Ahimsa Crisis You Decide

Author(s): Sulekh C Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 96

words in the hallway, otherwise ‘nonviolent people accept and excuse violence in their environment. Ahimsa, the Sanskrit term for the traditional philosophy of nonviolence, requires abstaining from harmful actions, harmful speech, and harmful thoughts. It also requires practitioners to avoid celebrating the harmful acts of others, and to avoid being harmful to oneself and one's surroundings. We see a massacre of innocent children and know that it is violent, but we must learn to recognize the smallest acts of violence in our society before we can begin to rehabilitate our thoughts, speech, and actions toward a more peaceful existence. It starts in calling things by their proper names, by using clear language instead of euphemisms. Violence of any kind causes suffering, and suffering will only lead to more violence. Hateful speech is violence. Bullying is violence. Laughing at the misfortune of others, even when they can't hear you, is violence. Wishing for the suffering of others, even those who have done terrible things, is violence. If we want to have any hope of living peacefully, we must confront the volume of violence in our everyday lives and stop participating as perpetrators, observers, and consumers. As human beings living in a violent culture, our violent reactions often feel justified. It takes bravery and self-awareness to acknowledge fear and anger and then react without hatred. The deeply rooted violence of culture cannot be stopped by more hatred, and reactive solutions will only delay the next tragedy.Yes, laws may change, and many laws probably should. But, the entrenched violence of a culture cannot be stopped by changes in legislation or harsher, more violent punishments for criminals. We cannot depend on politicians or celebrities to make our world what we want it to be; each one of us must take positive action to do that every day. In order to turn the tide of violence in our country, we must commit to start with ourselves, our own thoughts, words,
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide