Governments or religions will not bring peace to the world

We do not know the meaning of freedom.

We are all pursuing our own wishes and dreams. What we understand about freedom is to act the way we want to while on this path.

We are quite content with ourselves. We think that our truths are the only truth and they should be everybody else’s truth.

Our ideas are so strong that we never ask the question, “Is that so?” We are absolutely sure of ourselves, our values and our ideology.

We are judgmental and prejudiced. We have clung to our ideas so strongly there is no chance for any flexibility.

We are clueless that thoughts can be as destructive as constructive. We are blind to the destructive effects of thought. This is obstructing us from harmonizing with ourselves and the world.

Instead of uniting, we are pulled to different poles, being slaves to our inflexible thoughts.

This has nothing to do with education or illiteracy. Maybe an illiterate person’s thoughts are limited, but an educated person’s thoughts are also limited. The reason is that the thought itself is limited.

We should turn into ourselves and question our reactions. They do not teach this in school. We are the only ones able to break those chains we have locked ourselves into in our minds. However, in pursuit of our ambitions and our wishes, we do not even volunteer to take the first step.

Famine, war and injustice have not ended in thousands of years. Neither governments nor religions were able to make humankind live more morally and more justly. The world is the same now as it was 1000 years ago.

World peace will not come from governments or religions; we can make that peace by starting with ourselves.

Wherever there is a partition, it is inevitable that there is conflict. It should not be surprising that there is conflict and clashes in a world partitioned into nations and religions. As we separate, war and pain will not end. In a world where armies stand at attention, who would feel secure and that peace could be achieved? We have accepted this as the reality of the world and we do not even question it. If we want to question it, then we are categorized as “naïve.”

When world change is mentioned, what always comes to mind is alternate governing methods and economic structures. It never occurs to us to solve the conflict inside us first, and to regard humanity as a whole.

We do not see that regardless of religion, language, race or culture, many of us suffer the same pain. We think we are different from each other and create enemies.

Believing we are different is the excuse for war and clashes. If we believe we are a part of humanity, then we should bear the responsibility of all war and pain. We are avoiding that responsibility and taking shelter in the comfort of being a member of a nation or a religion.

We are racing our pain. We shout, “We are the most victimized, the most downtrodden.” As a matter of fact, the pain of the mother who has lost her child to her country, for independence or by her child becoming a live bomb, is the same everywhere in the world. Other sorrows are similar. It is the sorrow of humanity there. Pain does not have a religion, language or race.

We should begin changing the world from within ourselves. We should not fixate on those who say the opposite and we should remember that we are the only one people on the world.

What I understand from freedom is being free from all programming, conditioning, prejudice and hardline thoughts. For this, we first should relax and silence our minds.

When freedom of expression is in question, many oppose by asking, “Should it be free to insult our sacred values?” Even their opposition is woven with fear, prejudice and conditioning; whereas a truly free person does not regard human freedom as a tool to insult and does not judge anybody.

If knowledge and thinking were able to solve this world’s conflicts, then politicians who have the most knowledge and best-thinking consultants would have transformed the world into a better place.

Knowledge is vital, but obviously it is not enough. And now it is time we should stop accusing each other of being “ignorant” and cleanse the fears, then conflicts in our own minds and install peace.

Without us achieving this, no peace will arrive anywhere whatsoever.