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“War is obsolete. It is a matter of converting technology from weaponry to livingry.” ~Buckminster Fuller
Fuck your weaponry! Fuck your wars! Fuck your head-in-the-sand, kneejerk reaction being violence as a solution to problems.
The problem is that you think that having a problem is a problem. It’s not. We all have problems. The problem is that your solution to problems is almost always violence, as indoctrinated into you by the State’s solution to problems: which is also violence.
If this doesn’t apply to you, so be it. You have risen above your cultural conditioning. You have transcended your indoctrination into a violent system. You have washed off the brainwash. But the majority of us have not. So, more than likely, you have neither risen above, transcended, nor washed your brain into a clearer perspective.
Here’s the thing: if the core philosophy of every healthy martial art is defense first, offense second, then it stands to reason that we apply this same philosophy to living a healthy life. The direct application of which reveals a livingry over weaponry perspective.
Livingry should always be primary to weaponry lest we inadvertently devolve into chaos, violence, and war.
When weaponry is primary and livingry is secondary, we become overreaching, unhealthy, and offensive. When livingry is primary and weaponry is secondary, we become moderate, healthy, and defensive.
Violence should only ever be a solution to a problem when the problem itself is violence (self-defense). Since the problem is rarely violence itself, the solution to a problem should be understanding, tolerance, open-mindedness, compassion, love, or even courage in the face of the unknown (overwhelming odds, death, etc.).
The problem is that the majority of us were raised in sick societies which brainwashed us into believing that the solution to problems is violence.
If your kneejerk reaction to problems in the Middle East is “Bomb the fuckers!” then you’re the problem. If your solution to problems in your neighborhood is “call the cops and arrest the fuckers!” then you’re the problem. If your solution to problems with an individual is “punch the fucker in the face!” then you’re the problem. You’ve been thoroughly conditioned, indoctrinated, and brainwashed by the sick society you grew up in.
It’s high time you rose above it. It’s high time you transcended it. It’s high time you washed off the brainwash. It’s your responsibility alone to do this. Nobody else can do it for you. You and you alone must get out of your own way. You and you alone must recognize the cognitive dissonance that’s keeping you conditioned and hoodwinked in an unhealthy state of violence.
So yeah. Fuck your violence!
Fuck violence, transform it into nonviolence:
“When there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.” ~Gandhi
In order to understand the above Gandhi quote as the last-ditch solution to a problem, you must first understand why nonviolence is almost always the solution.
Nonviolence is going to be counterintuitive to the majority of us because we’ve been raised and culturally conditioned to live in a violent society. This is why the core principles of almost all healthy martial arts feels counterintuitive to us. They all teach self-defense first, offense second. Or, at least, they should. When they don’t—when they teach offense first, self-defense second—then they’ve been hijacked by the violent society that surrounds them.
Self-defense first is the warrior-in-the-garden perspective. It’s the higher perspective. It’s Meta-martial. It transcends the violence of the art. It sees how all things are connected, how violence on the “other” is violence on the “self.”
Deep training in martial arts teaches the artist how and why violence is almost never the solution to a problem. It teaches the artist how a balls-to-bones knowledge of unhealthy violence is an acknowledgement of healthy nonviolence. The artist is taught how to transform the violence inside them into nonviolence outside them. The warrior in the garden, is a gardener (self-as-world/world-as-self) first, a warrior (self-against-world/world-against-self) second.
Although the warrior in the garden has knowledge of both, they choose nonviolence through discipline rather than violence through emotion. If need be, they have the martial knowledge to defend themselves and what they love. But it is only ever as a last-ditch solution in the face of violence itself. Or it should be.
The problem is that the majority of us are not warriors in the garden. The majority of us are armchair quarterbacks psychosocially conditioned by a violent society to be violent. Or we are hyperviolent streetfighter thugs who practice violence first and nonviolence not at all. Or we rely upon the violence of the state to solve our problems for us. Which almost always lead to war.
Swords to plowshares: transforming war into peace:
“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” ~Frank Herbert
The last thing any true warrior wants is war. Because only a true warrior understands that war means the obliteration of love—win-or-lose.
Indeed. War is two “rights” obliterating each other’s rights; peace is two “wrongs” admitting they could be wrong.
A true warrior will always choose peace over war, despite their warrior training. They will always choose livingry over weaponry. They will always choose nonviolence over violence. They only choose war, weaponry, and violence as a last-ditch solution, and only ever as a solution to overreaching violence itself.
The battle begins within. War is always made up of individuals who have chosen weaponry over livingry, and violence over nonviolence, despite life. Had enough of those individuals chosen livingry over weaponry, and nonviolence over violence, despite “wrongs” (this is the essence of tolerance), then war would not have been possible.
So, look into a mirror. You are probably not a warrior in a garden. You are probably a conditioned, indoctrinated, brainwashed, wannabe warrior despite the garden. But that ignorance doesn’t get you off the hook for being connected to the garden. Everything is connected to the garden.
It’s your responsibility alone to recondition your conditioning, to un-indoctrinate your indoctrination, to unlearn what you have learned, to un-matrix the Matrix, to walk out of Plato’s Cave, to wash off the brainwash. Nobody else can do it for you.
But know this: true warriors in the garden will not let up. They will not let you off the hook. They will show you the garden was always there.
They will be transforming livingry into weaponry, despite you (but also for you). They will be choosing peace over war, despite your war machine. They will be transforming violence into nonviolence, despite your solution to all things being violence. They will show you the mirror you refuse to look into. And they will continue waking you up, despite the fact that you are pretending to be asleep.
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About the Author:
Gary Z McGee, a former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher, is the author of Birthday Suit of God and The Looking Glass Man. His works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages and his wide-awake view of the modern world.
This article (Fuck Weaponry! Transform it Into Livingry) was originally created and published by Self-inflicted Philosophy and is printed here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Gary Z McGee and self-inflictedphilosophy.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this statement of copyright.