Acts of extreme violence against defenceless civilian populations have been many and varied in recent years, arousing indignation, incomprehension, anger, sadness and fear. To help remedy this, we can try to understand their causes. But here we will focus on an introspective approach.<\/p>\n
Ren\u00e9 Girard, an anthropologist and philosopher who wrote a great deal about violence, tells us: \u201cWhen we think of violence, we think of aggression, that is, something external directed against ourselves, but never something done by ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Aumist religion, the transformation of the surrounding world begins with an individual revolution, and His Holiness the Lord HAMSAH MANARAH teaches us that \u201cthe first field of struggle for a better future is our own personality<\/em>\u201d.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis awareness<\/em>,\u201d He points out, \u201cconcerns not only moralists but the whole of humanity, beyond notions of race, social class and nation. It must necessarily lead us to narrow the gap that generally exists between words, pious wishes and positive acts aimed at bringing peace to minds and hearts.<\/em>\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n In this talk we will discuss a few avenues for cultivating non-violence within ourselves:<\/p>\n As with violence, our tendency to analyse the character of others, the better to see their faults, allows us, consciously or not, to hide the twists and turns and the complexity of our own personality. Our attention is drawn to the outside world and neglects to turn towards knowledge of ourselves. Yet this self-knowledge is indispensable for anyone who seeks to improve and hopes for greater self-mastery, like the top athlete who scrutinises each of his movements in order to improve his performance.<\/p>\n Only a sincere and rigorous review can allow us to identify the causes of our own suffering, inner conflicts, physical malaise, lack of self-confidence, past wounds\u2026, and to understand the forces at work within us. What are the means of exploring our inner universe?<\/p>\n They can be considered simple, because we always have our subject of exploration \u201cto hand\u201d, open to our inner gaze:<\/p>\n These means can, however, prove complex if we lack attention, vigilance and moral courage in the face of what they may lead us to discover. Not to mention that some memories that have marked the unconscious may be very deeply buried. If necessary, it is possible to call on the experience of a skilled psychoanalyst.<\/p>\n We can set ourselves goals in our daily activities to sharpen our vigilance with regard to our habits: being calm and courteous at the wheel of a car, when we are pressed for time, in a queue, in the presence of a certain person\u2026<\/p>\n We can set ourselves daily appointments (at bedtime) and weekly ones (on Sunday morning) to carry out the necessary reviews of our evolution. Patience and regularity will bring gradual results, slow perhaps, but sure. With what benefits?<\/p>\n Without being violent towards ourselves either, discovering and kindly understanding our fears, our selfishness, our pride or our intolerance will allow us to consider and work on the diametrically opposed qualities. Here again, patience and regularity are welcome. The second benefit of this self-knowledge, and not the least, is that it gives us the key to understanding others and the world around us. The other person, as another self, is then perceived with greater subtlety and above all with more indulgence.<\/p>\n Emotions, as we know, play tricks on us, springing up unpredictably for those who do not observe themselves. Triggered by an unexpected event or by a recent or distant memory, and fed by our unconscious, the occasions are many and can insidiously invite us to feed phobias and mistrust. Anger, envy, jealousy and exaggerated fear are bad counsellors and very often provoke outbursts of violence, against ourselves or against others.<\/p>\n It takes strength to be non-violent<\/strong><\/p>\n Discipline of the mind will keep us from hasty reactions to events, to the news widely commented on by the media and amplified by an imagination that often makes us see the worst\u2026 Like the martial arts, non-violence is a matter of self-mastery that requires long-term work, with rigour and with enlightened and kindly discernment. And this vigilance must be exercised and extended to the field of our actions, as to that of our words and our thoughts. By recognising our fears, without guilt, we can then express them and put them into words before becoming aggressive, and remain vigilant so as not to let ourselves be \u201cfed\u201d by these fears.<\/p>\n In his book Mon grand-p\u00e8re \u00e9tait Gandhi<\/em> (\u201cMy grandfather was Gandhi\u201d), Arun Gandhi advises: \u201cConvert the energy of your anger into non-violence, by controlling anger as soon as it appears in order to stop and analyse the situation. Anger will then provide the energy needed to solve problems non-violently.\u201d<\/p>\n His Holiness the Lord HAMSAH MANARAH points us in the same direction: \u201cTo free oneself from the pressure of emotions, one must absolutely detach oneself from oneself, observe and analyse oneself as if one were analysing a third person. This exercise quickly calms the waves of the mind, soothes the emotional cyclones and brings each situation, each event, back to its true proportion: the rut in the road that had become an imaginary ravine.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The book La Loi d’\u00c9volution des \u00c2mes<\/em>, from which this passage is taken,[4]<\/sup><\/a> offers valuable techniques and meditations that make it easier to achieve:<\/p>\n Preferring action to reaction, we can delay our responses to an aggression, or to an event perceived as such, and the small events of everyday life give us as many opportunities to train ourselves to stay calm. Patience is called for once again: small, constant and lasting progress is better than showy flashes of brilliance.