International Day of Non-Violence

“There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for.”

Mahatma Gandhi
The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 1927

Mahatma Gandhi’s first Salt Satyagrah was inspired by Imam Hussain’s non-violent resistance to the tyranny of Yazid. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have studied the history of Islam and Imam Hussain (A), and was of the opinion that Islam represented not the legacy of a sword but of sacrifices of saints like Imam Hussain (A).

Mahatma Gandhi wrote:“My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Hussain (A), the great saint.”

The sculpture “Non-Violence”

The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. This day is referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti. It is, the United Nations writes, an opportunity to “disseminate the message of non-violence” with the goal of “securing a culture of peace, tolerance and understanding”.

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi inspired countless others with his philosophy, including Nobel Prize-winning scientist Albert Einstein. In celebration of non-violence, and the history of social change it has helped achieve, here are few quotes from cultural leaders on the topic:

• “Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men of our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil,” — Albert Einstein
  

• “Non-violence doesn’t mean we have to passively accept injustice. We have to fight for our rights, we have to oppose injustice. Gandhi fervently promoted non-violence, but that didn’t mean he was complacently accepting of status quo. He resisted, but he did so without doing harm.” — Dalai Lama

• “Non-violence means avoiding avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse t0 shoot a man, but also refuse to hate him.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

• “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace. We need love and compassion.” — Mother Teresa

• “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” — Thomas Edison

 

 

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[Socratic paradox] I know one thing: that I know nothing

The Greek philosopher Socrates is considered to be one of the wisest person, he was one of the founders of Western philosophy. He however used to say: “I know one thing: that I know nothing”. (Source)

On the contrary, when we see the debates on electronic media or the posts of most people on social networking sites like Facebook, we find that these people are so sure of ‘what they know’ that they are not even willing to listen an alternative point of view.

We, therefore, wonder how a person who is treated by the world as the wisest person says that ‘he knows nothing’ while so many ordinary folks claim to have all the knowledge of the world.

Was Socrates lying; or was he just trying to be humble; or was he actually speaking the truth?

A lot of what we are ‘know’ may actually be useless for us unless we apply the triple filter test.

You can easily see that most of what is believed to be ‘knowledge’ is actually neither true, nor good nor even useful.  Yet people are so proud having such knowledge that are busy convincing others that they have solutions of all the problems of the world.

Only an ignorant person can give a categorical reply to all questions of life.  Most people believe that they can answer any question of life. It requires the wisdom of highest order to accept that you don’t know much about anything. Hence only a wise man can say these words “I don’t know”, while fools are answering all questions of life.