The Shepherd State

Pre-Requisite Reading: The Call of the Republic

A SHEPHERD STATE IS AN ELDER STATE OF THE PEACE, a mature state, of any form - Republic or otherwise, sufficiently evolved within the regional system of the One Peace and thus, driven not purely by self-interests alone, but is capable of identifying in common with human suffering and the initial instability of younger states within its sphere of influence and with a genuine concern for the affected human population decisively promotes and enacts the necessary motions, national and international, that lead toward a definitive problem resolution.

A shepherd state is concerned with the preservation of the greater regional peace and with the dignity of the individual human lives that assures and sustains the peace. It acts to ensure that the greater peace is preserved to give shelter to the greater good of the nations within its region because it considers the preservation of the greater good, in the context of the close geopolitical complementarity and socioeconomic reciprocity that create a harmonious interconnectedness of the nations within the region, to be pursuant to the good of the state itself. It therefore acts not because it is driven singularly by its own unpredictable self-interests but because it is a state that has embraced, adapted and is now presently conformed and committed to the unchangeable principles of the absolute peace (as opposed to old the system of absolute war) which encompasses and preserves the greater common good of the region which includes the shepherd state itself.

A shepherd state is a state that has, in principle, given up the ways of war and has given up opposing the ways of war within other states that are still caught up in the snare of the old system of endless war, opposition being the fundamental spirit of conflict, it must also be true that any state that exists to oppose war even if it exists in future terms within other states, is naturally and inevitably also consumed by war.

However, it still retains the right to act purely in self-defense and will by regional compact come to the immediate and mutual defense of those states within its sphere of influence whose peace is either threatened or breached by an aggressor state. It will have recourse to all international legal and diplomatic remedies to mediate an adequate problem resolution but will not tolerate any breaches to the greater peace.

This is the Doctrine of Mutual Defense of the Greater Peace and require an acute awareness within the mind stream of the citizenry of all the allied states within the regional system of the peace of the morality and the just nature of the cause of the defense, one that retains both the sharpness of the military force as well as the concomitant diplomatic initiative that will overwhelmingly ensure both a decisive military end to hostilities as well as the greatest political advantage for the cause of peace at the inevitable conclusion of the conflict.

It is said that the exacting steel of the righteous sword is not made of base metal but is forged from the noble sharpness of its spirit - it is in this spirit that Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War that the greatest victories are won without battle - these victories are won not by the tao of war (a tao is as an invisible system of unseen forces, much like a climate with its weather systems) which is deception but by the tao of peace which is truth and truth which is the tao of victory - victory which, in the Art of War must be sought before battle as peace. Peace when it is the sovereign of the state bring forth the advantage of the truth and calamity to war itself - for the mlitary will never dull and the general will never lose the advantage - this is how peace defends from war - this is true for all time.

This doctrine is an evolving doctrine of positive trust and mutual assurance that also, in time, builds stronger confidence between the allied states within the integrated region, confidence enough to enable them to spend more effort on crucial internal matters of state other than external defense such as public service and education, roads and civil infrastructure, health and housing, food and hygiene, science and research, labor and industry, natural conservation and waste elimination, water distribution and agriculture, art and architecture, parks and recreation, public welfare projects, national landmarks, monuments and memorials, etc. balancing the spirit of the state with its ethos of peace and therefore increasing the productivity and stability of the state as a partner for peace within the region and the region as a positive contributor with the globalized world. The price of peace is hope - an undying, immortal hope for better things and a better place and time, the hope for a more peaceful world for all men, women and children without distinction, for the works of peace are the same regardless of differences - and this is true for all time. This system of the greater peace in my native Asia is Asia Caelestis.

A shepherd state is a people and a nation matured from the principles of the peace. It is a state that has learned a new way and has found a new direction - the cause of peace and the promise of the new system of the peace. Peace is not as a cause that leans on the truth of other causes for its own validation as when a thing exists against anything or as opposition to something as in the old system of war, this peace is an absolute moral whole by itself and as such relies only on the weight of the anchor of its own truth both as a measure of any rational validation and also as a safeguard preserving constancy against the ever changing ebb and flow motion of exile time.