<\/p>\n A royal key: forgiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n The Founder of the Aumist religion, whose teaching is always focused on the practical means of evolving and of building a world of peace, has given us many keys through His example and His written work. Among these keys, that of forgiveness deserves particular attention. He tells us:<\/p>\n \u201cForgiveness is the only way to put an end to hatred.\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Forgiveness is a way out of the cycle, a door to pass through that allows the other person to grow in humanity, gives the victim back the strength to get up again and puts an end to the infernal cycle of revenge.<\/p>\n Forgiveness does not erase the act committed, but it allows each party to free themselves from hatred or guilt, restoring each person’s dignity as a human being and starting a process of personal reconstruction. But far from being an implicit and spontaneous process, forgiveness requires work, determination and strength in proportion to the level of the wounds inflicted or felt, on an individual scale specific to each person.<\/p>\n The first step, the Lord tells us, is to forgive oneself: \u201cDo not ask GOD to have pity on you, but quite simply have pity on yourselves,\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/a> for our conscience can remain implacable towards us long after others have forgiven us.<\/p>\n The second step is to forgive others, those who have hurt us. In order no longer to identify with the state of victim, it is no longer forgiveness of<\/em> oneself but forgiveness for<\/em> oneself that must be granted.<\/p>\n In both cases we can benefit from a change in the situation as lived and felt, bringing the balm of serenity and inner peace so as to free ourselves little by little. In both cases we will need to have recourse to forgiveness, of ourselves or of the other, and this practice,[7]<\/sup><\/a> described in detail in the book La R\u00e9volution du Monde des Vivants et des Morts<\/em>, is recommended at most once a week and at least once a month.<\/p>\n Hannah Arendt, the German-born philosopher, states: \u201cForgiveness is certainly one of the greatest human capacities and perhaps the most daring of actions, insofar as it attempts the impossible, namely to undo what has been done, and succeeds in inaugurating a new beginning where everything seemed to have come to an end.\u201d[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Seeking to understand others<\/strong><\/p>\n As we have said, better self-knowledge will foster a better understanding of others, whether near or far. It is what will allow us to recognise the words and actions caused by stress or fear in the person who attacks us. It is what will make us perceive the needs of others, so as to negotiate the outcome of a conflict better, to engage in dialogue in order to clear up any misunderstanding or doubt, and to find common ground.<\/p>\n The expression \u201cHell is other people\u201d, inherited from Jean-Paul Sartre, may imply that paradise would be peopled by individuals modelled on our own ways of thinking, or else would look like a desert island. But the author himself comments: \u201c\u2018Hell is other people\u2019 has always been misunderstood. People thought I meant by it that our relationships with others are always poisoned, that they are always hellish relationships. But what I mean is something quite different. I mean that if our relationships with others are twisted, corrupted, then the other can only be hell. Why? Because other people are, basically, the most important thing in ourselves for our own self-knowledge.\u201d[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The other person is therefore someone who reflects back to me the relationship I have with them. For my happiness, the other must therefore be another self whom I love or respect. For the other is not another self who resembles me; it is another self who can open me to diversity, enrich me and allow me to become someone else, better and broader. Intolerance then appears to us as the fear that our own beliefs may waver. The Lord HAMSAH MANARAH tells us on this subject: \u201cIf man is fundamentally good, he is sure of himself; the differing opinions of those he meets should not disturb him, create agitation in him or even give rise to aggressiveness. A true inner certainty does not fear analysis.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n By regularly reconsidering our point of view and our convictions, we can learn every day through dialogue and exchange, and accept differences of opinion and belief, each person holding a<\/em> truth and not the<\/em> truth. Let us remember that the only dogma of Aumism is \u201cthe Unity of the Faces of God\u201d, a source of tolerance between religions. The Founder also speaks of tolerance of the imperfections of those around us, recommending that we accept only three faults in others, in order to live in peace in any community:<\/p>\n \u201cThe visible flaws of the cloak must not make the Sage who observes forget that, in the background, the Divine Consciousness still and always shines.\u201d[11]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n While it is necessary at first to set \u201cprohibitions\u201d, implied by the very term non-violence, and to identify the expressions of violence, we cannot pass over in silence malicious gossip, which has become a national sport for our politicians and comedians. It is among the big habits that are hardest to eradicate. Victor Hugo, better than anyone, with humour and subtlety, invites us to do so in this poem (Le Mot<\/em>, \u201cThe Word\u201d), given here in a free translation:<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people, beware of the things that you say.<\/p>\n Anything can come of a word you let slip on your way.