A Different Perspective on the Nature of Violence

 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.

Matthew 11:12

Every physical and mental motion or action dislodges, dislocates, and disrupts the inertia it must overcome to act. Inertia is an enemy that only action can destroy. Motion is always violent because only violence can move or act against the negative force of inertia in the world. To act is to engage in violence. To refuse to act is to allow the violence of inertia to overcome the self. Therefore, the issue of violence versus nonviolence is illusory at best and detrimental to one's health at worst. Instead, we need to examine the nature of violence in itself.

The violence of freeing oneself from a kidnapper cannot be equated with the violence of enslaving millions of people for their sale to the highest bidder. Nor is the violence of laying one's life down for another comparable to taking the lives of innocents to demonstrate one's power to do so. Thus, the false issue of violence versus nonviolence must give way to the real issue: positive violence versus negative violence.

Positive violence is that powerful word or act which aims at the liberation of the oppressed and social justice for the poor. Negative violence is that powerful word or act which aims at keeping people oppressed and exploited. The perfect example of positive violence is love--love that gives itself unselfishly to free the last, the least, and the lost. The perfect example of negative violence is hatred--hatred that selfishly takes, enslaves, kills, destroys, and steals from the poor and marginalized.

The motive, purpose, use and intent of violence determine whether it is positive or negative. Every thought, word or action motivated by love is positive violence, while every thought, act or behavior motivated by hate is negative violence.