Passive Violence What is passive violence? According to Gandhi and his grandson Arun, passive violence is that which we do that disrespects other people's (and our own) lives, such as name-calling, teasing, judging and criticizing, even if it is just in our heart or thoughts. These small and often inconspicuous acts that we commit are actually a form of violence. So what causes passive violence? On a deeper level, many people, including great leaders of our time, have said that a lack of self-identity can lead to passive violence. In other words, without a strong sense of confidence in knowing who we are, we can end up feeling insecure and even develop an insecurity complex. As philosopher Daisaku Ikeda put it, "When you succumb to a complex, you are likely to see everything about yourself in a negative light. When something doesn't work out for you, you tend to blame it on those things which make you feel inferior: 'It's because I'm short' and so forth." Lacking a solid sense of who we are makes us feel insecure, and this can cause us to compare ourselves to others and even criticize or judge others because they are different from us. Gandhi was referring to judgment and criticism when he stated that passive violence leads to physical violence. How do we counteract violence, especially passive violence? First of all, it is important to stop comparing ourselves to others, since it is neither good for us, nor for others. Second, we can embrace and accept ourselves for who we are today - not for the person we want to be in 5 years, or for the person we're glad we're not, but for the person that we are today. When we accept ourselves for who we are, we free ourselves from the shackles of comparison and allow ourselves to grow and develop from where we are now. Next, we can do our best to confront whatever task or challenge with which we are faced. By doing our best, we develop a form of confidence that enables us to feel good about who we are as individuals and that helps us to see our shared identity as human beings. When we start to awaken to our deeper identity, we create a revolution in consciousness and begin to see our similarities rather than focus on our differences. |
The History of the Peace Symbol The peace symbol was designed and completed February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a commercial artist in Britain. Holtom once wrote to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, explaining the genesis of his idea in greater depth: "I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it." 
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