Pacifism in Your Spiritual Practice

Hello all. I've been exploring the idea of religiously-motivated pacifism more and more. I approach pacifism from a primarily-Catholic perspective, although I'm also an admirer of the Buddhist principle of ahisma. I've really come to embrace pacifism the more I see the world fall into violence and horror, and I am learning how to implement nonviolence into my everyday life. It's been a surprisingly difficult journey, as I've had to confront destructive habits within my own nature that contradict my strivings for peace.

For those who implement pacifism in your spiritual and religious practices: how do you personally go about doing so? Do you pull from sacred texts as your guide to nonviolent living? Which spiritual practices/traditions in your faith align with pacifistic principles the most? How do you practice pacifism in your day-to-day life (ie anti-war only, ahisma, nonviolent civil disobedience)?

 

Thanks

 

There is a Sanskrit saying , "Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah" meaning "Non-violence is the ultimate duty or righteous act', and consequently the greatest good is bound to come from nonviolence.

Ahimsa is part of the yama-niyamas in yoga and meditation, and is said to foster faster development in meditation and intuition.

Martin Luther king had stated that the principle of love stands at the center of non-violence.

Considering the various countries in the world and territorial disputes leading to wars and conflicts, amongst human beings categorized and labelled as belonging to this country, religion, race and so on by social conditioning, and the focus on creating lethal wmd by belligerents, non-violence as a tool can be used to eliminate or reduce the severity of these conflicts.

Vegetarianism/veganism, focus on nature conservation, animal rights protection, meditation, religious music are small steps one can follow to create a non-violent society.

Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King used to play religious music such as bhajans and gospel music during their campaigns in India and the US. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had stated that these music sessions created a lot of positive energies of an auspicious nature that brought about bloodless revolutions.

Deep love for God or Divine manifest in religious music and selfless service, individual or group meditations, virtuous conduct and adherence to value systems, focus on self-inquiry leading to self-knowledge can bring about such positive energies that can affect the environment around oneself and can even convert nearby negative human beings to positive ones.

There is a phenomenon stated to be the 'Maharshi Effect' which states that one percent of a population practicing meditation would produce measurable improvements in the quality of life for the whole population.

Maharishi Effect | Research

The Maharishi Effect | Age of Enlightenment

Eastern philosophy states that nonviolence is a byproduct of peace and calmness within. So it stands to reason from this that violence manifests from the restlessness and agitation within. So pacifism should be a state of mind or being in itself, and arises with self-effort.

It is said that wherever Mahavira ( the founder of the Jain religion and main exponent of nonviolence) walked, the sentient beings in that region for miles around became nonviolent themselves.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Mahavira's teaching of Ahimsa or nonviolence

The serial killer Angulimala similarly became nonviolent and pacifist in Buddha's presence though his initial intention was to kill him.

An enlightened sage can bring a great influence in the region around him or her and is a source of auspiciousness.

In a village next to mine, there lived a female enlightened master in the last century. This region, in comparison to other regions have a very low crime rate and low incidence of natural disasters which people attribute to the master's grace and positive energies emitted by her. Even now one can still feel the positive vibes and auspiciousness over this place and it is now a popular tourist site as well.

There should be similar cultural best practices around the world that have been found to be effective in creating a peaceful and nonviolent society, and which can be researched, studied and implemented for optimal results.

 

Thanks

 

Peace for a long period of time is considered vital for feelings of love to emerge, as per a spiritual master I was privileged to listen to. This is because of the unitary nature of love as opposed to the dualistic nature of conflict ( leading to an agitated mind.)

Thus peace and love are complementary to each other.

Because of our animal heritage the mind tends to agitation and conflict, and hence it is considered an austerity to keep the mind balanced and equanimous at all times so as to ascend to higher levels of mental culture and civilization.

Peace-making is also considered a highly meritorious practice in all religions.

Before the Mahabharatha war,the Avatar Krishna had used his capacities as a diplomat to persuade the war-mongering Kauravas to agree to peace, and to give up their paranoia and hatred towards their rivals the Pandavas.

Krishna had also stated then that peace-making between warring factions is highly meritorious, and even if one fails in the attempt one still gains half the merit involved in preventing the war.


In Islam, Muhammad had also highly praised the peacemaker over the troublemaker and stated that the one who spreads peace and harmony is loved by God and His creation.

PROPHET MUHAMMAD QUOTES ABOUT PEACE – Fsmstatistics.fm