War and Peace

 “The sole cause of wars and revolutions and battles is nothing other than desire.” —Plato (5th Century BC)

“It is insatiable desires which overturn not only individual men, but whole families, and which even bring down the state. From desires there spring hatred, schisms, discords, seditions and wars” —Cicero (1st Century BC)

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask” —James (1 Century AD).

What causes revolution, war, schism, discord, sedition, border disputes, racial tension, marital spats, sibling rivalry? Why can’t we get along?

Ancient wisdom answers: Conflict stems from “desire,” a Greek word (hedone) from which we get our word “hedonism.” Hedonism is the belief that pleasure is the highest good. Taken to its extreme it is a relentless pursuit of personal pleasure without regard for others.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with pleasure. “Pleasures are shafts of glory,” C. S. Lewis said, intimations of God’s goodness and love, serendipitous occasions of his grace. Pleasures only become troublesome when they're snatched in the wrong way, or at the wrong time. 

The worst of it comes when the pursuit of pleasure puts us in conflict with another human being similarly inclined. Two drivers converging on the last parking space at a crowded mall comes to mind. One or the other is thwarted, a frustration that can escalate into lethal rage. “You want something, but don’t get it, (so) you kill,” James writes. The unguarded pursuit of pleasure leads to terrifying violence. James does well to warn us.

James’ solution is profoundly simple: When in the pursuit of pleasure you collide with someone pursuing his or her pleasure, rather than insist that your needs be met, stop, step back and “ask (God)." Bernard of Clairvaux wrote long ago, “What will you do if your needs are not met? Will you look to God to meet your needs? God promises that those who seek first the kingdom and his righteousness will have all things added to them” (from On the Love of God).

One proviso: We cannot dictate the time or terms of our satisfaction. It may be that God will give us what we desire straight away, or he will give it later. Or he may ask us to forgo the thing we sought, but give us the pleasure we sought apart from the thing we were seeking, for lasting peace and joy, of necessity, exist apart from natural causes.

Whatever, our Lord gives a “greater grace” (4:6), greater than any outcome we snatch on our own.

David Roper
1.31.22