Soul of Nonviolence - From How to Why
“Let us now move from the political how to the theoretical why: Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. . . . Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies—or else? ”
This week, Veronica revisits a favorite quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. to help us get a bird’s-eye-view of nonviolence. Often the focus of discussions on nonviolence can be on how to approach public action and movement. With this quote, we get to explore the why of nonviolence. This motivation can keep us strong when loving our enemies goes against what we think or feel. With this understanding, we can choose whether or not we want to add deeper darkness
Veronica calls attention to a simple fact that we, as a species continue to struggle with: retaliatory violence does not end in peace. We are conditioned by the world around us to think violence works, and most of us have not trained our minds to keep us from falling into violent patterns that have been modeled for us. With some practice and time spent developing our emotional intelligence, we can learn to act from a place of centeredness instead reacting, and pursue redemptive nonviolence and peace.