Non-violence is definitely not another form of positive thinking. Non-violence is a human choice. For me its a lifestyle that defies nature. There are few examples of non-violence in nature. Symbiosis requires that others capitalize or threaten others to survive, predator or prey. The feeding process asks that something be broken down for the building up of the other. Ecology demonstrates the struggle to keep harmony, and nature itself has storms and earthly restlessness. So this choice to be non-violent is a call to divinity.
Non-violence is an expression of faith in others, a trust of others, and a interconnection between all, like divinity. Non-violence calls us to an awareness that ask us to understand the paradox that exists between feasting, sharing, and sacrificing. There is unlikely a pure form of non-violence. Death seems to be the epitome of violence. So life and death are in themselves limits to the human understanding of peace. Existence is for me a constant desire for the perfect. My writing is proof that I have not found peace. In spirituality most folks like to believe that we continue on living in different forms. Non-violence might be a remedy to the emotional violence we can feel when someone hates, dies, or separates.
To narrow this tangent that could veer off into further complexity, I appreciate the example Gandhi left because as I try my own attempt at being non-violent I fail often. With the failure I get to practice self non-violence. This has helped me learn to appreciate and forgive myself. I am a precious gift from, what I like to call God, possibly the only pure non-violent entity. If there is a divinity then it is the only life that does not die, separate, hunger, or fear. The eternality of God is what Gandhi was trying to help me see, and this tells me that non-violence is not susceptible to the instincts we are given as animals.
P.S. Another piece of insight that I have been lost in, is that Gandhi was not a Crossfitter...but he was a cross fit.
