Nonviolence is what our gift of human life is all about, according to Jain, Hindu and (some) Buddhist doctrine. Unfortunately, in most rituals of modern life, the essence of violence permeates most human activity.
Over the past few months, I cannot help but have my though patterns consumed by death and destruction in the daily news. In contrast to my own practices of veganism and supporting the rights of all beings to life free from suffering and oppression, these ruminations have given rise to all sorts of emotional responses and overthinking, but also to specific questions about the nature of humanity and the value of life. I'm sure these are standard philosophical questions that have been asked and not fully answered since the dawn of time or answered only from a single point of view and, therefore, not helpful to others.
Regardless, these unanswerable questions also led me to assess the more concrete aspects of the world around me and try to explore the myriad ways that violence creeps into everything. What I discovered was pretty much in full support of the "three poisons" expounded by the Buddha...greed, delusion and ignorance are the primary motivations for violence in all modes of human interaction. Speech, action and thought rooted in one of these "poisons" is going to result in an act of adharma (or unrighteousness) against another.
Surprisingly, one commonality of these observations became clear: the rejection of unity within the world and the creation of "the other" is usually the main justification for violence. Call it "ignorance" or whatever, but disunity and separation either spiritually or in the "real world" will lead to violence. In Shankara's teachings, all beings are manifestations of Brahman...or, as I break it down in my mind, divinity is one of the uniting forces among all things regardless of name or form. From a different perspective, all beings contain a basic goodness that is shared among them. So, thinking that everything is separate or "other" than oneself will begin ignorant practices that would falsely remove one from the repercussions of their actions.
In the world of flesh, blood, trees and water, establishing "otherness" as a means of creating a dynamic of superiority vs. inferiority, right vs. wrong, us vs. them, etc. vs. etc. is nothing more than laying the foundation for systemic violence based on separation of perpetrator and victim. In a world where identity is defined by race, species, gender, sexual preference, nationality, religious beliefs, or even things as arbitrary as sport team fandom, there are plenty of ways for "otherness" to be created. Sadly, according to my observations, violence is the result of the acceptance of these modes of belief. This does not have to be physical violence, but any type of oppression or submission along the lines of perceived "difference"...nations bombed, women tread unequally, animals tortured.
Is there a way to break this cycle? How can someone who believes strongly in nonviolence begin to cultivate a means of combating this mindset and fostering unity and communication in the world? Until today, I read a lot of books outlining means to cultivate ahimsa within and without, which has proven to be both enlightening and inspiring, but I was still wondering about specific means of communication. As luck would have it, the other day I happened upon a set of discs in the library collection about Nonviolent Communication (NVC) by the late Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. As of this afternoon, I have started the 9 lecture series and will report on my process. So far, I have already realized that I was overlooking a lot of the subtle connections between language (especially diction) and violence. I already feel more questions rising...
But dehumanizing the victim makes things simpler
it's like breathing with a respirator
it eases the conscience of even the most most conscious
and calculating violator
words can reduce a person to an object
something more easy to hate
an inanimate entity
completely disposable
no problem to obliterate
- The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy "Language of Violence"
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