The spiritual development of humanity has fallen far behind intellectual growth. Looking back through history, It would seem, that our greatest search for knowledge has been directed towards destruction, and our greatest discoveries the result of an all-consuming drive for power.
The contemporary world is suffering from a dearth of morality. Global trends indicate that humankind has reached a dangerous crossroads. Sixty years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a crime against humanity that went unpunished, humanity is still threatened by nuclear warfare. Thirty-five years after the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) was ratified, the world is still threatened by nuclear proliferation. Sixteen years after the end of the Cold War, nuclear deterrence and mutual assured destruction (MAD) remains embedded in military psyche.
This trend is clearly indicated through the continued possession of nuclear weapons by the nuclear states leading to a constant stimulus to other states to acquire them. Not one nuclear weapons enabled state has abandoned plans to develop new nuclear weapons. The nuclear doctrine of the United States of America envisages a new triad of capabilities and new weapons, expanding the role of nuclear weapons beyond their core function of deterrence to their use as ‘legitimate’ tactical weapons in the battlefield. Russia has announced plans to build a new generation of strategic “hypersonic” multiple warhead missiles to counter US plans to mount ballistic missile defences. Britain plans to replace its Trident nuclear warheads and has renewed its collaboration with the United States on nuclear weapons research at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore laboratories, including advanced computer stimulation technology for designing, developing and testing new weapons. France is modernizing its nuclear arsenal, which now boasts two new French missiles to transport nuclear warheads. China also continues to modernize feeling the need to keep up with the rest.
In the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes Report, issued by the United Nations in 2004, the UN has warned the possible collapse of the HPT regime. The UN Secretary General has said that “the nuclear non-proliferation regime is now at risk due to the lack of compliance with exiting commitments, withdrawal or threat of withdrawal from Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty to escape those commitments, a changing international security environment and the diffusion of technology. We are approaching a point at which the erosion of the non-proliferation regime could become irreversible and may result in a cascade of proliferation. Why is this happening?
“Rooted in our genes”. The instinct of aggression must have an outlet apparently. But we have choice in terms of its direction. The gift of freedom and of choice have given us an awesome responsibility, for in the absence of the day-to-day struggle for survival we must create our own challenge.
The late Japanese philosopher, Morehei Ueshiba once said that “Maybe in an earlier century the concept of world harmony taught by the great spiritual leaders was thought to be an exercise of logic. People could not fully understand that a thousand miles away there was a culture completely different from their own, different customs, different lifestyles, and a different spiritual focus. They did not see the problems of communication, or the way the actions on one side of the world politically, ecologically, and economically influence the other. But now, in the twentieth century, people have a different perspective. Through the medium of technology we know the relationship between great bodies of land connected by immense sea, lying under the same sky. We have seen different cultures and studied different languages, an we understand the problems. We cannot step back; we must continue to evolve and find peaceful and healthy solutions to the problems of our rapidly shrinking world”. It is clear to us that continuous efforts through reasonable thought and positive collaborative international engagement must be made in order to allow peace and harmony to become manifest.
The idea of world harmony is not unreasonable, and therefore it must be possible exist in reality. Aggression cannot be allowed to run rampant in the face of new weapons and weapons technology. Nationalism cannot work as more and more we understand the globe.
As far as Malaysia is concerned, promoting world harmony is central to its foreign policy. For instance, Malaysia introduced the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention as a resolution to the UN General Assembly in April, 1997. It was adopted by a vote of 115 in favour. The Convention prohibits the development, production, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use and threat of the use of nuclear weapons. It has outlined a series of five phases for the elimination of nuclear weapons, beginning with taking nuclear off alert, preventing weapons from deployment and removing warheads from their delivery vehicles, disabling warheads by removing the plutonium ‘pits’, and placing the fissile material under international control. This is done in the spirit that every nation has the obligation to bring about goodness to humanity.
Our life in the Hereafter, if we believe in the existnce of a Hereafter, is a reflection of what we do on this earth. This means that we can create our own heaven or hell right here in this life of existence. I am reminded of an old Japanese folktale of an adventurous young man who wanted to know the difference between heaven and hell. He first looked upon hell and saw many people seated at a long table stocked with the finest foods. But everyone had gaunt faces and sunken cheeks. They were thin and weak, crying in despair. A closer look revealed that their hands had only two fingers formed into the shape of the hashi (Japanese chopsticks) four feet long. Although they could pick up the food, their fingers were so long that they could not get the food into their mouths. In frustration they turned their tools into weapons, fighting selfishly among themselves for the food they could not eat. Then the young man looked upon heaven. He saw the same long table with the same beautifully prepared food and the same long fingers. But everyone was laughing and smiling at each other. Their cheeks were rosy and glowed with health. There was no fighting, for they picked up the food and extended it to the other side of the table to feed each other. What is the difference? On the one hand there were selfishness, evil and confrontation, on the other consciousness, compassion and cooperation.