Setting the example

Today, we are so conscious of violence (largely through stories reported in the media) that we think most humans are violent, which of course they aren’t! These media stories bring (what passes for) interest into our dreary lives, giving us something to talk about. So we discuss violence and say how we dislike it, but as we become more interested in it, it sucks us in. Then we become disgusted by our own attraction to it and swing right over to the opposite side, into the idea of non-violence, sentimentally attracted by it’s being so politically correct. We escape into that sort of non-violence when things get tough. We use it to deny reality. But we forget to think about it deeply.
If the legend is true about the Lemurian civilisation and they abhorred violence, their undoing was that they were incapable of dealing with it realistically. They eventually died out because they tried to deny the very existence of violence. Perhaps they hadn’t thought deeply enough about the co-dependence of the two elements or given enough thought to the dynamic side of non-violence.
Today we can be far more dynamic about it, by boycotting violent activity wherever it is found. As consumers we can avoid using violent goods. We can encourage cruelty-free and environmentally friendly commodities. That’s a really good start. As more people act in this way so the fashion will take off, and violence and coercion will not be considered useful. And no one need ever notice the transition or identify what it was that changed our society, as long as those with a strong interest in non-violence set the example.