Finding the Symbolic

I would agree with the colonel on the point that inner peace is a way to close the gap between people. Relations between people should be based on mutual trust, and if you are prone to distrust even yourself then you are far less likely to trust others.

However, I do not think that communalism has to follow inner peace, or vice versa. Communalism is a step in and of itself out of a society based on separating individuals and into one based on individuals acting collectively and self-sufficiently on a small scale. A couple things of real value would come out of this:

We could stop depending on the system to take care of our needs and start depending on each other. This, in turn, would bring the idea of a symbolic relationship back into the norm. When the symbolic is re-established (and this may sound oxymoronic on its surface, but Lacanian psychoanalysis tends to back it up - more on that later) some symbolic distance is created between individual subjects, and relationships of real meaning and intimacy become possible again. This is not to say that they aren't possible now, they are simply less likely.

In answer to the colonel's last few questions, I would affirm that yes, the Fear is inherently negative, and it is also entirely unavoidable. While it may not necessarily drive us toward the Peace, attaining inner peace will help block the effects of the Fear.

I found an example of what I would call manifestation of the Fear today while reading an introductory book on Buddhism. They are, in Buddhism, the "three bad roots" which all bad actions spring from. Greed, hatred and delusion are all particular manifestations of the Fear. Actions based on these things, in the specific cosmology I'm contextualizing it in, would bring one further away from inner peace and Peace itself.

Anyway, my brain session is being interrupted by an appointment.
Until next time,
-the ambassador