DIMENSIONS OF TRUTH:
By K. Ramesh Naidu
PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal
March 29 2006
Finding common sources of personal, interpersonal and world conflicts.
This article focuses on deep underlying mechanisms of the human
mind which causes conflicts. Beginning with a postulation of how
the dynamics of thinking and time is perceived, the concept of time
has two different meaning. One is the physical time and the other
the illusionary time of past, present and future. Human perception
of certainty and achieving goals in the future plays key roles in
starting conflicts and results in uncertainty, insecurity and fear.
Conflicts are results of individual’s manipulation of past memory to
achieve ideas of future goals, power, peace of mind and satisfaction.
Some historic and current world events are analyzed based on this
theory. Truth is illusive due to the intertwining of the dimensions of
time perceived in human mind. By understanding these basic intricacies
all sorts of conflicts can be solved.
Introduction Basically, to account for origins of all levels of
conflicts perceptions of time, past, now and future and its link
with how individual minds operate must be understood. Starting with
theoretical observations of thinking and memory by introspective
method I examine the rise of illusions in mind. The complexities in
decision making are present in all levels of human relationships
and conflicts. The fundamental link between illusion of achieving
certainty and peace in the future and fear is highlighted. One can with
self awareness at a young age be educated about the contradiction in
perception, emotion and action on one hand and truths on the other. The
pursuit of power and pride is a state of mind and is therefore
contradictory to the state of the peace of mind. The idea of world
free of major conflicts is attainable only through the understanding
of how the personal mind works. In final analysis I discuss the long
running conflicts in Asia and offering the possibility for long lasting
peace. Any theory that predicts global peace must predict an outcome
and solution for any conflict in the world or at any level.
Dynamics of thinking and time Thinking can mean choosing the right
words to say, worrying about the security, forming ideas, planning,
dreaming, imagining someone, remembering a past incident, pondering
about the future, doing a math etc. These are all forms of abstract
concepts, symbols, signs and pictures; patterns of information which
is in the memory be it in linguistic, visual, auditory or emotional
forms. When we think, recall, retrieve, remember and replay the
information in our memory we also conjure emotional content of the
original incident or the subsequent modification of that original
memory. All memory therefore seems to have time related dimension,
namely the past.
I believe there are 2 sorts of time. The first is the physical time.
In the real world time has dimensions of space and energy. It moves
forward continuously like a river or orbit of the earth round the
sun. The source of all physical movement of matter, energy and time
is “built in” in the form of spinning, vibration and orbiting of the
subatomic particles that make up the atom and matter. This physical
time is a mathematical and abstract concept of human perception of
the movement of matter and energy.
The second concept of time is the perception of past, present and
future, which I call illusionary time. The two concepts of time are
naturally intertwined in understanding of our own memory. The present
or “now” as perceived by humans is only awareness of a moment in
physical time when we become aware, awake and turn our attention to
an event in our own mind or in our space. The past is set of “now”
that had happened in the physical time and is only present in our
memory. Knowledge in written and recorded form is also information
that had happened in the past. Knowledge can also be either facts or
interpretations of the past sets of “now”. When we are thinking we
dwell into the past images via our memory. The future is a set of “now”
or past images of memory being projected, anticipated or perceived in
the mind. When we are thinking we ponder the future by analyzing these
past images from our memory. Future is also the physical time which
is continuous in a chain of “now’s” going to occur in the physical
movement of time. The next day is certain to happen because earth
rotates on its axis and orbits round the sun.
The concept of physical time and illusionary time are therefore
intertwined and entangled.
The mind manipulates or modifies memories with conscious awareness
or unconsciously in the background of one’s consciousness. Memories
are perceived images or bits of information of millisecond, minute or
sometime ago from a set of physical time of “now”. When we remember
we dwell into our memory by recalling, retrieving and replaying this
information from the past in the present “now”, and online. It can
also be projected into the illusionary time of future in the mind.
This manipulation of the memory is always intended for the purpose of
achieving one’s goal, intent, emotion, state of awareness and control
at any moment of physical time.
