Ideas 1: no-violence

Due to the recent events in the US, protests, police brutality, arrests, pepper spray, etc. I found myself forced to re-analyze my own thoughts, as systematically, and objectively as I’m able to right now to see if I can understand them better.

STEP 1:  Where do I stand now?

As for today, I’m 27 years of age and in my mind*, I can’t just justify engaging in any kind of violence, not physical nor verbal. Can’t justify it under any pretext either (like as a sport/entertainment, on self-defense, punishment, retaliation, etc).

* yeah, I know, there’s no mind (not yet at least), there is the brain, and we sometimes call mind to some functions the brain performs.

STEP 2: Why?

Makes sense, if no one is violent there’s no reason to fight or hate each other and we can just be happy.

STEP 3: Where did I learn about the idea?

Gandhi, Dalai Lama??

STEP 4: How long does it take for an idea (once proved effective) to get implemented in our daily actions and thoughts?

Ok here’s the tricky part, we all know the theory for many good ideas like this one, we know it makes sense and we should implement it. but yet we don’t.

In theory, we know we shouldn’t smoke, drink, gamble, get stressed, be violent, etc, but yet we keep doing it.

We know we should be nice to people, eat healthily, exercise, but we don’t. So what’s wrong with us?

It seems it takes a long time for our brain to assimilate something we haven’t learned in our childhood or contradicts something we have learned as children.

Some ideas can’t be incorporated unless some other idea is already learned. something like updating a software.

in my head at least, this non-violence idea can’t run unless I had previously learned or seen the disasters that violence caused, recognizing the violent patterns in our society (understanding why was I violent) and know or at least imagine that there’s another option, and then make the change. This slow process took me something like 6 years.

STEP 5: How is this related to the violence on the occupy movement?

Well, now traveling back in time and paying a visit to the 15 old me. I would justify and engage in violent actions literally every day.
I would think the penal system. army and police forces are a good thing, and punishment is the only option to “solve crimes”.

And going back a bit further to when I was 12 and younger, I remember fighting with toy guns, army men, playing violent video games and watching violent movies, getting beaten up and bullied at school, at home and living in a stressful, violent city where I had to watch my back constantly.

Had I chosen a different path along the road, I would be the one holding the baton or the pepper spray right now.

We are who we are now not just because of our upbringing, but because of a billion different variables.

I think I got caught up in my own thoughts and couldn’t make the point here, the point was learning to incorporate ideas into our lives and the difficult process of it. I’ll follow up soon.

0 thoughts on “Ideas 1: no-violence

  1. I only partly agree that you got tangled in your own thoughts. I clearly understood your point and I bet everyone who has some idea what you are talking about has no problems understanding. The rest need the upgrade you mentioned…Some things have to be lived up, experienced…simply no other way 🙂

    Have you ever given it a thought that decisions we are stood before are always harder?
    Have you ever been thinking 'if only I had had this choice two years ago'…'if only I had met this person last year, when things were different'…?? There is no coincidence in this irony playing with our ambivalence…It's all down to incorporating new steps and making decisions 🙂

    peace,
    artur

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