The violence of non-violence

I am a big believer in the philosophy of non-violence.

People like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are heroes of mine.

What really gets me steamed though is all of the activists out there who claim the heritage of these men, and who claim to genuinely believe in non-violence, but who simultaneously strive to achieve their goals by using the power of the state to inflict violence on others.

I find this to be exasperating for two reasons.

First of all, by behaving in this fashion they smear all of us who believe in non-violence with the label of hypocrisy and dissuade others who might otherwise be attracted to this philosophy.

Secondly I believe that many of those who practice this hypocrisy are not actually aware on a conscience level that they are acting at odds with their own beliefs.

I believe this to be so because the very existence of the state blinds them to the reality of what they are doing.

I believe that the impulse to use coercion against our fellow human beings is fundamentally due to an inability to control our fears.

When we are unable to control our fears, we must choose between the fight or flight response. When we choose to fight we usually choose to exercise control over our environment in some fashion.

When we do this ourselves by directly imposing our will on other human beings there is at least the possibility of connecting with that other human being. There is the chance that we will become aware of the pain and suffering that we are causing to them.

There is a chance that we may choose to stop hurting them.

There is a chance that we may choose to feel remorse and to seek to make amends for causing harm to them.

Of course, if the inability to control a strong fear is significant, we may instead choose to turn off our empathy for them, become self absorbed, get and stay angry and to morally justify what we know in our heart to be immoral. This is, of course, the path chosen by all of the monsters of history.

So, when we choose to do the deed ourselves, there is at least a chance that we will not descend into evil.

However, when we choose to exercise coercion indirectly by asking someone else to do it for us, this possibility is much more remote.

When we choose to vote this is what we are doing and this is why voting in particular and democracy in general is so incredibly evil.

When we cast a ballot we are choosing to employ another human being to exercise coercion on our behalf.

Laws are passed for this purpose.

The violence of the state is then used to impose force on our victims.

But all of this is out-of-sight and out-of-mind for the voters.

We never have to see the pain and suffering that these human beings feel, thus we are never able to feel remorse for what we have done.

And nobody who works for the state is willing to accept responsibility for this evil.

They all pass the buck.

The police officers who serve the fines, and throw human beings into dehumanizing cages where they will be raped and brutalized always say the same thing … “I’m just following the law” … “I’m just doing my job”.

And when our victims seek empathy from organs of governments who administer these laws, they always say the same thing … “I’m just following the law” … “I’m just doing my job”.

Few people in our society realize what is really going.

Few people see the big picture.

Few people understand the true dynamics of the larger forces that are really at work here and where all this is ultimately leading us to.

Few people understand the role that they themselves are playing to bring this about and the role that they could play to prevent it from being so if they so chose.


A vicious self-reinforcing cycle is at work …

The state grows in proportion to the inability of individuals to control their fears and the inability of individuals to control their fears grows in proportion to the growth of the state.

The increase in the rate of taxation …
the increase in the ferocity of invasive laws which destroy individual liberty and seek to control every aspect of the life of the individual …
the increase in the dependency of the individual on the state and the feeling of dis-empowerment …
These symptoms of the growth of the state serve only to increase the stress of the individual who more often than not seeks to decrease that stress by paradoxically giving the state more power.

We choose to vote “our guy” into office to respond in kind to the individuals who are perceived to be inflicting the pain on us via the state.

This cycle of barbarism is absolutely identical to the cycle of barbarism that unfolds between individuals in conflict [http://tinyurl.com/9drnvy] except that it is practiced between organized gangs of individuals who band together to increase their strength.

And unless the cycle is broken it leads to the same destructive ends except on a much more massive scale.

Each time one group attains power they seek retribution on the other and use the force of the state to achieve that goal.

It is a vicious cycle that is destined to end in an explosion of barbarism and bloodshed.

We know this is true because it is not the first time this has happened.

It would seem to be a naturally occurring pattern.


The last time that the world was consumed by the total state philosophies of communism and fascism tens of millions were slaughtered, great cities were leveled and entire societies where devastated and traumatized.

These philosophies are identical in all respects but one – who they chose to focus their hatred on and who, consequently, those in control of the state chose to use the power of the state to focus their extermination efforts on.

As the state grows so grows evil.