Untangling the Illusion The perception of the images being replayed
and anticipated in the mind is illusionary because the second concept
of future-time is illusionary. Fear is the emotional state resulting
from imagining and anticipating chain of unpleasant images via our
memory. While the emotional state of fear can result in stress, the
reality content of these images in the mind is illusionary. Different
emotions cause different response of the body and mind. Emotionally
unpleasant memory are perhaps linked to emotions such as fear,
hatred, anxiety, anger, grief, lust, desire, security, comfort,
nostalgia and longing.
It is possible that all emotions are triggered by memory, though
other types of memory like experience and knowledge do not triggers
emotions. Emotions can also be triggered by situations happening in
the present when one simultaneously analyzes, compares or reasons,
past related images/voices in the mind.
An instant introspective inspection and logical reasoning shows
that thinking, memory, perception and emotion are interconnected
and interrelated in network, circuit or web like manners. It can more
accurately be described as sequence of images or chain of images/voices
causing uncertainty. This is fear or anxiety. The mind seeks certainty
in the first place by dwelling in to the past seeking out assuring or
known images/voices. The mind analyzes with full conscious awareness
or turns on an automatically established pattern of circuit of images
in the background. To put it simple in an instant now the mind dwells
into the past and ponders the future.
There are probably many networks, webs and circuit of images/voices
that gives rise to complex issues such as trauma, phobia, violence,
conflicts, addiction, habits and criminality. These conditions show
excessive lack of understanding of oneself which leads to extreme,
cyclical and prolonged behavior caused by the chain of images in
memory.
The problem of the mind is not restricted to any individual groups
or cultures and is a universal human phenomenon. The phenomenon
of abusive language usage, racism, drug and alcohol addiction, and
aggressive behaviors are all triggered by the inner voice and image
of the memory analyzing the past events and projecting them to future
to get security. Habits are logically linked to memory and thinking.
The projection of a recent bad memory can conjure emotion which
then triggers aggressive responses or verbal utterances or facial
expressions. If one’s perception of a race, ethnicity or religion
of another individual or society is unpleasant the thoughts will be
colored with the remembered past.
It is probably useful to analyze a recent event rather than complex
behavioral disorders for the purpose of self analysis or diagnosis.
Complex disorders are difficult to untangle because they had happened
over long periods of time. These images/voices might now have
established a more permanent circuit or network. The first step to
be taken if one undertakes self analysis is to understand the way
mind works in relation to fear, uncertainty and insecurity. This
can be done by being aware of the chain of events such as time and
situation one is in at any moment and the relationship between the
images in the mind, to get a coherent pattern of information. There is
a fundamental difference between physically being present and aware
of the moment in the present in one hand and thinking about the next
moment or tomorrow on the other. The image or voice is the thought
that exists in the mind and is not a reality.
The faster way is perhaps to be aware immediately of the moment when
the mind is thinking consciously or in the background then stop or
turn “off” that circuit of thinking briefly to make decisions. This
constant vigilance, alert awareness or conscious awareness is difficult
to learn. I believe with practice this ability to gain self awareness
is doable. Another problem is one can choose to have self awareness
or ignore it. The sooner or the frequenter one becomes aware of the
workings of the mind and its illusion the more one can gain control
of its consciousness and act decisively.
Nature of Peace and Certainty Acts to create peace by being aggressive
are caused by the need in the mind to create certainty and security in
an instant “now” or immediately, when one perceives uncertainty (in the
future). Fighting or war is a way of achieving certainty by using power
or the most lethal weapon possible to achieve victory. Ideas of winning
and victory are sequences of images and abstract concepts but it gives
an emotional feeling of satisfaction, comfort and security. The mind
becomes willingly or unwillingly entangled in this cycle of seeking
security and ends up in state of insecurity. There is no permanent
state of certainty because it is related to the state of mind seeking
certainty. Peace whether external peace (world peace) or personal
peace (peace of mind/inner peace) is rather the state of absence of
the network or web of seeking security; when it is not thinking about
the future. This idea of future and achieving certainty is illusionary.
What one remembers are sets of past now or the modification of that
past. When one imagines or projects them in the mind we continuously
access, evaluate a current situation or predict outcome in the
future. This is done to achieve assurance, security or certainty. If
our facts are precise we can make accurate predictions, for example
the speed of earth’s rotation, the sum of 12×12, etc. We can create
complex calculations and products out simple information.
