Where Do We Go Now? tells the story of a remote, isolated unnamed Lebanese village inhabited by both Muslims and Christians. The village is surrounded by land mines and only reachable by a small bridge. As civil strife engulfed the country, the women in the village learn of this fact and try, by various means and to varying success, to keep their men in the dark, sabotaging the village radio, then destroying the village TV.
The village is slowly drawn into greater violence; but the women get along beautifully and conspire together to keep their men from fighting.
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I have really liked this movie and I suggest watching it.
The movie showed many interesting perspectives for me, such as our potential to get along, our irrational inability to resist fighting each other when we perceive our beliefs are threatened and what stirs our hearts to fight, it addresses group behaviors and how we seem to not be able to refrain from joining in when ‘our people’ decide that fighting is required to preserve the Egoic identity of the Group.
Women are portrayed as exceptionally lenient and opposed to fighting at their very core, I know this to not be true, we have had women in power such as Golda Meyer or Margaret Thatcher who supported wars just like men, so maybe, we would like to think that the alleged gentleness of women could save us but we know from history that we cannot rely on that alone.
I hate to give the plot away so I suggest to take the time to watch the movie and consider this question ‘could we swap religious beliefs for just one day?’, meaning, can we put ourselves in other people’s shoes understanding that they are the product of their birth and environment and that what they believe is not less weird -or funny- than what we believe, in the eyes of others, and could we let go of the beliefs that we realize can become our alibis, our excuses to set in motion our inner vicious nature and if so, what would it take for us to consider that?
For example, I was born a Catholic not through a fault of any kind, nor a merit according to some, I just happened to be born in Italy, if I were born in Asia I would be a Buddhist or a Taoist, if in India a Hindu or a Christian and in the Middle East a Jew or a Muslim.
How does this matter in any way? Does this trait make me less human than others with a different religious imprinting?
If I could swap myself with any other religion just for one day, would that diminish me, make me fearful, make me a dubious believer? It would be an interesting experiment to consider even though I might not be the best example at such swapping, having already renounced religion for a more global perception of the world.
Incidentally most countries as I mentioned have at least dual religious beliefs, making them perfect grounds for religious based fights and violence, only in Italy and maybe few other countries we were born with no apparent choice, I only learnt about ‘other religions’ when I was 13 as we did a research for our history teacher. I can only say I was puzzled to discover that there were others in the world believing something else entirely – how was that possible?
If our beliefs about a God are absolute why isn’t everyone agreeing on them, why don’t we hold different beliefs about gravity then? Ah yes, because the property of gravity are real, measurable and always dependable on, gravity doesn’t change with geography or with the observers perspective, gravity just is, something religions can’t even come close to claim for themselves.
If religion is a belief that can’t be equally embraced by all then it’s just a man-made belief, maybe there were reasons for some to fabricate such stories and have them become ‘sacred’ as in non questionable, for sure with a bit of reasoning we should not base our ability to get along on man-made, hence amendable, belief systems, specifically when they are divisive and praise some above others – even when they say they do not.
The only belief that can unite us is a belief in our Equality, in our Equal value, in the Equal mess we find ourselves in and in our Equal ability to contribute to a better world if we so choose, why are we not choosing Life for All over our Beliefs then?
If you can perceive the Equal Value of the Life of All, in all living beings, consider standing up for what can unite us, new Principles to live by, a new recognition that Life is valuable and should be honoured in all, regardless of anyone’s insignificant and ultimately irrelevant, acquired belief systems.
Stand up for a Living Income Guaranteed, nothing to believe, no crosses to carry, no fasting, no mantras, no caste system, just Life above All, equally valuable in all living beings to create a world of peace and brotherhood for All, forever more.
Money Matters 