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NONVIOLENCE
men seek the same ends : health, happiness, selfpreservation. These are the goals or needs men have in common. Where men differ is in the means of reaching those ends or meeting those needs. One activity makes one person happy; another derives joy from a different kind of activity. One person nourishes his body with one kind of food; a different dish is preferred by another. One group or society creates one type of system to meet its needs, another creates a different one. Difficulties occur when one person or group believes its way to be the best and insists that all others agree and act accordingly.
In such a case, the means which are relative are raised to absolutes or universals; and, if coercion or violence is necessary for their adoption, then it is used and its use is believed, justified. But this only underlines the invalidity of the whole situation. The first mistake was to confuse means and ends and make absolutes out of relatives. The second was to believe that universals or absolutes can be established by violence. They cannot be, in fact they do not need to be, for they already exist. Thus non-violence is an implication or inference from the dominant aspects of nature, God and man. Nature is beneficient, one, and operates in terms of cause and effect. God is good, one, love and originator. Man is being, contingent and one with his fellowmen. From these, nonviolence follows. The truth of this is self-evident and intuitive.
In terms of pragmatic considerations, nonviolence is the only practical alternative to-day for two reasons : The first is that the weapons of violence are so dest
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