It is the collective mind of a state informed by divine charity that extends not a clenched fist but a hand of peace to its neighbors. It speaks in the common tongue of the truth, a plain diplomatic language that all men can understand. Within it are found the same treasures that are expected to be found in the heart of Jesus Christ being constantly manifested by the Mystical Body of Christ at peace with all men of good will - goodwill, peace, opportunity, dignity, justice, charity, equality, goodness, virtue, compassion, patience and mercy for all men, women and children, a common religious understanding that without syncretism leads to the immense freedom of a genuine spiritual fraternity where everybody learns from everybody, everybody being free to be true to his or her own heart and mind in the tradition of his or her own religious faith without fear of discrimination, violence or intimidation and is guaranteed the respect and support of all believers, the integration of faith and reason, morality and science that serve to shape and advance the good of the soul of man as well as his corporeal body in a culture of life and a climate of peace that fosters and promote the use of genuine human freedoms.

It employs an integrated defense force that is specifically evolved in doctrine and tradition to conduct of the national defense, as a shield against the will of war to block, deflect or absorb the enemy threat against the peace - in a treaty of military coalition with all the other allied nations of the region - escalate into a decisive act of overwhelming defensive combat power - in favor of the peace - in the context of a full-blown conflict.

It employs within its defense forces specialized stability units to lend strength to the regional peacekeeping forces that serve to ensure that younger states are given opportunity enough to mature into an honored place in the interconnected peace that maintain the common good that sustains the economic prosperity and longevity of all nations within the region.

This integrated defense force trains not against warfare with an enemy state in particular but trains with great emphasis on the social benefits of fidelity to the peace of the land and the integrity of the region against the worst possible regional threats across the broad spectrum of military conflict from a full-blown regional war to operations other than war or low-intensity operations mainly peacekeeping and regional civil defense operations against natural disasters.

All military personnel from above and below echelons are clear and precise as to their general, strategic understanding of how the defense is to be conducted with honor always intact and the end of hostilities achieved using the maximum tempo of operations and with the least damage to life and property on all sides of the one side of the peace.

All war is evil and any outbreak of hostilities is considered a defeat. Every violent outbreak of hostilities is a breach of the peace and must be addressed immediately with or with the imminent threat of or if possible without the use of military force in order to restore the status quo of the peace. The unchanging goal of every defensive military action within the framework of the regional system of the peace is to end hostilities as quickly and as decisively as possible while retaining the moral initiative that will preserve the honor and integrity of the profession of arms and ensure the greatest advantage for the cause of peace at the political conclusion of the conflict with the least damage to life and property on all sides of the one side of the peace and restore the status quo of the greater peace. This will ensure that every sacrifice made by our honored military will serve to push the threat of war further and further away from our midst.

The status quo of the peace is not the elimination of the threat of war but the elimination of the will of violence at the heart of war. For there will always be contradiction among men but for as long as these contradictions can be absorbed by peaceful, sincere public dialogue, then for as long as violence is contained, the status quo of the peace is maintained. Every war from the very beginning of military history within the context of the system of the peace is considered a battle because in the campaign of peace, we must learn from all the lessons history can provide, to stay the beast of war and hope with greater intensity for the victory of the peace which is an eschatological question that can only be answered not by military but by religious doctrine and therefore is left to the competency of the military chaplaincy of his or her honored religious tradition.

As a Christian, I personally am convinced that no honorable religion exists to wage war - for war exacts a heavy toll on the whole of life. Life that is the glory of God in creation. There have been sins in the past, that is true, let us then repent and carry the hopes of these nameless victims now and remember their promise always in our hearts and minds along with all the numberless victims of war and violence, known and known to God alone, when we shall believe and uphold in our heart of hearts today that all honorable religions exist to struggle on behalf of suffering humanity for a better peace, a peace that will by the grace of God establish a better world for all mankind. Time itself, being an instrument of Providence for our purification, we may trust, will wean out all the darkness until there is only peace, and an everlasting peace. War is so incompatible with the fragile nature of both the spirit and the body of man that it is inconceivable to me that our common Creator, infinite in wisdom, made us for purposes other than peace in union with Him in communion with each ourselves as the image of God within each ourselves.

