From the January 2003 Ordinary Mind Newsletter

Michele Benzamin Miki

Even soldiers, trained for killing, under fire and threatened with death, are reluctant to kill other human beings. As a species, we have an inbuilt resistant to killing.* Understandably so–since the effect of war on nations as well as individuals is inevitably devastating. Domestic violence, addiction, and homelessness mirror the long-term environmental and economic destruction that warfare brings.

Nationalistic identity and fear perpetuate war in ways that are destructive even to the elite who has learned to manipulate populations into accepting war as inevitable and just.

When we engage in nonviolence we make the choice not only to abstain from violence but to refrain from acting out of fear. We examine whatever would make us afraid, but we ground ourselves in the understanding that we can choose how we respond. We may certainly be afraid, but we look for ways to check the habit of merely reacting in fear. Also, we remember that we are not alone, that we are part of a community of resistance. Throughout history, as now, there are those who have resisted the call of violence with their lives.

If war has any use, perhaps it is to show us how vitally important it is to apply the principles of non-violence, uncompromisingly, to all aspects of our lives.

Nonviolence is love. Like love, it emerges from the understanding that we are connected to each other and to our actions. It is not mere sentimentality. Like love, it is not based on denial of fear, but by something that lies beyond fear–a vision of possible peace. To see violence, oppression, exploitation for what they are, and then do everything in our power to prevent them is the practice of nonviolence, just as it is the practice of love.

As a martial artist, I study the nature of war; obviously, not to advocate or practice it, but to cultivate peaceful means to resist it. This is love in action, the antidote to fear. I see no separation between the practice of meditation and the practice of the martial arts. Both complement and mirror each other.

A passing driver once challenged a friend, who was participating in a vigil at the Los Angeles Federal Building, on the eve of an execution. “How would you feel if it was your wife who had been murdered?”

He replied, “I would rely on you to restrain me.”

We cannot rely on leaders to speak for us. We are wired for community. Especially now, we must look to community process to support whatever it takes to create change in these saber-rattling times.    

* On Killing : The Psychological Cost of Killing in War and Society by LT. Col. Dave Grossman