<\/p>\n Anything, hatred and grief! And do not object to me<\/p>\n That your friends are reliable and you speak quietly\u2026<\/p>\n Listen carefully to this:<\/p>\n Face to face, in your slippers,<\/p>\n Doors closed, at home, without a witness to whisper,<\/p>\n You say into the ear of the most discreet<\/p>\n Of your bosom friends, or, if you prefer it,<\/p>\n You murmur all alone, almost believing you are silent,<\/p>\n At the bottom of a cellar thirty feet underground,<\/p>\n An unpleasant word about some individual;<\/p>\n This word that you believe no one has heard,<\/p>\n That you said so softly in a deaf and dark place,<\/p>\n Runs as soon as it is loosed, sets off, leaps, comes out of the shadow!<\/p>\n Look, it is outside! It knows its way.<\/p>\n It walks, it has two feet, a stick in its hand,<\/p>\n Good hobnailed shoes, a passport in order;<\/p>\n If need be, it would take wings, like the eagle!<\/p>\n It escapes you, it flees, nothing will stop it.<\/p>\n It follows the quay, crosses the square, et cetera,<\/p>\n Crosses the water without a boat in the flood season,<\/p>\n And goes, through a maze of streets,<\/p>\n Straight to the individual you spoke about.<\/p>\n It knows the number, the floor; it has the key,<\/p>\n It climbs the stairs, opens the door, goes through,<\/p>\n Enters, arrives and, mocking, looking the man in the face,<\/p>\n Says: \u2018Here I am! I come from the mouth of so-and-so.\u2019<\/p>\n And it is done. You have a mortal enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n From non-violence to altruism<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, in this non-exhaustive list, we must exercise vigilance over passive forms of violence, which are therefore more insidious, discreet and commonplace: our indifference to the suffering of others, our lack of attention, our lack of gratitude or encouragement. The point here is to encourage widening the notion of non-violence to that of altruism. To find every day words that comfort and reassure, and actions that relieve, that take care, that show particular attention to a friend, a relative, a neighbour, a colleague, a shopkeeper, a stranger.<\/p>\n \u201cHumanity expects you to set the example of love in action, through prayer, the gift of self, and the gesture that soothes all pain.\u201d[12]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Mistrust turns into kindness, a kindness that we can practise spreading every day, in thought, over our loved ones, then over people who are neutral to us, and finally over those we need to forgive.<\/p>\n \u201cMay all sentient beings in the ten directions of space be free from enmity. May they be free from ill will, may they be rid of suffering. May they be happy: in the North, in the South, in the East, in the West, in the North-West, in the South-East, in the North-East, in the South-West, above and below.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a> We gradually widen, extend and radiate this kindness, thus transforming our outer and inner universe.<\/p>\n The barometer of happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n Just as the small acts of violence of everyday life feed the great violence of the planet, active individual non-violence illustrates the saying: \u201cTransform yourself in order to transform the world better.\u201d And on this obstacle course, a legitimate question arises: does our inner improvement make us happy? Detachment, forgiveness, joy and laughter, as we know, are good for our health, and all those who are lastingly happy are so because they have sought the happiness of others.<\/p>\n So I will end, as a promise made by all beings of goodwill, with this extract from La Doctrine de l’Aumisme<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe only Way that matters<\/p>\n And the only one that leads to serenity<\/p>\n Is that of the MEDITATING FIGHTER<\/p>\n And of the FIGHTING MEDITATOR.<\/p>\n Let us love all our fellow beings,<\/p>\n All creatures visible and invisible,<\/p>\n And let us pray to the Divine to help us SERVE our brothers in humanity,<\/p>\n As well as all of nature.<\/p>\n Let us pray often,<\/p>\n Let us love much, expecting nothing in return.<\/p>\n Let us give of our Heart and of ourselves generously,<\/p>\n In order to contribute to this alchemical work concerning the future of all beings.\u201d[14]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n V. Sumedhya<\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Le Yoga de l’Amour dans la Force<\/em>, p. 39, Albin Michel.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid., p. 40.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> La Loi d’\u00c9volution des \u00c2mes<\/em>, p. 427.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid., pp. 414-445.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Vers un \u00c2ge d’Or d’Unit\u00e9<\/em>, p. 178.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> La Doctrine de l’Aumisme<\/em>, p. 113.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> La R\u00e9volution du Monde des Vivants et des Morts<\/em>, p. 249.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Hannah Arendt, Nature du totalitarisme<\/em>, Payot, 1990.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Jean-Paul Sartre, commentary on the recording of Huis clos<\/em> (No Exit<\/em>), 1964.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Le Yoga de la Vie pratique<\/em>, p. 218, Albin Michel.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Le Flambeau d’Unit\u00e9<\/em>, p. 455.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Une Loi pour d\u00e9truire le Mal<\/em>, p. 193.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> Le Yoga de l’Amour dans la Force<\/em>, p. 59, Albin Michel.<\/p>\n\n
I – DISCOVERING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES OF OUR OWN VIOLENCE<\/h3>\n
\n
II – SOLUTIONS WITHIN OURSELVES<\/h3>\n
\n
III – SOLUTIONS IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS<\/h3>\n
\n
\n