Build “Peace-loving Man”

To make this burning Hell

heaven of peace on earth!

dr, james kottoor editor, ccv.

                Building “peace-loving man”,(says Fethullah Gulen, read his article below) that is, humans, man/woman, totally committed to non-violence, tolerance and dialogue, is the only  sure route to lasting peace on earth.

                   It is tedious task -- laborious and time consuming like building a huge concrete structure like the twin New York towers, brick by brick. Therefore, instantly comes also the conflicting thought – NY trade centre was felled and met the fate of the biblical “Tower of Babel”, a monument  built to proclaim the greatness of the  builders, to make a name  for themselves, not for common good. So the staggering question, the dilemma straining in our face is: “Is it worth striving to build the ‘towering peace-loving Man, as if we have never learn any lesson from history? I leave that question to you for answering.

                 Implanting a ‘Wish-bone’ in humanity through public opinion is a day dream, a quick-fix like writing on ocean surface, a starting point at best!  But in New York, didn’t they rebuild the New York tower? So the message could be: ‘Never give up’, but try until you succeed.

Teen-ager story

            You all know the story of the teen-ager who fixed the world map torn to bits and jumbled, in no time thanks to the picture of a man behind the map. He just fixed the man behind and the tattered bits of the whole world fell in due places! That means, fixing up the “peace-loving man”(world) is the unfinished challenge facing humanity today. The question is: How? Easy like fixing up the world map?

          There have been and there still are  ‘peace-loving’ men around. Two towering historical figures are the Man from Galilee, known also as the carpenter of Nazareth, Son of Man,  Jesus the Jew. Some say he was the only good Jew, others, he was the only good Christian who was a Jew who died on the cross! The other is Buddha, a perfect picture of peace. One was born in utter destitution, in a cattle shed the other in lap of luxury! Which means, what matters is not how one begins his life on earth, but how he crowns it.

Peace to Good willed

          Now think of the followers of these two spiritual giants of history! “Glory to God in the heavens and peace on earth to men of good will” the angels sang reportedly at the birth of Jesus.  Yet from the time of the Prince of Peace to this day Jerusalem remains a zone of  war and blood shed, not peace. As for Buddha, just think of the heart rending stories of war and violence targeted by or against the Rohingas in Miyanmar!

          Think also of India, called the light of the East, supposedly yearning for “Vasudaiva Kudumbakam” and praying for  “Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu!” and the on going fight for dominance between the forces of division and unity   on the  basis of religion, caste, class and cultural habits like what one eats, drinks, wears and whom one marries, even when all speak of  ‘development’ or ‘Acche Din’.

Emergency coming?

            What about clash of ideas – use of “Neech or “Congress-Pak collusion to defeat BJP in Gujarat? What about total inaction against culprits of daylight murderers, by Cow vigilantes, of love-jihad man lynched, burned and video graphed to proclaim his valor, of the son of a top leader who amassed crores in one year and the nation’s media silenced as during  emergency?

            One feeble silver lining amidst the encircling gloom was the warning followed by quick suspension of Mani Sankar Ayar and Rahul’s inauguration speech portraying himself as a ‘very very humble person, not even a shadow, but at best a dummy or dwarf beside towering giants who led the destinies of the nation’ knowing well that it is going to be a race between the hare and the tortoise?

Shadow of Global scenario

           What is happening in India is only a faint reflection of the global scenario led  by a an incompetent  world police, Trump  trying to take the world to the dark ages of ‘Might is right’ and India’s Modi trying to win him over  by ‘hug-diplomacy’. Globalization, already a fact, should not mean getting uprooted from one’s own moorings and culture. It should instead mean unity in diversity, complementing and enriching the universal with what is precious and particular to each country. It should turn out to be a synthasis, a happy marriage of local and global = Glocal, an enriching of the inseparable duo. Possible if building  ‘peace loving man’ can be done. How to go about it?

               The work is ours, we the people, you and me. The starting point is where humans are borne, our own homes where bricks of society are fashioned first, then the nursery schools to universities where humans with “good will” to collaborate and compliment, not to collide, conflict,  terrorize and  eliminate each other in a nuclear holocaust, are polished  to perfect finish.

Not a call to evangelize

This is the timely message of “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good will” already heard sung around the world. This is not a call to make the whole world Christian. The one at whose birth this was sung in heavens, was a Jew. He never became a Christian, but lived as a Jew. died as a Jew, (INRI Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews) was the inscription on the cross he died. He never established any Church or organized  religion. His followers were called Christians first in Antioch years after  his death. In Kerala they were called “Margam Kooiyavar” (those followed his path).

            He presented himself as the SON OF MAN, as the ideal Man for all peoples, places, creeds and cultures and befriended the poor, untouchable, lonely and those in utmost  need. If ever he started a class of people it was the CATTLE CLASS on the road, homeless and address less. The class culture was created by man, the most comfortable class headed by Constantine, not  the ‘Ever lasting Man’ (Chesterton),  the “Man from Galelee” (Fulton J.Sheen). His God was his Father, (Our Father who art in Heaven} who is the Father of all humanity.

              All humans were his brothers and sisters. Nay he explicitly told them to treat him as their close best friend, not master at the last supper. None of the churches follow those instructions of his. They worship him, adore him and pray to him, all forbidden by him. Who is to blame for all these, except the Churches themselves, who want a King and Emperor figure, so that they can sit at the right and left as Prime Ministers, which James  and John tried and failed miserably?

            So goodbye to all organized fighting religions and more strength to Sri Narayana Guru pleading for ‘One God, one Religion and One Caste, the human caste male or female’. And more power to that God (if thre is a God) the Father of all, and His heavenly peace to  all people of Good will, his  true followers around the world! Wish you a Happy Christmas  without Christ personified as a religious head, but as a leader of a pilgrim humane humanity of Good will!