This is the path which we are traveling.

Anyone who has ever read about the holocaust cannot help but be struck by the fact that the people who lead the jews to the gas chambers responded to pleading for empathy from those who were about to die with the usual cold response of the government employee: “I’m just following the law” … “I’m just doing my job”.

Those who consider themselves to believe in non-violence should remember this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’”.

The choice between violence and non-violence is the choice between coercion and voluntarism.

Support for the existence of the state is 100% at odds with support for a philosophy of non-violence because the state is an institution that exists solely for the purpose of inflicting coercive and violent force against individuals.

Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha explicitly sought to combat the impulse to coercion not only because it does not work but because this path leads us to become just like those whose behavior we are seeking to change.

If the goal is to achieve enduring change, coercion will never work. Indeed it can have the deceptive effect of appearing to work in the short term but actually making things much worse in the long term.

The goal is not to use force against the evil doer.

The goal is to encourage the evil doer to transform themselves by connecting with them, forcing them to face their own conscience and to voluntarily choose to stop exercising coercion.

Deep down we all know the difference between right and wrong because morality is innate and is rooted in empathy. When we feel empathy for other human beings we cannot cause harm to them because we feel their pain as if it were our own.

Stayagraha seeks to turn on the empathy of the one who chooses to exercise coercion. In so doing it forces them to face their own conscience.

Destructive emotions have the opposite effect. When we choose to respond to force with force we are actually helping the evil doer to deceive themselves into thinking that their actions are moral because we are helping them to keep their empathy turned off.

This is what the destructive emotions of fear and anger do. They kill empathy and in so doing blind the conscience.

This path leads to the division of society into warring tribes who use ever increasing means of violence against each other. Sooner or later the violence of voting, taxation and law-making will escalate into even more brutal forms of violence, barbarism and war making.

This time around perhaps we will end up wiping out our entire species?

I believe that those who profess to believe in non-violence but who inadvertently end up choosing the path of coercion should choose to practice Satyagraha on themselves and to lead by example.

This is the path that has the best chance of not only avoiding a deep dive into barbarism but actually bringing about positive, peaceful and enduring change in the world.

Please don't vote

The overwhelming negativity of politics is something that I have a hard time dealing with and I usually choose to tune it out completely.

The very nature of the democratic system conditions the mind to pursue conflict and inflict pain and suffering on others. It teaches us to search for and find the worst qualities in our fellow human beings and to focus on these to the exclusion of their many good qualities.

Have you ever noticed that this negative mental attitude is the exact opposite of what you tend to find in really successful people? The real leaders in society - the ones whom we like, respect, admire and look to for guidance - are those who look for, find and bring out the best in others.



I view the democratic system from an historical perspective.

I believe that the human race is on the verge of a great awakening.

For the entire history of life on this planet the brain physiology of the of the higher animals has limited sentient beings to emotion-based behavior.

That is now changing.

The most ancient part of the brain is the amygdala. It is your emotional center.

The more recently evolved part of the brain is the cerebral cortex. It is your logical center.

The circuitry and neuro-plasticity of the brain has evolved to the point that you are now physiologically capable of gaining total control over your destructive emotional impulses.

Scientists have known this for some time now but most have failed to grasp the incredible implications this has for the future of humanity.

Imagine for a moment what the world will be like when we have developed the self-discipline to temper our destructive emotions.

Imagine how your life will change. Imagine how much better the lives of your children will be.

The opportunities for the advancement of human civilization are nearly boundless.

It is difficult to predict the future. However, one thing at least is certain: The ability of human beings to gain control over their destructive emotions will absolutely result in a dramatic decrease in conflict and the resultant suffering that it causes. In its stead will be increased compassion, love, peace and prosperity.


It is within this evolutionary context that I view the democratic system.

Our emotion-driven cave-dwelling ancestors were likely unable to restrain their emotional impulses.

When one caveman was hungry and saw that another had obtained food he most likely would not have been able to refrain from clubbing the other caveman over the head to take what he wanted.

It is hard to blame him for this since he probably lacked the neural circuitry to enable him to exercise restraint.

We humans of today, however, have no such excuse.

We are capable of both extra-ordinarily civilized behavior as well as the extra-ordinary barbarism of our ancestors.

