Nonviolence Is Love In Action

I recently watched a rebroadcast of Tavis Smiley’s 2005 interview with Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader and activist.  During the interview Mr. Smiley asked Mrs. King if she thought that Dr. King’s nonviolent strategies would be effective in today’s volatile world political climate.  He specifically addressed whether she thought they would be effective in response to the events of 9/11 and in dealing with Osama bin Laden, asking her if a nonviolent response would prevail in such extreme circumstances. I was pleased to hear her unequivocal “Yes.”  In fact, she posited that if we had been practicing and promoting nonviolence in our diplomatic relations around the world in the decades since Dr. King’s assassination that there would not have been an Osama bin Laden or others like him.  Mrs. King further stated that the concept of “nonviolence” is based on unconditional love as taught by Jesus Christ and that when we embrace unconditional love as our guiding principle and respond from that consciousness, we naturally live nonviolence.  Nonviolence is not passive resistance, but active response expressed as unconditional love from the realization of Oneness. 

Jesus spoke from a realization of Oneness when he said, “The Father and I are One” and “Those who have seen me have seen the Father.”  The “Father” is the One Power and One Presence that is the Source of All.  Jesus was not talking just about himself; he taught that each of us is that One as well. 

There is only One in expression; therefore, all who appear to be showing up in human form are in reality individuations of the One. 

From the realization of Oneness, the mind-identified “conditions,” such as religion, race, gender, nationality, and sexual orientation to name a few, no longer have any meaning; therefore there is nothing to fear, thus nothing to defend or attack.  Where there is no fear, there is only Love. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear.” John 4:18.  Where there is only Love, that Love extends to all humanity through every thought, word and deed: This is the essence of nonviolence. 

When asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied, “Love – Love God, Love your Self, and Love the ‘other’ as the Self.  As Mrs. King stated, when we practice nonviolence we follow this – the greatest commandment of all.

Today begins the seventeenth annual Gandhi-King-Gyatso Season for Nonviolence.  It is sponsored by the Association for Global New Thought (www.agnt.org):

“The annual 64 day campaign, co-founded in 1998 by Dr. Arun Gandhi and The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), is an educational, media and grassroots awareness campaign spanning the January 30th and April 4th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The purpose of the campaign is to focus educational and media attention on the philosophy of attaining peace through nonviolent action as demonstrated by legendary leaders Mohandas K. Gandhi, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar E. Chavez, and President Nelson Mandela, as well as living legends such as His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.”

Please visit their website to learn more or to download information that will assist with the practice and integration of nonviolence in our daily lives.

May we continue to live the teachings of Jesus and realize the dreams of these leaders, and others who champion nonviolence through the realization of Oneness and express that in their actions of unconditional love.