial interests. History provides us with enough examples of conflicts involving people with different belief systems.
Assumption of supremacy by a community, over another because of a different ‘belief system’, appears to have cascaded from the past to our present.
The two World Wars, regional wars, and ethnic conflicts, apart from their overt geopolitical causes, demonstrate how ideological, national, ethnic, and at times religious identities can deepen divisions between communities, owing to different faiths and religious practices of warring countries, communities or individuals.
So, as long as we exist, the creator would also need to compete (and perhaps conflict) with its own diverse forms, variations, and narrations as we create or envision them. Did ‘conflict’ become an unintended and undesirable spin-off of our evolution? Did the creator of universe design it that way? We may never know the answer.
But just as conflict is integral to human DNA, so is peace. So, while different forms of creators continue to coexist, along with different belief systems, the ‘conflict within’ oneself, communities, and countries over which form of creator is superior must become extinct for peace to prevail.
The writer retired from Indian Navy
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
