famine – Engaging Peace

guest author: Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.

The new calendar year is upon us . . . in every sense of the word! We use the New Year as an opportunity for renewal — a chance for a fresh start. We leave behind the accumulate residue of the past year, and respond now with a blank slate of possibilities — an imagined vision of what could be . . . “If only.” Yes, it is the “If only,” constraining us and inspiring us. I once wrote a wisdom bite: “If! A two-letter word, simple in sound, profound in consequence.”

So here we are! Wanting a new start, but clear we have much unfinished business from last year. There is wisdom in knowing the challenges we face, for life is never free of them. It is also useful to know the resources we possess, even if they may be inadequate to the task. It is useful to explore the dynamics of resource-challenge relations. There will always be tradeoffs and compromises, and these are disappointing. Yet, they constitute a reality that cannot be ignored. So what does 2016 look like from the resource-challenge perspective?

In my opinion, there are reasons for fear, and reasons for hope. Has it ever been anything different? Hasn’t history shown us each age was filled with its challenges and resources? Yes, this is true. But what is different this year – 2016 – is the “global stage” in which the challenges and resources are being tested and contested. We are unprepared for the magnitude of stage. And, the problem is resources are always fewer in number than challenges. But is their power less?

There is something noble and inspirational about the willingness to assert human and environmental dignity and worth via various resources. There is something noble about joining causes to bring positive changes. This may be the most important thing! It is hard to speak of the nobility of the human spirit when we consider the widespread abuses and insults human have engendered. But perhaps the “process” of responding to challenges reminds us of the essence of life itself – a felt force seeking and pursuing, not only survival, but growth, development, and becoming. Go for it!

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822.

Show, by your actions, that you choose peace over war, freedom over oppression, voice over silence, service over self-interest, respect over advantage, courage over fear, cooperation over competition, action over passivity, diversity over uniformity, and justice over all.

“Choice:” Poetic, Personal, and Political from guest author Dr. Anthony Marsella.*

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both. . . . Somewhere ages and ages hence,
Two roads diverged in a wood,
And I . . . And I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet (1874-1963)

Literary critics have written a lot about this popular Robert Frost poem. All seem to agree that the essence of Frost’s poem is the importance of “choice” in the absence of any knowledge of possible consequences the making of an important decision without knowing the likelihood of the outcomes. This decision requires the willingness to choose, based on personal confidence, trust, and, perhaps more than anything else, courage.

Critics suggest Frost expressed in his poem that there was no better path, but rather that “choice” is our daily reality Choice is always present. Choice is inherent in the nature of human life, and forms the basis for individual and social morality. Unlike other species that rely on reflexive, inborn fixed-response patterns, humans have the capacity for choice, although there may be little conscious awareness of this special capacity. As life unfolds, the consequences of our choices reveal the wisdom (i.e., fulfillment, satisfaction, comfort), and/or regrets (i.e., remorse, penitence, guilt, trauma) of our life.

I chose Frost’s poem as a departure point for a choice all humans face at this time in our world; in my opinion, the choice is between endless war or nurturing and sustaining life. Here I could substitute the word “peace,” but I am uncertain at this point what peace means. People, societies, and nations use the word peace with impunity to benefit their own needs, rather than as a source of mutuality, an enduring condition in which violence, destruction, and war are refused. Enough!

I am asking for a world free of strife, suffering, agony, and endless pain and grief. The apocalyptic horses are exacting their legendary tolls of poverty, famine, disease, and war, amidst threats of extinction, disposable lives, and the exhaustion of natural resources. We are living in the Anthropocene Era (age) in which human behavior, shaped by choice, is the dominant force that shapes our world’s survival. The two greatest capacities of humanity — consciousness and conscience—have yielded to denial and avoidance in favor of reflex and impulse. Cui Bono?

*Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii. Dr. Marsella’s essay was originally published by Transcend Media Service at https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/10/two-paths-in-the-wood-choice-of-life-or-war/ . We will publish excerpts from it intermittently over the next few months.

Global Resources and Challenges for 2016 ©

Two Paths in the Wood: “Choice” of Life or War, Part 1