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doormats to be trampled on, or that we give up our freedom or our grasp of truth--it means that
we join ourselves to the risk of creation, to the
venture of authentic human being, that we "stand in
the Light," reveal that measure of truth that is
known to us . . . that we face the pain of the world, and
match it with forgiveness.
--Janet Scott, "What Canst Thou Say," 1980 |
Nonviolence is a way of living every day, every hour, in our personal choices as well as mass struggles for justice. Through it, we affirm the divine Light in every human being and act on the belief that truth and love can overcome ignorance and hate. Nonviolence addresses the misuse and abuse of power in all spheres of life, from quarrelling to domestic violence to war.
Our faith calls for us to be fully present to the person before us. History has shown that when a future outcome, however noble, seems of greater worth than the human being before us, any means, any atrocity, is possible. Non-violence as a way of life is based on the realization that the means determine the ends, that the means are how we live our lives.
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We should carry on this struggle on the lines
of strict non-violence, i.e., by suffering in our
own persons.... I want you to feel like loving your
opponents, and the way to do it is to give them
the same credit for honesty of purpose which you
would claim for yourself.
--Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
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When we act in the humble recognition that every party to a problem or dispute has some portion of the truth, our object becomes not winning but reconciliation. We seek methods to deal with conflict, such as mediation, that build and develop cooperation and community. Conflict, an inevitable fact of life, becomes creative opportunity when we can fashion from our differing approaches a combined vision that is closer to Truth than any of our original positions.