One needs to plan in quite detail the resources, time and money
required to achieve goals and ambitions. This is real because it
involves physical time, work, money, and energy. In order to build a
nice home you need work and earn enough money. It’s not enough to have
a dream only. The goal of the person is to have beautiful house and
one looks forward to future to owning one. That gives a satisfaction
and a feeling of pleasure in the present “now”. When the house has
been built the mind will focus again to another plan in the future, to
have the feeling of pleasure or security. The feeling of satisfaction
either stemming from imagined situations or from having inner peace
is state of peace linked to one being satisfied with the present “now”
or when one is not thinking of seeking certainty. Peace is a temporary
state of mind. Essentially one will the same peace even if is felt 101
years or 1001 years from “now”. This state of the mind will not change
over time because one is not going to feel the emotions differently.
Peace can also be actively incorporated or practiced daily. Everyone
is familiar with the state of giving full attention when being with a
loved one, enjoying one’s favorites music or film or meal, observing
beautiful scenery, playing a sport, doing an experiment, painting…
The acts to relax and be creative show the mind being “tuned” in to
one’s own senses. It involves skills such as listening, observing,
doing, and feeling, tasting and touching. These states of being
sensitive to one’s inner and outer environment are temporary feeling
of giving full attention. It results in the mind feeling peaceful
and relaxed. If the mind is in a state of fear it can be aware of
it and change the state to peace by actively engaging to do relaxing
activities or switch it “off” by not thinking of the images or actively
seek to rid of the fear (is it illusionary or real). For example if
you are scared of drowning in water the best way to rid of the fear
is to go and learn swimming.
The states of love, compassion and care are the same state as peace
of mind because it involves giving full attention in the present
physical time to another person, object, tasks or ideas. In short if
the future (illusionary) is uncertain the present is uncertain and
vice versa. One seeks certainty because one needs comfort, security
and pleasure. At the same time when the mind is not giving attention
to something boredom sets in. Therefore either to distract the boredom
one consciously or in the “inner background” unconsciously thinks or
ponders about the past and future. To have certainty one needs to have
an insight of intricacies of the mind, by learning how the mind works
or by changing the state of the mind by doing something entertaining,
amusing, productive or creative or constructive.
Contradictory State of Mind Conflicts between 2 brothers or between 2
nuclear states are essentially the same. If child A owns the toy and
child B claims the toy is his/hers, and if the 2 children fight for
the same toy, the toy becomes the object of dispute. The only person
who can objectively solve the dispute is the parent of the children
who should tell the children calm down and stop fighting first,
then point out who owns the toy. Most of time the parent will hear
that child A has given the toy to child B as a trade off for another
toy or child B will say that the toy was won by him/her in a bet
in a game with child A. In this case the ownership evidence is not
straight forward. The parent will have to ask either of the children
if one could forgo the ownership for an ice cream as compensation. As
a parent who could stand the noise and the fight between 2 loved
ones living under the same roof? As a parent caring and acting in
the best interest of both the children you encourage them to stop
fighting immediately and reconcile. Children react aggressively to
assert control of their territory or possession because the threat of
uncertainty. This threat of uncertainty is caused by their imagination
of the future (of being without their precious possession).
Any good parent knows, conflicts do flare up again and are
unpredictable. Children can be taught to understand the pattern of
behavior that leads to conflicts. Aggression, fights, manipulation
and lying comes when one first act to protect the physical body, or
second when one acts to restore peace of mind or pleasure and diminish
the feeling fear (uncertainty). Children can be taught the benefit of
being sensitive, understanding and cooperative. Bad behavior leads
to a cycle or chain of events resulting in conflicts and adding to
unpleasant memories. Children can also be taught to focus on learning
and by doing creative activities. Perhaps nations should focus on
their strengths, developing the individual members of society to be
creative and productive. How many sibling rivalries have gone on to
become vicious and non-resolved conflicts lasting decades?
An individual mind operates in contradictory states of wanting
peace and prosperity; while at the same time operating in violent or
selfish way. Individual decision making process in an organizational
level cannot escape the contradictory states of wanting certainty in
the future and will identify with the past (with known information,
ideas, objects, environment, culture, weapons) to gain the illusion
of security. Governments, organizations and systems are comprised
of individuals and therefore all operate in the contradictory state
of mind.
