Peace, Consciousness, and Applied Amplified Peace Intelligence (AAPI)

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 19 Feb 2024

Robert Kowalczyk and Klaus Schlichtmann - TRANSCEND Media Service

The Normative Current: Abolishing War and Establishing True Collective Security

Painting by Pierre Nagley

“We must work together for AI that bridges social, digital, and economic divides, not one that pushes us further apart. I urge you to join forces and build trust for peace and security.” — Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (2023)

This is the third in a series of four articles written for Transcend Media Service, its members, and all others in the peacebuilding field. Links to the first and second articles can be found at the end of this article.

Peace is Consciousness. Then what is Consciousness, one might ask. Nobody, not one of us on this planet, can explain it. Yes, many have tried and there are countless guesses, but as Roger Penrose, Noble Prize winner in Physics and renowned Quantum Physicist has written, “What is Consciousness? To answer this scientific question, which touches our deepest being, does not currently have any theory. And, not knowing how to define this notion satisfactorily, how could one find a rigorous method to approach the question of its nature?” (The Emperor’ New Mind, 1989).

Now, 35 years later, there still is no definitive answer that any scientist, philosopher, psychologist or individual can claim as the truth.

It still, along with all too many other scientific “facts” (such as Dark Holes, or more widely, Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which science allegedly states take up 95% of the universe) yet remains humanity’s grand mystery. For unless there is total proof by the scientific community, all of the concepts are nothing more than best guesses attached to temporary labels, such as “infinity.”

To repeat, Consciousness is Peace, for if one is at peace, in whatever form it may take, there simply are no guesses, and all of this existence of ours becomes crystal clear. And this is not a theory, but an observable experience for many, and on occasion for some.

No matter what one’s belief, religion, politics, ideology, or convictions may be, nearly all of humanity has experienced such moments, or if fortunate, such days; and if one lives it, as so very few of us do, Peace as Consciousness is a long term understanding. With consciousness as with peace, neither taking sides in an argument, nor judging others that breathe this air, nor wishing ill upon anyone, but rather focusing on this moment, its meaning and its wonder is all one need. At the same time, one understands both its current impossibility along with its most contradictory and amazing possibilities for our collective and sustainable future, without needing any ideology or political choice whatsoever.

The ability to cultivate Consciousness/Peace as opposed to running in circles with the monkeys of the mind has been explained by the great peace makers, writers (both classical and current), philosophers, and psychologists.

To take one example, let’s briefly consider Carl Jung’s Shadow (a close companion to the Freudian id) with quotations from his many writings on its workings, and while doing so, let’s reconsider our current global conflicts and dangers and how they may be building up to total war due to our individual and collective Shadows, as has already been so brutally demonstrated twice — the third time will surely be our last.

To quote Carl Jung:

“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.” (Aion, 1951)

“Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” (The Philosophical Tree, 1945)

“The change of character brought about by the uprush of collective forces is amazing. A gentle and reasonable being can be transformed into a maniac or a savage beast. One is always inclined to lay the blame on external circumstances, but nothing could explode in us if it had not been there. As a matter of fact, we are constantly living on the edge of a volcano, and there is, so far as we know, no way of protecting ourselves from a possible outburst that will destroy everybody within reach. It is certainly a good thing to preach reason and common sense, but what if you have a lunatic asylum for an audience or a crowd in a collective frenzy? There is not much difference between them because the madman and the mob are both moved by impersonal, overwhelming forces.” (Philosophy and Religion, 1938)

Does anyone doubt these deep and uncomfortable but highly plausible truths, and the currently obvious facts, of these quotations? One might also term Jung’s Shadow as Power, which is as ambiguous as air, but like air can be “felt” without pointing any fingers at individuals, groups, cults, political ideologies, or blocs of nations — all that represents Power. And Power, as Machiavelli in the 16^th-century and others have indicated, corrupts even with the best of intentions. And the possible answer to Power can only be Peace, which is full, clear Consciousness.

In this non-political state, and as humble as we possibly can attempt to be, Dr. Klaus Schlictmann and myself are proposing that we choose to employ what we call Applied and Amplified Peace Intelligence (AAPI). And as the greatly reduced in size mural by Pierre Nagley suggests, the contents of this series of articles would be a base and a beckoning for others to join us in reaching for global peace and sustainability.