All military operations within the system of the peace include open lines of clear and sincere diplomatic dialogue that are never suspended in the interests of saving lives on both sides of the one side of the peace for as long as violent conflict and the threat of violent conflict remains.

This is not an exhaustive list of the potentials of such a state. The divine law of governance that is applied to the order of the nations of the one family of the nations of mankind from the decree that brought us all forward into this present time when directly applied to the present will lead to the evolution of shepherd states.

For the unalterable divine law of governance that ensure the interconnectedness of creation require that inferior things are led to God Who is Love by the superior, it is the way between God and angels, God and men (look at the example of our Savior), angels and angels, angels and men, and men and men. Hence, it is not a defect to be inferior or a relegation to labor that superiors might have ease, but a title to the superiors' utmost help. Superiority is not a title to service but a serious responsibility. The least are led to God by the greatest; talent is not a mere personal favor but a social responsibility. Thus, the order of charity among individuals as well as among nations is established by the union of the will of heaven with the will of the earth.

It this possible? Not with man but with God, all things are possible. Which is why the beast of war is attacking all the necessary causalities that will lead to the emergence of this kind of state.
Because this kind of state is a strong and sure defense against the beast of war not only for itself but also for others like itself. It is a state that exists exclusively to defend against war not by actively opposing it but by learning to love those things that are worth defending as life and the hope, dreams, promises, beauty and the message of life itself - a message written by the one common Creator of life - to all that is conscious, rational and alive, that He is here, on our side, closer to our hearts and minds than one could ever imagine.

Let us again remember where this peace comes from - it is rooted in the heart and mind of the individual. It begins with a choice that is available equally to all men and women of a mature mind and a receptive heart without distinction or prejudice. An absolute choice which is a will to serve which is virtue, virtue which is good, and good which brings down the mercy and compassion of the one acendant reality of God or a will not to serve which is sin, sin which is evil, evil which cause division, discord, suffering and death. To love God and others in God as true self leads to interior peace and this peace in the self is also the seed of the external peace that when sown together with other nations of the one family of the nations of mankind shall reap for our humanity, a piece of Paradise on earth - an age of peace that will cover a multitude of sins right before the end of the age of endless war and the consummation of exile time.

Peace brings forth the flowering of the golden ages of the diverse cultures of the one family of mankind as the records of the history of our civilizations plainly show us. Peace brings forth, in God's own time, the illumination of the people, the eradication of diseases, the promotion of virtue, the elimination of poverty, the alleviation of suffering, the advancement of pure sciences (reason integrated with faith), the flowering of beauty and art, the building of better and brighter futures through education, the founding of lasting humanitarian and philanthropic institutions, the evolution of politics and jurisprudence, the suppression of vice and crime, the greater appreciation and conservation of nature and an awareness of the planet, an aversion and abhorrence to the old system of endless war.

Peace as a whole believes in life and as such attempts to include all things within itself and excludes nothing. War as a whole believes in death and as such attempts to include all things within itself and in the end excludes nothing. Peace is steady and sure of its own truth. War is restless and require the violent destruction of other truths.

Peace goes its own way along a path of truth that ascends to the one Light and therefore endures the illusion of time and mortality - away from war. War goes its own way along a path of lies that descend to the gravity of that one lie at the heart of our faded Eden and therefore suffers the one certain truth decreed by God against Satan in the Book of Isaiah - the collapse of evil as it turns to ashes from within itself and crushed by the immense gravity of its own infernal weight in darkness - away from peace.

Life is difficult but the path of peace is difficult because it tempers virtue. The path of war is difficult because it confirms the justice of God.

Peace is a foretaste of Paradise. War is a foretaste of hell.

Peace is not against war but stands for itself, war is against everything including itself.

Peace is native to our world. War is foreign to our world.

Peace defends. War offends.

Peace is a promise. War is a lie.

So glory to God in the highest,
my precious friend,
adroation to Jesus Christ
and peace to all men of goodwill.