The political systems of the age of barbarism consist mostly of various forms of authoritarianism wherein a small group of individuals imposed their will on the majority in a fashion similar to that of our cave dwelling alpha-male ancestors.

The past few hundred years, however, has seen the flourishing of democracy.

This great step forward for humanity has yielded significant increases in freedom and happiness and decrease s in suffering.

However, democracy is not IMHO the final evolutionary form of human civilization.

Rather it is merely a stepping stone to something much more beautiful.


We cave dwellers have taken the first step towards the future by ganging up on and killing the alpha male.

However, we then sought to emulate his methods and turned on each other.

Democracy does, after all, merely replace the tyranny of the minority with that of the majority.

And thus we arrive at our present day system where we take turns imposing our will on each other every few years.



If you have the courage to open your mind and look deep into your heart you will come to realize the truth of the following two statements.

The root cause of all conflict in the world is the CHOICE of individuals to impose their will on others.

And the reason for this choice is almost always FEAR.


We all desire freedom for ourselves and those that we care about but we all (to varying degrees) fear granting that same freedom to our fellow human beings. This is what I like to call the “freedom for me but not for thee” phenomenon.

But life doesn’t work that way.

Have you ever noticed that we tend to get back what we dish out?

If we seek to impose our will on others they will tend to want to return the favor.

We almost always have good intentions when doing so, but the decision to do so is almost always a misguided one and results from unclear thinking which is usually facilitated by fear.

The law of reciprocity is real.

The universe gives back to us in proportion to what we give to it.

Some believe that they can cheat the system but have you noticed this never seems to work?

The truth is that you will never have the freedom that you desire for yourself unless and until you are prepared to grant that freedom to others - especially those whom engage in practices which you find objectionable but do not actually case harm.

That is the price that must be paid if we truly desire freedom to pursue happiness. Sooner or later people will come to the realization that imposing their will on each other will not bring them the happiness that they desire. However, following the golden rule will.


The democratic system is a relic from the age of barbarism that we should be seeking to elevate ourselves out of.

We can and will do that at a time of our choosing.

All the pieces are now in place for the greatest leap forward that humanity has ever taken.

All that is required now is a decision.

That decision is yours to make.

What kind of a world do you want to live in?

What kind of a world do you want to create and leave for your children and their children?

Are you ready to put an end to the violence, conflict and suffering of the age of barbarism and to embrace the peace and love of the post barbarism era?

If so, I respectfully ask you to make pledges to yourself similar to these ones:


From this day forward I will do my best to refrain from imposing my will on my fellow human beings. Instead, when I feel strongly about something I will seek to persuade them while also keeping my mind open to the persuasive arguments of others. To this end I commit to doing the hard work necessary to develop my own emotional intelligence to the point where I have achieved complete mastery of my emotions. If ever I should fail to live up to this high standard I will not beat myself up. Instead I will have the courage to admit it and to seek to correct the situation.

I will lead by example and be a force for positive change in the world by working to reduce conflict, alleviate suffering and increasing the joy of my fellow human beings.

In the great tradition of passive resistance pioneered by the likes of Gandhi and Martin Luther King I resolve to peacefully withdraw my support for the democratic system. I will not vote and I will not cooperate with any government except when forced to do so by the armed force of the state.

I recognize that those in power and those who support them are good people who are doing what they believe to be right and are motivated by the desire to alleviate suffering and increase joy just like I am. I harbor no ill will towards them. In a spirit of friendship I seek merely to persuade them of the error of their ways.

I will continuously seek out opportunities to induce the state to use force against me for the purpose of illustrating to others the true nature of the system and to thus bring about its more rapid demise.

I will pay my taxes only when forced to do so but I will absolutely refuse to accept government hand outs of any sort because it is fundamentally immoral to benefit from the looting of my fellow human beings.

I will continuously seek out innovative ways to create and participate in alternative institutions to government.

The only moral type of exchange is that between two free parties on the basis of mutual consent. I pledge to maintain a high level of personal integrity and to never participate in any other sort of exchange in any fashion.

As our numbers grow the power of the state will diminish and eventually evaporate into thin air. I pledge to bring an end to the age of barbarism in my life time. This is my life purpose and if need be I will sacrifice everything in order to achieve this noble goal.