Even though the problem is now very serious, a solution is possible. Before all else, it must be realized that internal peace of mind is the foundation of external world peace. At the same time, we must admit that external organization and arrangements are necessary for, or at least, favorable to, the cultivation and the maintenance of an inner peace of mind.
Fundamentally, inner peace is stirred or broken by the three kinds of selfishness:
These three motives, if mismanaged, will not only break inner peace of mind, but bring one into conflict with neighbors or lead one to exploit or cause troubles to others. Throughout history, innumerable wars and armed conflicts between nations and states, however ostensibly claimed, have almost all originated from the motives of craving for wealth or power or both.
In 1910, William James, a highly respected American philosopher and psychologist, said in his pacifist statement, “The Moral Equivalent of War”:
History is a bath of blood… Greek history is a panorama of jingoism and imperialism – war for war’s sake… Those wars were purely piratical. Pride, gold, women, slaves, excitement, were their only motives… Our ancestors have bred pugnacity into our bone and marrow… “Peace” in military mouths to-day is a synonym for “war expected.” …the intensely sharp competitive preparation for war by the nations is the real war, permanent, unceasing; and that the battles are only a sort of public verification of the mastery gained during the “peace”-interval.
He also wrote:
Modern war is so expensive that we feel trade to be a better avenue to plunder;…
On a larger scale those wars and cases of bloodshed were waged in the name of faith and religion. Whether they were holy wars or religious persecutions, almost all were driven by the third motive of clinging to view and ideology.