I would like to respectfully suggest that making cost-benefit analyses over any human life or groups of lives, that commodifying human beings, is also evil. The Vienna/Austrian business school is entirely amoral and that is what evil needs to thrive.
I agree with what you wrote. Viewing war as anything but the last resort, is evil. When it is necessary, it's a tragedy. We tend to view wars through the lens of active hostilities, ie the Civil War 1861-1865, WWII 1941-1945. By thinking of it that way, we tend not to integrate the suffering of the veterans and families who suffer loss. There are still Americans suffering the affects of the Vietnam War. For them, a war that started 60 years ago, continues. No, war is sometimes required, and those who fight them for us are true patriots, but war is NEVER a good thing, and those who seek to profit from it, politically or financially, are turning generations of human beings into a raw material for their own profit. Those people are our true enemy.
Sep 29, 2023·edited Sep 29, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
Emeth your shared thoughts are powerful as always. Our oaths we have all taken W of the A speak of Brotherly Love etc... In my Jurisdiction the WM's Oath upon his Installation as the incoming WM speaks of not getting involved in P's and Q's and supporting the Constitution of our country. All R, Code of C ect in my jurisdiction is silent on involvement in evil enterprise.
I do not want to speak on politics and that is never my intent however I will speak on Freemason's getting sucked into the politics of our nation. Lodges, Brothers were divided a few years back on political beliefs and at least in my jurisdiction it caused issues within the 4 Walls of F. There is still serious division comparable to the Civil War that caused division within F.
Evils of the world were allowed within, the 'hold outs' in the conservative states have hardened hearts still and countries are murdering each other over nothing. Freemason's and their families suffer because of these evils.
If all of us could live in peace and stay away from evils of the world we all would be unified as a whole.
This will never happen. Evil creeps into all aspects of our lives. Our lodges are a microcosm of countries at war.
F's live by rules which are designed to place us all on the L.
If these people and nations could only live their lives by what we know as F the earth would be at peace.
Evil is here to stay. Brothers are given the tools for Brotherly Love, R and T but many leave them in the box they were given and they become forgotten and ignored.
Evil is everywhere. Hopefully not within the 4 W's of F.
As a veteran from the Cold War through those that only recently ended in the Middle East, I find the words of our Brother, General Douglas MacArthur to be so very true.
"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
Thank you for this Brother. I've always had a perception that those who are most eager for war are those who have never served. Perhaps my perception is wrong, but that's the feeling I have for what it's worth.
I worked with veterans for 19 years, people suffering all sorts of mental and physical challenges. I never once said "thank you for your service" because what the nation needs to say more than anything else is "we're so sorry". We often use disabled veterans as a cause to make ourselves feel good, but if we really cared, we'd do whatever we could to not make more of them.
IMO, the true battle of humanity has never been between kingdoms or countries, but between those who wage war and those who refuse. This is similar to a civil rights movement not being about a minority versus a majority, but those who are bigoted and those who are not. Too many proudly or even fanatically follow power and hatred as a religious or political brand, and the rest of us want to be left alone, or just do good for each other.
I know this is radical and unrealistic, but is the message of Tolstoy, the Quakers, and Christ. It is in such things that I consider faith not to be belief in what you don't know, but knowing what you cannot believe.
Interestingly Bro. Ken, humans walked away from war more often than they ran towards it. Anthropological & archeological evidence suggests , especially prior to the rise of Western European and the Enlightenment ages, we sought ways to avoid wars and large scale conflicts. We're an odd bunch, us humans.
I am not qualified to agree or disagree with that, but had not heard such a thing asserted previously. I just know that studying history as it's traditionally written, you'd think wars were the entire backdrop of our existence.
I would be interested to learn more about how that has been quantified.
I'm an anthropologist, hence my work in this area. Though I focus on the intersection of human culture and technology. That said, I'd recommend reading "The Dawn of Everything" by David Graeber & David Wengrow. Much of what's been traditionally written is through the lens of Western European thinking, or more contritely, Colonialism.
I don't doubt that at all. I just never heard it clearly asserted that peace was the dominant norm in most times. But then it would make sense given we survived and advanced ...
Indeed. There is much evidence too that Freemasonry played a role in negotiating peace during the American Civil War and that both sides wore Masonic symbols and as such when taken prisoner would be treated better. Masons played a role in protecting Jews in Germany against the Nazis. We can and always should be, interlocutors for peace.
