The ‘fragmented self’ is an inner state of being that is disconnected from the awareness of higher guidance/inner voice and peace. Without awareness of higher guidance and peace a person may resort to various forms of violence as a means to achieve a certain goal. Gandhi maintains that there are five forms of violence, these being physical, mental, subtle, structural, and spiritual.
Gandhi conceives of non-violence as an “action based on the refusal to harm deliberately.” There is no rigid system advocated by the process of non-violence, but rather a spontaneous responsiveness to higher guidance/inner voice while maintaining love and freedom.
Non-violence is a real, powerful and positive force able to lead humanity toward more noble visions of life. To live a non-violent life one must first discover inner peace.
As a seeker of non-violence always make an inward jouney into your own consciousness and then live your life as contemplation in action. Still your mind and take an inner journey that will enable you to hear higher guidance/still small voice and live your life with compassion.
In our novel “Nexus” you will discover some characters who live with great compassion and also a contrast of some characters who are violent either toward themselves or others. Physical, mental, subtle, structural, and spiritual aspects of violence are present to various degrees in our novel. Some characters experience great inner struggle, however it is most interesting to observe their varied attempts at discovering peace.
Will our main character Logan find the peace that he is looking for? Well, you will have to read “Nexus” to find out.
Non-violence sounds wonderful in theory and I subscribe to many of the views held by Mahatma Gandhi. The alternative of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” as Dr. King indicated in a speech would leave everyone eyeless and toothless. The recent Israeli-Lebanese conflict showed the problems with seeking vengenance as many other conflicts have shown in the past.
It leads to more death and destruction. But my question is whether in a violent world today with fear of terrorism and the so-called war on it, what role can non-violence play in it when obviously world leaders would rather use military force?
Nonetheless non-violence always has a place in the individual’s decision to practice it. I think that is a very noble and courageous statement by anyone. I like these discussions and don’t find this sort of stuff really being discussed outside halls of academia…..Too bad!
Thanks Helene for your inspirational comments!
In our modern world we still have our economies revolving around violent means of conflict resolution, and this filters down to institutions and even to the family and then the individual in terms of approaches that we learn in order to resolve conflict.
In a violent world we can at least begin to divert some tax dollars, and larger percentages of our economies toward research, education and practice of non-violent forms of conflict resolution.
We can aim toward intergrating more non-violence into our day to day lives.
Remember that, as Gandhi once said ‘the means is the end.’
Communication is the key.
I agree, lets take these discussions of non-violence beyond the halls of academia.