Non Violence

There is always the danger of overload. As a result of loving podcasts and writing about them, I listen to so many of them, it gets a wee bit too much from time to time. The effect is not just going numb and not hearing the casts any more, it is also that for some I am not open enough. It is easy to criticize, but I decided as a matter of principle to give podcasts I review as much credit as I can.

As a result of the intense listening schedule, I took on a new course from Berkeley on the wrong foot. A reader of my blog, drew my attention to Introduction to Non Violence which she recommended whole-heartedly. I took the course up and in spite of my inclination towards non-violence, I had a hard time engaging myself.

When common sense is challenged for the sake of something soft, I tend to retract - I do not like non-scientific new-ageism at face value. Common sense is that we live in a real and independent from our perception physical reality and also that each of us individuals are separate from others. When this is challenged even for the sake of showing how our basic concepts seem to exclude non-violence, took some effort beyond routine listening.

Hence I stopped my iPod for some 24 hours and then tried again. It makes sense, non-violence needs some different way of looking at things. And non-violence should not be some last resort method, when you have lost all power. It needs to be a matter of principle and permeate the whole look on the world and human relations. Once having cleaned myself I started following the stream of thoughts and started thoroughly enjoying this exceptional lecture series. There is still much to go, including a follow-up course. I hope to write about it some more in the future. For now, be advised to open up and allow yourself to listen in.