Light of Nonviolence

Author(s): Sushilmuni
Publisher: Vishwa Ahimsa Sangh Delhi

Page 13

The moral precept of love towards all human others exists in other world religions as well.
In Jainism, each of us is free to decide what to do in life. We are not condemned to live a certain way because of some bad karma, material condition, or social reality. The fact of freedom contradicts determinism and gives hope, meaning, and purpose to life.
We can really live like gods and realize our beautiful and perfect jiva-nature or live like the lower animals and be controlled by negative emotions, instincts, and unconscious conditioning. The choice is ours alone to make in spite of the force of karma on individual, social, and existential levels.
Jainism is a blend of idealism and realism since it affirms human freedom, imagination, and reason over the conditions of nature, society, and the cosmos. On political, economic, and social levels, it is ethical and activist since it affirms our responsibility if not obligation to help others who may not be as fortunate or privileged.
Ethically speaking, if we learn to love everyone, and not act aggressively against others, then an improved world is possible. Jainism is melioristic in believing that we really can solve human problems and improve the world, both for ourselves and all other beings. Moral progress is not an illusion since it is intimately connected to the qualitative dimension of experience. If we