I would like to respectfully suggest that making cost-benefit analyses over any human life or groups of lives, that commodifying human beings, is also evil. The Vienna/Austrian business school is entirely amoral and that is what evil needs to thrive.
I agree with what you wrote. Viewing war as anything but the last resort, is evil. When it is necessary, it's a tragedy. We tend to view wars through the lens of active hostilities, ie the Civil War 1861-1865, WWII 1941-1945. By thinking of it that way, we tend not to integrate the suffering of the veterans and families who suffer loss. There are still Americans suffering the affects of the Vietnam War. For them, a war that started 60 years ago, continues. No, war is sometimes required, and those who fight them for us are true patriots, but war is NEVER a good thing, and those who seek to profit from it, politically or financially, are turning generations of human beings into a raw material for their own profit. Those people are our true enemy.
Indeed! Well said,.. Those people are our true enemies..!!
Emeth your shared thoughts are powerful as always. Our oaths we have all taken W of the A speak of Brotherly Love etc... In my Jurisdiction the WM's Oath upon his Installation as the incoming WM speaks of not getting involved in P's and Q's and supporting the Constitution of our country. All R, Code of C ect in my jurisdiction is silent on involvement in evil enterprise.
I do not want to speak on politics and that is never my intent however I will speak on Freemason's getting sucked into the politics of our nation. Lodges, Brothers were divided a few years back on political beliefs and at least in my jurisdiction it caused issues within the 4 Walls of F. There is still serious division comparable to the Civil War that caused division within F.
Evils of the world were allowed within, the 'hold outs' in the conservative states have hardened hearts still and countries are murdering each other over nothing. Freemason's and their families suffer because of these evils.
If all of us could live in peace and stay away from evils of the world we all would be unified as a whole.
This will never happen. Evil creeps into all aspects of our lives. Our lodges are a microcosm of countries at war.
F's live by rules which are designed to place us all on the L.
If these people and nations could only live their lives by what we know as F the earth would be at peace.
Evil is here to stay. Brothers are given the tools for Brotherly Love, R and T but many leave them in the box they were given and they become forgotten and ignored.
Evil is everywhere. Hopefully not within the 4 W's of F.
Peace.
As a veteran from the Cold War through those that only recently ended in the Middle East, I find the words of our Brother, General Douglas MacArthur to be so very true.
"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
Thank you for this Brother. I've always had a perception that those who are most eager for war are those who have never served. Perhaps my perception is wrong, but that's the feeling I have for what it's worth.
I worked with veterans for 19 years, people suffering all sorts of mental and physical challenges. I never once said "thank you for your service" because what the nation needs to say more than anything else is "we're so sorry". We often use disabled veterans as a cause to make ourselves feel good, but if we really cared, we'd do whatever we could to not make more of them.
IMO, the true battle of humanity has never been between kingdoms or countries, but between those who wage war and those who refuse. This is similar to a civil rights movement not being about a minority versus a majority, but those who are bigoted and those who are not. Too many proudly or even fanatically follow power and hatred as a religious or political brand, and the rest of us want to be left alone, or just do good for each other.
I know this is radical and unrealistic, but is the message of Tolstoy, the Quakers, and Christ. It is in such things that I consider faith not to be belief in what you don't know, but knowing what you cannot believe.
Interestingly Bro. Ken, humans walked away from war more often than they ran towards it. Anthropological & archeological evidence suggests , especially prior to the rise of Western European and the Enlightenment ages, we sought ways to avoid wars and large scale conflicts. We're an odd bunch, us humans.
I am not qualified to agree or disagree with that, but had not heard such a thing asserted previously. I just know that studying history as it's traditionally written, you'd think wars were the entire backdrop of our existence.
I would be interested to learn more about how that has been quantified.
I'm an anthropologist, hence my work in this area. Though I focus on the intersection of human culture and technology. That said, I'd recommend reading "The Dawn of Everything" by David Graeber & David Wengrow. Much of what's been traditionally written is through the lens of Western European thinking, or more contritely, Colonialism.
I don't doubt that at all. I just never heard it clearly asserted that peace was the dominant norm in most times. But then it would make sense given we survived and advanced ...
Indeed. There is much evidence too that Freemasonry played a role in negotiating peace during the American Civil War and that both sides wore Masonic symbols and as such when taken prisoner would be treated better. Masons played a role in protecting Jews in Germany against the Nazis. We can and always should be, interlocutors for peace.