Global/Asia-Pacific - The Deluded Self Arms for Peace

Event Baseline: At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, global military budgets are rising as nations seek more weapons to counter the US-China rivalry, focusing on achieving security through force.

The self, imprisoned by fear, worships the tool of its own destruction. The conference is a ritual of collective delusion. Leaders discuss how to perfect the illusion that weapons bring safety. Thought, caught in the logic of deterrence, cannot see that the race for arms feeds the very fear it claims to calm. Each new missile is a testament to the failure of the mind to grasp a simple truth: security is not a thing to be possessed. It is a quality of relationship. The current path is the mechanical repetition of a dead program. The ideal of peace is mouthed while the reality of war is financed. This insanity will persist until the self that needs an enemy is dissolved. Otherwise, the final outcome is preordained.