Getting used to non-violent ways

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I think most humans are violent. Nonsense, of course they aren’t! Media stories make us think there’s violence everywhere; they bring (what passes for) interest into our dreary lives, to give us something to talk about. So, we discuss violence. We say how we dislike it. But it sucks us in ... then we become disgusted by our own attraction to it and react against it. We swing right over to the opposite side, towards the idea of non-violence. It feels politically correct. We like to see ourselves as non-violent. But that isn’t reality, because it stops us looking for the origins and nature of violence. Is there any purpose to violence?

            In legend, the Lemurian civilisation abhorred violence, they feared it. They were incapable of dealing with it, and eventually they died out, perhaps because they tried to deny the very existence of violence. The message of such legends is that denial stops us searching for realistic alternatives. It’s as if we are only drawn to the passivity of it. We don’t see the dynamic side to non-violence.

            Today we can be dynamic about it, by boycotting violent activities that characterise present human behaviour. As consumers we can avoid using violent goods. We can encourage cruelty-free and environmentally friendly commodities. We can deal with our differences of opinion without resorting to aggression. On a personal level that’s certainly dynamic, but for it to be convincing it has to be consistent too.

            Non-violence can be in everything we do, from thinking and talking to actively supporting commercial enterprises. As more people act in this way fashion takes over, and violence and coercion literally fade away, almost without anyone noticing it’s gone.

            The transition in our society will happen, surely, when those with a strong interest in exploring non-violence are proactive, when they actively set the example, showing it where it counts, by not participating in the violation of animals but also by refraining from making value-judgements about others - resisting both temptations.