Indecision and Waiting for Settlement Ironically, the tsunami tragedy
of 26th December 2004 in Asia brought home in an instant these
states of temporary and short lived moments of peace, compassion and
solidarity to conflicts areas such as Sri Lanka and Aceh[1]. Thanks
to television networks the suffering was also felt around the
world. People did give attention in varying degrees to the tragedy
and there was an immediate response. The attention was turned to the
tragedy instead of the usual daily differences causing immediate
decision making. Sadly the ending of violence will not happen if
parties involved in the conflict don’t realize or understand how the
fundamental relationship between security and peace happen in the mind.
In order to start a peace process one should completely abandon
analyzing the past. All the structural, political or territorial
disputes should be looked at realistically and factually. The main
obstacle of peace is the lack of awareness of the complexity of the
dynamics of thinking on hand one and the scope and complexity of
issues outside on the other which influence each other. Every point
in decision making process has a certainty-uncertainty element.
Immediate decisions take awareness of the cycle of the illusionary
past and disentangling fear from the facts, and by constructive,
creative or productive actions.
The longer the conflicts lasts the complex the issues and demands
become, adding to the accumulated memory. World conflicts are no
different than personal or interpersonal conflicts. The fastest
approach to peace and progress is to realize each others suffering and
start reconciling by forgiving each other’s mistakes, start dialogue
and find practical solutions. The current Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire
is the best example of how nearly 60 years of conflict the parties
finally realize that the lasting solution will eventually come from
negotiation and not militarily[2].
It is probably enough for one side to realize this potential to
achieve settlement. Conflicts and wars are moments of confusion and
errors. Humans cause wars not nature. The illusion of achieving peace
by war in many countries is real.
Delays in decision making process shows that the person or parties
involved wanting to wait for the right time or moment when there’s
clear or favorable change of situation on the ground. Different
conflicts in the world may have may have different external sources
of disputes but all parties want to win or end conflicts as soon
as possible by using the most powerful weapon or best tactics. The
past 100 years or the past 2000 years of history on the other hand
is the ultimate fact. It shows that conflicts and wars whether
based on religious, imperialistic, ideological, and territorial or
ethnic reasons takes years and thousand of lives. Huseynov (2005)
writes about the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the
Mountainous Karabakh region where there is a neither war nor peace[3]
situation. Other conflicts in Asia such as China-Taiwan, India-Pakistan
have been going for decades pointing to the confusion of decision
making with clarity by all sides.
Prolonging a conflict causes spending of resources and energy.
Uncertainty increases with time and creates an even more complex
history. It is in the best interest of all sides to recognize that
delay in decision making is not due to complexity of the issues
or history of the conflicts but because of the uncertainty of the
individual’s mind in predicting outcome. Uncertainty is a state of
the mind.
Power and Pride International conflicts between countries either
historically or at present times have often been preceded by suspicion
of each other’s motives and balance of power. One neighboring
country goes to war with the other to occupy the other and to become
dominant over the other. These types of conflicts are essentially
about power. History is full of wars and bitter rivalries that color
the international relationships today. Political, technological,
scientific, economic or militaristic powers are real tangible forces
that bring about change for the good or destruction. Individual
humans operate and control all these powers. Power gives feeling of
security, certainty and comfort. Individuals identify and comfort
oneself with power and prestige which gives a feeling of pride. The
feeling of pride is a temporary state of the mind which can be turned
into political policies, ideologies or actions.
When individuals want to have power their motivation to gain power
comes from imagination of having certainty, comfort, pride and prestige
in the future. At the same time it could be that the present “now” is
lacking comfort or certainty. The formulation of the Nazi ideology and
the rise to power by Hitler shows his obsession for gaining power. On
a personal level Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to show that his power
was still intact after the Iran-Iraq war ended.
