I was scrolling on Facebook recently and I saw this question posed in a post. The answers people provided in the comments were overly simple and varied ranging from one political figure, like “Trump” or “Carney” then all politicians, all the way through to the entire human race. I decided to think about this for a while and forced myself to reflect on what I had learned over my lifetime so far through experience and my own reading of philosophy from the historical masters such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates as they discussed the human condition in depth and sometimes in my life depending on my attention span at any given moment “ad nauseum”. I decided to also take into account lessons learned from various religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. My conclusion, I chose to sum up in my own philosophical quote
“Division is an optical illusion of the ego; dissolve the boundary, and peace is no longer a choice we strive for, but the reality we inhabit.” – William A. C. Rosenblath
Here is the reasoning I used to justify my conclusion.
Deleting the illusion of separation would remove the “Us vs. Them” mindset, eliminating tribalism, greed, and dehumanization.The result would be automatic empathy and global cooperation, as humans would finally see another person’s well-being as completely tied to their own.
The primary human qualities that make the world not peaceful are selfishness, a lack of empathy, and an excessive desire for power. People often act out of these traits rather than working together in peace.
Key Qualities That Disrupt PeaceSelfishness: Putting your own wants and needs far above the well-being of everyone else.
Lack of Empathy: Failing to see things from another person’s point of view or care about their pain.
Desire for Control: Wanting to rule over land, money, or other human beings by force.
Unchecked Anger: Letting sudden anger and aggression override calm reason and patience.
While one could argue that free will is the engine that allows these negative choices to happen. It is not the root cause of conflict on its own. Free will is simply the capacity to choose—it is a neutral mechanism. It allows humans to choose selfishness, but it also allows them to choose altruism, love, and cooperation. The lack of peace comes from how people exercise that choice, driven by specific flaws like greed or fear.
In Summary, my one simple answer to the question: What one thing would you delete from the world if you could?
The illusion of separation.
