Zaadz Member Martha on Peace and Violence

I didn't understand your poem either, Donny. Thanks for explaining it. This is such a powerful discussion! I remember during the early '80s working as a secretary in the Computer Science Dept. at ASU. People were very aware of the possibility of receiving one of Ted's random bombs, and we were required to refrain from opening any box we received until security cleared it. I thought at the time that it was so very, very strange that a human being could think that they would stand to gain anything at all by blowing up random innocent people, just because their job had something to do with technology. But all that, of course, pales when one thinks of the horror of what is being done in Iraq today-just about any place you can name that is currently being savaged so that someone can get the upper hand for awhile.

People who create angry, violent demonstrations for peace fall into this whole abyss too, and with the best of intentions. Only loving, kindly motivated actions can bring about true change. It is as the ancient Buddhist law says: Only love can conquer hatred. Whenever a person tries to right a wrong using violence, that action is mistaken action. Further, nonviolent action doesn't result from some restrained action that I take while in my heart I'm feeling angry. This is one reason why Christ said, "Love your enemy." That's the only place from which you can take action to actually change things.

Our choice, as I'm sure we have all thought about, is to choose to see the person -about whom we feel anger- as a person, a human being, with good points and bad points just like anyone else. In this state of mind, we can find something to love about this person.

And the reason I'm writing all of this here-for surely we've all thought these thoughts before- is to link this train of thought with the problem about people who want to see the world as a basically good place-as you said above, looking at "the good of being human, the intelligence, the art, the creative use of industry for good, and you ask "Why can't life just be that way?" Well, for me it's not going to BE that way so much, as I'm looking to, through my attitude, create a space for myself to live in-that space from which I can do the work of continuing to see people as people, instead of objects, as much as possible. It's not about ignoring evil or pretending that it doesn't exist. Love is the only thing that can minimize evil. Love is the only thing that really exists, and evil is the unfortunate chaotic outlier, the devastation that results from a lack of love.

Actions motivated by desire for power, vengence, domination, without love, always need to be justified. The people who do them create a justification as they do the actions. The justification is part of the violent action. As you say, "They dehumanize their victims and tell themselves, "Those people deserve it" or "It's for a greater good." So, I want to stay in a psychological space where I'm not feeling a need to justify my actions, not needing to see others as less than human beings in the same sense that I, myself am fully human. This is what I need in order to be a citizen in the world.