Inflicting violence, hurting, harming, aggression, wronging, injuring,
retaliation, vengeance…
The
exceedingly difficult solution to violence is none other than… right
thinking. Right thinking requires right attitude. Right attitude means
being in tune with the Universe. Tuning into the Universe requires Intelligence.
We humans do not have enough of this capacity. We have not conquered ignorance fully,
and so we are violent to a greater or lesser degree, depending on our level of
connectedness with the Universe through Intelligence.
“Non-violence”
is tripartite: 1) physical, 2) verbal and 3) mental. Abstaining from actually
hitting, knifing or shooting someone may be socially conditioned, but the root
cause of violence has not been conquered. When we are verbally abused we may
react by using verbal abuse or violence, practising verbal tit-for-tat or eye-for-eye.
We are still Old Testament, and here, there’s nothing new under the sun. Mental
violence is rampant, and this is the cause of violence as expressed in the
outside world. The constant production of violent thoughts (even if suppressed)
results in the Reality of Violence in the so-called “external” world. The mind
projects it. Violence is not hidden to the “outside”. Our concept of “inside”
and “outside” is fictitious. We think we can come clean or get away with it by
not showing violent thoughts. We are kidding ourselves. What goes on “inside”
the mind is exteriorised to “outside the mind”, even if we think no one is
watching…
But
whatever happens in the lower states of conditioned or normal waking consciousness
just happens. It is what we can call a “non-self-aware occurrence”, an “automatic
reaction”. It takes a degree of Self-Awareness, alertness and perceived sensitivity
to NOT REACT according to one’s conditioning. With millennia of warring, witch-hunting,
rape, killing, pillaging and conquest behind us, our collective unconscious and
present-day influences fuel more of the same, couched in many different forms,
from malignant to reasonably benign. So if we really want to do something about
it, we have to sit down and reconstruct our minds in order to become less
violent.
Reconstruction
is an arduous process. The ideal would be to incorporate this in education from
childhood on, viz, Dalai Lama, [16 May, 11:30]: “Modern
education with its focus on material goals and a disregard for inner values is
incomplete. There is a need to know about the workings of our minds and
emotions. [my underlining] If we start today and make an effort to
educate those who are young now in inner values, they will see a different,
peaceful, more compassionate world in the future.”
So,
lacking proper education when we were young, it is our responsibility as adults
to reconstruct our minds now, today, not wait for tomorrow, nor leave it to others!
We already mentioned one mind-cleaning exercise that can be done. And it needs to be constantly reviewed. Where do I, as an
aspiring Self-Aware individual, draw the line between wanton evil (violence) and
sainthood (non-violence, Ahimsa)?
Well,
the Saint does this: Perceiving all Life as one, all action and
non-action coincides with the Good. Thus, the body is maintained by
doing the least harm to Life: fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains, and only
those animals farthest down the evolutionary chain are used as food, as these are
healthier and more suited to such a non-violent character. The feelings
have been trained to only express the positive, integrating and compassionate emotions;
there is no negativity. This is because the mind has been cleansed of
impurities and only accepts the influences of virtuous conduct and thought. This
in turn is a result of the activities of the witness of the mind, the
True Self, which watches over the compendium of mental processes and is, or strives
to be, in tune with the Goodness of the whole Universe. When in tune and
conscious of this attunement, violence, as an impulse, is no longer accepted.
It
is not the fault of the stars or the Earth that “violence” became corrupted. We
have met the enemy and he is us! Etymology says violence comes from “vis”
(strength) and -olentus (full of,
abounding in). This is related to Vedantic “Vir” itself, “Virtue”,
or strength from the gods, energy and vigour (Tejas, Virtue 21). We need
to be “abounding in strength”, alright, but we also need to be “abounding in
grace” so that we use this strength correctly.
So,
succinctly:
Stop
thinking
that others are responsible for their violence. They’re not. Only you can be
responsible for your non-violence.
Stop
feeling
indignant about the violence of others. They can’t help it. Only you can help
it if you choose to.
Stop
acting and reacting violently. Practise non-attachment and objectivity,
from which further understanding can be gained to combat violence.
Regularly
review the violence level of your thought processes. Where is your
dividing line? How far can you extend this line from total unconscious ferocity
against others and circumstances (1, below) to absolute lovingness for the
entire Universe (8, below)?
Remember, until violence
is fully conquered in thought – only possible in the presence of continuous and
constant Self-Awareness – lower nature can pull us down into unconscious
behaviour levels 1-2-3-4 at any time [see chart below]. From levels 5 and 6 as well. All that is
required is a hiatus or momentary interruption of Self-Awareness, a fall into a
“buffer zone” where we are not fully conscious of our thoughts and feelings,
which can then explode into violence by contagion. Only by full Self-Awareness
on level 7, and constant practise in thought-control and self-observation, can
we walk the narrow mountain pathway of non-violence without falling into the
abyss of fury. Until this is truly seen, and Enlightenment is
realised, slipping into violence is always possible. So watch, wait and pray; or
breathe, count and stay present in your Now; or observe, control and don’t
react. It’s a long way around the mountain of fury. Be careful where you step.
VIOLENCE
WORKCHART (from darkness to light)
Unconscious
(non-self-aware) behaviour
|
à
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
Free
reign to violence
|
Unsuccessful
restraints on violence
|
Successful
partial restraint on violence
|
Suppression
of violent deeds
|
Fury
|
Rage
|
Anger
|
Irritation
|
Severe
unconscious violent reactions
|
Unconscious
violent reactions
|
Sporadic unconscious violent reactions
|
Social
adaptation to “good” behaviour
|
Violence
exists in uncontrolled state that explodes whenever triggered, always
justified later
|
Violent
uncontrolled outbursts, some of which may be apologized for later
|
Violence
often controlled, and apologized for later, but still regularly
elicited
with specific trigger
|
Violent
actions mostly controlled, but violent thoughts and emotions still exist
|
à
|
Partially conscious
(self-aware) behaviour
|
Sainthood
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
Partial
control of violent words
|
Conquest
of violent thoughts
|
Practical
non-violence
|
Total
non-violence
|
Annoyance
|
Composure
|
Calmness
|
Compassion
|
Non-expression
of violence
|
Incipient
calmness usually present
|
Deed,
thought and emotion integrated
|
Maximum
lovingness
|
Violence
still exists but is sometimes
checked
before it explodes
|
Violence
still exists but is mostly checked before it explodes
|
Violence
mostly rejected at root level (thought) or detected in early stage (emotions)
and nullified
|
Violence
totally conquered
|
