Afghanistan

What is the difference between Afghanistan and most other nations in the world? Why this war in Afghanistan?
It has taken longer time to create peace in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
One reason is that focus has been elsewhere, not on Afghanistan. That would have been acceptable if the solution for Afghanistan had been obvious. But the situation is the opposite, Afghanistan remains an unresolved enigma.
So what is needed is more of analysis, not more of guns and bombs.
The basic need for Afghanistan is respect. That is what we have in all peaceful nations. To impose an alien tradition with weapons is the opposite of respect.
But without NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, the militant Islamists will use their weapons to get power.
In order to overshadow this, more of respect is needed.

No mistake

The difference between a mistake and a sin is that a mistake should be corrected but a sin should be punished. Punishment means to inflict suffering.
So sin is a mistake leading to more mistakes. This is bad. It is obvious.
Sin is a very popular idea. Few so old ideas are so popular.
Sin is founded on the idea of weak mind. As mind is weak, it needs the support of threat of punishment in order to do the right.
If mind was strong it would do the right by itself.
Traditionally, mind was weak for most people. Education was bad, access to knowledge was bad and temporary distraction was abundant and unavoidable.
Now the situation is different, and it is changing rapidly. The problem is not lack of information but too much information.
So the idea of sin and punishment is getting outdated. Instead we need communication and respect for knowledge.

Heart and head

The global financial crisis can activate popular emotion. Fear and hopelessness for the private situation and envy against those "up there" who live a life in leisure and abundance can spark unrest.
So what will happen, what should happen?
The last months we have looked for a head solution - a rational way to act. Very good. The financial unrest is diminishing, even if the recovery of trust is slower than the destruction of trust.
But a new situation is established. We can not just return to business as before.
Hopefully we see the start of a new era of slower material growth and increased cultural growth - instead of using up limited natural resources we can use them in a smarter way.
So we need heart solutions - improvement where it is needed, and relaxation in the overheated sectors.
The possibilities are great. The old times (up to September 2008, if you can remember that long back) when human beings were production factors firstly were not that nice and good. More time for human creativity and development is not a bad prospect.

Against the stone wall

Against the stone wall
Originally uploaded by KurtQ

First and second aid

Mind can get us anything but not immediately. If we want some kind of pastry (with cream, decorated with fruit, sprinkled with chocolate) but do not have it, we can get it later.
In mind we can get "things" (experiences) faster. For example, if we want to have the nice feeling of eating pastry now, we can have that experience now. We do not need a pastry to get the experience of it.
But this immediate experience is short lived. And if we are tired or lack concentration, our wanted experience might slip away and be replaced by another experience.
If the matter is more serious than a pastry, we can use the contrast method. If we feel hatred we can apply love. If we are over excited, we can apply peacefulness.
Can we really? Yes, it works and it is possible to do, but it is difficult to apply love on hate.
In the long run we can prepare mind to avoid bad experiences altogether. We can get rid of aging, sickness and death, eventually. We do it by doing good deeds.
So there is no direct connection between what we do and what we are protected against.