The obvious question is how.

By working together and with other sincere builders of peace towards inputting peace ideas and ideals, along with a professional prompting of questions and other necessary details, into a Supercomputer through the auspices of The United Nations. These questions would include how the UN can be reformed and better and more fairly structured to represent All of humanity. Our hope is to find a pathway to peace through human initiative and the growing possibilities of “Artificial Intelligence for the Good.” Including how to deal with the Power of any nefarious versions of using these coming Supercomputers for greed or evil.

The most significant point is that there be no figure pointing at any country or any other human being, for we are All to blame and, at the very same time, All innocent. This includes those who have been influenced by the immoral promptings of their darker sides, which must include the majority of living human beings, aside from the very young. This point, most unfortunately, includes the so-called peacebuilders who can’t help themselves in blaming countries, blocs, or individuals, again something that comes from The Shadow/Id part of their non-conscious beings.

These individuals, including top officials in many countries, are not “unconscious” for that word has other meanings. The more appropriate term is “non-conscious.” For what the finger-pointers do is to start a fire to put out another, or more, fires. The choices/decisions of what to do in this world of ever increasing speed have become nearly impossible for humans to constantly make decisions that benefit one country without injuring another. As Yuval Noah Harari has wisely expressed, any and all, “can be both the perpetrator and the victims at the same time.” We see this happening in front of our eyes on an almost daily basis throughout the world.

Therefore, we see the use Applied Amplified Peace Intelligence as a way to help us find a way to untangle our mentally contrived and entangled world to turn towards peace, while also employing it to avoid turning superior artificial intelligence into our own unforgiving Frankenstein.

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This article and collaboration has been written with sincere appreciation of my friend and colleague, Dr. Klaus Schlictmann for his years of research, reflections, and writings and in finding a path towards true and lasting peace and sustainability through his Normative Current and other writings. Also, with deep appreciation to Pierre Nagley for contribution of the photograph of his currently most meaningful large mural. Also to Dr. Johan Galtung who has long deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his being, as he’s often called, the Father of Peace Studies, and also for his advice and friendship over the years, along with his wife Fumiko Nishimura who also is a very special peacebuilder. In addition, we thank once again Antonio C.S. Rosa for his selfless and difficult work in taking charge of Transcend Media Service for all these years. (Please don’t forget to donate! For what would we do without TMS, and its outstanding archive of past and current weekly articles.) And a bow is taken to the many wonderful others who have, and those you yet may, contribute to this endeavor.

And, most especially, with encouragement and inspiration, to the children and younger generation of our future, who have great hopes.

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Links to the previous two articles:

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2023/12/peace-war-and-consciousness/

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/02/threading-peace-together/

Robert Kowalczyk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He is former Professor and Chair of the Department of Intercultural Studies in the School of Art, Literature and Cultural Studies of Kindai University, Osaka, Japan. Robert has coordinated a wide variety of projects in the intercultural field and is currently the International Coordinator of Peace Mask Project. He has also worked in cultural documentary photography and has portfolios of images from Korea, Japan, China, Russia and other countries. He has been a frequent contributor to Kyoto Journal. Contact can be made through his website portfolio: robertkowalczyk.zenfolio.com

Dr. Klaus Schlichtmann is author of numerous scholarly articles and several books, including Japan in the World. Shidehara Kijuro, Pacifism and the Abolition of War (Lexington 2009), and A Peace History of India. From Ashoka Maurya to Mahatma Gandhi (Vij Books 2016). Born in Hamburg, in the 1960s he traveled overland to India, and returning to Germany he became a peace activist and environmentalist. As a world federalist and a member of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) he participated in many international conferences. Having received a scholarship to do research in Japan, his Ph.D. dissertation on Shidehara and Article 9 was published in German in 1997.  He can be reached at kschlichtmann@law.email.ne.jp  Contact: klaus.san@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 19 Feb 2024.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Peace, Consciousness, and Applied Amplified Peace Intelligence (AAPI), is included. Thank you.

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