We Shall Remember

We shall remember.  But what will we remember, and why?

At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, the first world war ended.  This war was known as the "Great War" and was supposed to be the "war to end all wars".  Ever since 1919 all Commonwealth countries, as well as many other countries, especially in Europe, have celebrated the end of this terrible war at 11:00 am on the 11th of November.  Wreaths of poppies are laid at war memorials, and many people observe two minutes silence.

It is right to remember those who died in the service of their country.  But I believe in remembering them we should also remember that it should never have been necessary for them to offer up their lives in this way.  Here I am not just talking about British and Commonwealth soldiers, and I am not just talking about those who died in the first world war.  I mean everyone who has ever died in any war.  Soldier and civilians.  There was no need for any of them to have died.  That is what we should remember.

Whether or not you are in a country that celebrates the end of the first world war (an end which almost guaranteed the start of the second world war rather than being a war to end all wars) I ask you to join with me now, as you read this, in two minutes silent contemplation.  A silent meditation for peace and goodwill to all men, women and children.  To me, this is the meaning of remembrance day.

George Santanyana told us that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".  The first world war was a terrible war that caused terrible suffering to so many people, soldiers and civilians alike.  Because we have not remembered how unneccessary and terrible that war was we have repeated it again and again.  Today soldiers and civilians are dying in so many countries as a result.  Even one such death is one death too many.  Join me in two minutes silence to remember.  To remember how terrible war is, any war, and to remember that there is never any justification to go to war.

  The first world war came and its cost was laid on the people. 

  The second world war — the third — what will be the cost. 

  And will it repay the people for what they pay?... 

  The little girl saw her first troop parade and asked,  

  ‘What are those?’ 

  ‘Soldiers.’ 

  ‘What are soldiers?’ 

  ‘They are for war. They fight and each tries to kill as many of the other side as he can.’ 

  The girl held still and studied.  

  ‘Do you know ... I know something?’ 

  ‘Yes, what is it you know?’ 

  ‘Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.’

        Carl Sandburg, "The People, Yes"

Governments can only fight wars if the people agree to fight them.  Meditate now on peace throughout the world and your meditation can make the people who are still fighting those needless wars reflect on what they are doing.  Make a difference in the world, bring it closer to real peace with your two minute meditation right now.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

As I write this article people all over the world are getting ready to mark Remembrance Day in a couple of days’ time.  Remembrance Day was instituted to remember the sacrifices of the many young men who gave their lives for their country during the First World War, which ended on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918.  Nowadays it is extended to remember all who have sacrificed their lives for their country in war, both men and women.

During the 2 minutes silence at 11 am on the 11^th of November this year I will be imagining something John Lennon and Yoko Ono imagined early in 1971.  A world without war.  Or to put it in a more correct, affirmative way, a world filled with peace.  This is something I have always done on Remembrance Day since I was a child.

I do not imagine a world without religion though.  Religion has its place.  As long as it is not divisive.  It was the divisiveness of man-corrupted religion that made Lennon and Ono want to throw it away.  As Lennon himself said, he wanted a world “without this my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing”.  I imagine a world at peace, where we each seek the Truth in our own way, some of us by following a particular religion and others finding that Truth in a different way.  All of us recognizing and respecting the differences between us.

Nor do I imagine a world without possessions.  I believe the Universe wants all of us to enjoy the possessions we have and to provide us with even more.  It is simply not true that there is a limit on those possessions and that if I possess something it means someone else cannot possess what they want or need.  So there is nothing immoral about wanting more and going out and getting it.  But I also believe we are intended to use those possessions for good, using them to help all those around us.  In that sense my thinking is perhaps not so far apart from John Lennon’s as it might at first seem.

Probably most of you reading this believe in the immense power of visualization.  I certainly do.  If you do believe in this power, or even if you are not sure but are prepared to agree it may exist, and if you believe a world at peace is much preferable to a world at war, I would ask you to join me in a 2 minute visualization for peace.  Visualize everyone, regardless of country, race or religion, working together, living together in peace, being happy together.  Let us all do this visualization together for 2 minutes at 11:00 am on the 11^th November, this year, next year, and every year.

Imagine the power of that visualization!  Let’s do it!