Daily Meditation: Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Non-violence - the conditions suitable for applying it

02/22/2011

Some problems cannot really be solved except on a world scale. Take Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, for example. It bore fruit in particular historical conditions, but, on the whole, non-violence is dangerous for a country. If it is the only country to practise it, it risks being wiped out, for any of its neighbours who are greedy, violent or cruel will have no qualms about massacring the poor wretches who refuse to defend themselves. Non-violence is a philosophy which is good individually, that is to say, for those who want to tame their personality and evolve more quickly by renouncing all their material interests, but it does not solve the problem of war globally. When all diplomatic attempts to avoid a conflict have failed, a country that decides not to defend itself will soon be wiped out, politically, economically and physically. For the philosophy of non-violence to become really effective, it has to become collective, world-wide, and not just remain in the minds of a few idealists, otherwise nothing will really change.