In my morning meditation, I asked myself why we still are warring at this point in human history. How is it possible that somebody still can believe problems and differences can be solved by killing each other?
The image of Athena came to my mind. The goddess of war and wisdom. Of art and techné. Inconciliable opposites? Absurd pairs?
No. We humans learn through crises. A Greek word that means "crack" - an opening.
The concept of learning through a painful experience is common in many cultures. Even the Buddhist one. Differently from the book's religions, Buddhism and the Ancient Greeks do not worship suffering. It is not the goal; it is a process of liberation that comes from understanding (and not, as many get it wrong, from getting rid of the flow of life!).
So, Athena teaches us how to find wisdom that comes from war, considering that we are still not free from this way of learning. WWII showed humanity that we cannot accept a madness that privileges a "pure race" and kills millions. It also taught that there is no "social equality" when a dictator massacres his own people in millions - including Ukrainians. Humanity made a step further into wisdom. No, it did not become wise, but better.
The madness of the Ukraine invasion is not as successful as the autocrat madman in the Kremlin fantasized. Also, in terms of support from the populists worldwide. Very soon, the Russian people will oppose it. Even the soldiers will ask themselves why they have to kill brothers and sisters. And die for the personal greed of a mob boss that reduced beautiful Russia to his personal feud. This war and the brave - and painful - resistance of the people of Ukraine will give us, hopefully in time, more wisdom. We hope it will end as better as it is possible. It is time to find a global way to live on this planet together.
Conflicts will ever exist. The way to solve them has to change.