War is progress, peace is stagnation
If peace had been the ultimate objective then we wouldn't need to go through war to obtain it.
Let’s first understand, What is a war and why war happens?
War can be defined in general as conflicts which arises due to disagreement between two or multiple parties, if occurs it have potential to cause severe damage to humanity and infrastructure. Whereas, peace is state of harmony, unity and contentment.
War mainly happens over the economic, territorial, or technological reasons. From the times when society was largely uncivilized there was competition among groups over food resources as food was the ultimate concern. Contemporarily, the elements of concerns kept changing and so does the definition of useful resources and perhaps, the reason of occurrences of wars revovle around the containment of powerful resources.
Kautilya in his ‘Arthashastra’ wrote, war should be the last resort but when it comes to protection of territory of Mauryan Empire war was considered as an option.
Even the war between Kauravas and Pandavas signifies the importance of self respect as a important resource of that time. In the medieval time wars were generally fought for religious supremacy, and hence India witnesses the religious development movements like Bhakti and Sufi movements.
Likewise the first war of Independence i.e Revolt of 1857 has played a significant role in generating the feeling of nationalism in India including unity, common cause, shared resistance, leadership and intellectual awakening. And in broad connotations, it plant seed for future nationalist movement in India, which had helped us achieve independence.
While there are many reasons for war and its consequences are also not good for humanity, but on the other hand there is progress, but how?
Fundamentally, society is a dynamic entity and with the change in technology and basic needs of human, the ways and forms of war have also changed. War can be categorized into economic war, cyber war, technological war, geopolitical war, cold war etc. And such kind of war have the potential to bring progress to some extent.
For instance, technological war may deliberately force country to improve in Science and Technology and invest more in Research and Development ultimately making country less vulnerable to cyber threats and attack and in turn adding to GDP.
Military war may create need for a country to innovate and invest more in defence sectors which definitely will increase GDP, create employment opportunities and lead to progress.
Economic war may force policy makers to protect domestic economy and introduce schemes for domestic producers like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, which also decreases our dependence on other nations.
Does every war leads to progress?
No, not all wars leads us to progress. Some wars cost us more that even a decade of progress can’t nullify the effects of war. Basically, a war is a type of competition in which some wins and some loose. But what is at lost can not be left unconsidered, right? Humanity, society, harmony and peace is at stake when the war gets violent.
Does absence of war means peace?
Peace is a very subjective phenomenon, for some societies peace may come from unity, common cause and for others it may come from spiritual ways. At individual level, the meaning of peace changes through out the life.
Now, let’s consider a situation where there is no war, for example right now, in broader sense in India war is not happening, but does it decrease the occurrence of violence in an individuals life?, Is there political stability, harmony ? Do we not have people with communal and casteism mindset? Aren’t there bloodshed crime, dowry, domestic violence, workplace harassment happening at present?
And most important question is, who will fight war against it? Us humans, right?
But what happens when we don’t stand up and fight a war against social dogmas or inhumanity?
people in these circumstances will try to escape the situation and call it a peace but this is not peace this a comfort zone which will cause stagnation at individual level and after some time at national and global level.
For instance, consider an example of a woman facing domestic violence and not coming out and filing an FIR this will definitely lead to short term peace but such practices will make society to stagnate.
How peace can lead to stagnation?
The supreme court of India gave the LGBTQ community right to equal citizenship and struck down section 377. Because, Navtej singh Johar and some member of Queer community were not at peace about how their community was treated and they did not escape the situation, rather they use tool of writ petition to fight a war for equality.
To comprehend, making peace with situation doesn’t help, because at societal level war fought for individuals or communities equal access to right can lead us to national progress, as it tends to set example for future generations.
At global level also, there might be consequences but some war needs to be fought at all the costs; like USA and its allies invaded Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban regime that had harbored terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks and Israel conducted a military strike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria, citing concerns about the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Does peace always leads to stagnation?
No, that’s not the case. As there are example when peaceful protest also got success like Mahatama Gandhi’s salt satyagraha which was non-violent also.
At Individual level obtaining peace might be easy but when it comes to society and nation states it becomes tremendously difficult job. Hence, it can be said that a peaceful society is a utopian dream.
And Above all, are you at peace with yourself?
To some degree, yes and to some degree no, right? No matter what career or life phase you are in, there will be self doubts, comparisons, quest for perfection etc And what are these? They are internal conflicts, so basically we are always at war with our conscience and trust me this war is worth fighting because it will give you self- awareness, self-compassion, willingness to challenge and ultimately, progress.