Peace Activist Recommends Head Kicking
Maybe inspired by the upcoming U.S. election and the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about violence prevention. Some people are surprised to learn that I’m a committed non-violence and peace activist. After all, the simplest level of what I teach includes how to kick someone in the head until he’s unconscious.
OK, so that’s violent!
A meditation teacher helped me to reconcile that incongruence . I’d shown her a video of one of my IMPACT classes, basically some quite intense, realistic and violent self-defense against attempted assault. Lots of shouting and kicking and knock-out blows. I have to admit I was nervous about her reaction; I was eager at the time to be perceived as a spiritual and peaceful person.
We chatted a bit about karma – including the long-term negative consequences for those who commit violence. She pointed out that it’s not doing the perpetrator any favors to allow him to harm you, and that “sometimes the most loving thing you can do for someone is to stop him from hurting you”.
And if that requires you to knock him out, so be it.
And of course the linkage between peace and self-defense is long and deep, here’s a wordy article from the Quaker community detailing the historical use of some of the terms.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Robert Jordan talks about this issue in his Wheel of Time series. The Tinkers are a culture that abhors violence, even violence done in self-defense. Several of the characters, and one in particular, struggle with the passivity of such an approach.
The issue also showed up in several episodes of Xena, when Gabriel had to decide for herself whether to follow a path of non-violence or use violence to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
I wish none of us ever had to make such a decision.