War, like all violence, is born of fear. The passion for liberty — to escape from tyranny and freely go your own way — is very different from the fear needed to defeat, conquer, or eradicate. Yet, the same fearful drive to eliminate or destroy whoever seems to oppose us is also apparent in agriculture and medicine. We are not only willing to poison our food, air, water and the earth itself in a futile attempt to kill-off all blight and pestilence, we also consume powerful antibiotics that wipe out the entire spectrum of beneficial flora and fauna required by a healthy, balanced immune system.

Unity, strength, and safety is born of diversity not homogeny. Therefore, diversity must be embraced, not merely tolerated. Life demands it as evidenced by the fact that, in all three instances — war, agriculture, and health care — attempts to eliminate the adversaries result in even more resistant strains rising up in search of an integrated balance.

The Wisdom of the Ages teaches us to balance and harmonize conflict, to treat others as we wish to be treated, to realize that we do reap what we sow, and to transmute separative fear to Unitive Love. Most people need to feel safe in order to act in peaceful, kind, and loving ways. The secret to replacing war and all other violent behavior with peace is in learning to feel safe and wise in the presence of fear and confusion — to forgive others, as well as yourself.

We must feed and educate our "enemies" — give them bread and books. Our personal and foreign policies must foster mutual respect based on trust rather than fear.

The Great Dichotomy of Life is not so much a conflict between good and evil as it is a choice between harmony and discord, between Unitive Love and separative fear. Only the qualities of Spiritual Love and Understanding that flow from deep personal peace can vanquish fear, anger, hatred, and violence. Fill yourself with peace, harmony, compassion, and kindness. Wage peace and abolish war forever.