He was obsessed with pride and prestige and wanted to be comforted of
having the security in his mind of absolute power. At the same time
these leaders cause destruction and deaths. The need for certainty
and wanting to have a peace of mind contradicts the action of these
individuals. These shows even after thousands of years of civilization
the contradictory state of mind and the concept of certainty are not
well understood
Borders disputes between neighboring countries sometimes turn into
wars and skirmishes. Most of the disputes linger in limbo for decades
without any settlement because individual leaders in those countries
wait for the right time in future to have advantage of the other. In
the first place the solution to any boundary problem can be negotiated
or settled in courts without armed conflicts. The second is expectation
and waiting for future to bring solutions to current problems. Problems
can be practically and immediately solved if individuals can see that
the future-time imagination is illusion. Has all the wars in the past
brought lasting world peace and prosperity at any moment in time? And
would the future bring any improvement knowing the fact the physical
future of time will not bring change to the state of mind.
Long Running Conflicts According to CrisisWatch[4] there are roughly
at any time in the previous 19 months more than 60 ongoing conflicts
and crisis.
Conflicts happen all over the world internally within borders of
one country or between different states. There are many different
causes of conflicts ranging from real disagreements over sovereignty,
border, territory, ethnicity, religion, intolerance, ideology, system
of governments, power interest, authoritarianism, poverty, corruption
etc. These are real and factual disagreements going back in time
to the past. If one takes “now” as the ultimate truth and the fact
that future will be the same as the present or past, one can ignore
the past cycle of images. Philosophy, politics, science and religion
seem to converge all over the world about peace, progress, prosperity
and integrity. But there is either a lack of self knowledge or deep
unwillingness to act coherently to solve conflicts. One can choose
to incorporate differences and work toward peace and prosperity or
choose to remain in the dark and lack the insight to understand how
the mind works.
Leaders in armed groups are individuals wanting to establish power
therefore come under the rule of the dynamic of thinking and time. At
a younger age leaders tend to be idealist in wanting to establish
goals in independence, justice, freedom, religion and ideology. While
struggling to establish this ambition of future idealism, certainty,
security, satisfaction and harmony, they tend to fight at the same
time. This idea of achieving the results of the ambition lasts decades
and results in deaths and hardships among ordinary people.
The cycle of aggression and ceasefire are repeated during the course
of time in the conflicts in Aceh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Nepal[5],
Southern Philippines[6] and Southern Thailand[7].
Changing Mindsets Dialogue, mediations and negotiations are tools to
solve conflicts.
These are important when parties involved in the conflicts realize
that war leads to a cycle of violence and counter violence prolonged
in the physical time. Immediate decisions involve awareness of the
cycle of the illusionary past and disentangling fear from the facts,
and by constructive, creative or productive actions.
The truth is around the corner but in a different dimension. One has
to cut straight to the fact, find the truth and gain insight into
a problem, conflict, phenomenon, relationship… by untangling the
perceptions of future-uncertainty.
Gaining insight gives a short cut, tells you how to find the right
answer, and lets you understand the pattern of information of any
given problem, conflict, phenomenon… instead of depending on time
to solve problems. Societies are comprised of layers and groups of
individuals. When leaders go to war it is because there is power in
the form of organizational backing of government and military. No
leader would go to battlefield alone. Wars are organized lack of self
knowledge. Any country should be able to defend itself just like any
individual would defend himself/herself when physically under threat.
Maybe there is a universal way of seeking truth, how to find fact,
how a step by step pattern of inquiry can be achieved or can lead to
finding answers for a given problem, but there is perhaps no universal
answer for a given problem. Only genuine inquiry, search and awareness
of the truth can change mindset at any time and place.
References
[1]CrisisWatch No 18, 1 February 2005
3242&l=1 [2]Disengagement
and After: Where Next for Sharon and the Likud?, Middle East
Report No.36, 1 March 2005, retrieved 11 April 2005 http://
&l=1 [3] Huseynov, Tabib,
Mountainous Karabakh: Conflict Resolution through Power Sharing and
Regional Integration.
Retrieved 11 April 2005,
Mountainous%20Karabakh20%final%20version%20edited% 203.pdf
[4] CrisisWatch no 1 to 19 editions (from
September 2003 to March 2005) retrieved 30 March 2005,
=1200&l=1 [5]Diplomacy
Stimulation Exercises, retrieved 11 April 2005
ms/sovereignty/diplomacy/
[6]The Mindanao Peace Talks: Another Opportunity to Resolve the Moro
Conflict in the Philippines.
Special Report 131, retrieved 11 April 2005
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[7] Thailand Violence, retrieved 12 April 2005
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