The way to solve violence has been known for thousands of years. Why is it not heard, known or understood? If understood, why not put into practice? How to restore or continue to enjoy, allow to flourish, a harmony and peace in one's life, and more broadly, in the world? This, we will look into.

Going from what we see outwardly to the "cause" inwardly: Disharmonious, disturbing or destructive behavior is seen, by individuals and groups; we see the core issue is suffering, an ownership of what is not ours, what is not the truth. Not a physical pain, but rather a psychological suffering, with a spiritual root cause: a philosophical error becomes known, is seen, in a deep way. This suffering was driving behaviors and results of behaviors - outward results, so to speak –  that we term "violence", because they go against human values and feelings, and constructive, beautiful living expressions of love and truth.

Going from what we experience inwardly to what we see outwardly: we see what we are not, the mental "show", and it is allowed to play itself out, but no serious action or reaction takes place; and behavior that is conducive to reality, to the facts of life, ensues: the sweetness, happiness, lightness harmony and beauty of life naturally unfold, and are evident.

The Fruit of The Tree

Life as a whole changes in our experience of life. It is a bit of a mystery or "miracle", since we cannot pin it down to separate causes and effects, like the mind tries to do. And in a broader sense, the inner and the outer exactly correspond. Our "inner" stillness or "seeing" and harmony are evident around us in the circumstances of our lives, like ripples from a drop of a stone in a pond; no cycles of action and reaction are continued. We wake up from the dream, so to speak.

And so here in this little article, we are pondertings this and ask, what is the nature of this suffering? What is it's root, and what is the solution? We do not have to dwell on ignorance, nor analyze ourselves, or focus on the small selve, ad its outer manifestations nor it's inner "life" – that in fact can make it worse or perpetuate the game – of hiding from oneself, one's true self, the pretending – but simply remind ourselves of what we already know in our hearts, deep in our heart of hearts, and live accordingly. It can sound simple – and it is extremely simple - the simplest thing, really –  but is not often easy, given human habits, tendencies.

In other words, to address the outward appearance, the behaviors and effects we call violence – we have to look at the inward cause, the suffering, inward pain, and its root.

The way to end all violence is to "know the Self" as they say in the East: the knowing of one’s true self, or true nature. But what does that mean?

Another way to look at the same, central, fundamental problem is to see that it is one of identification. There is an identification with what one is not.

Jesus knew it, Buddha new it, Mohammad knew it, Lao Tzu knew it, countless sages past and present know it…

Cases of Necessary Violence

To be clear, in reality there are no rules, and we are not talking about cases of necessary (physical, not mental) violence, where there are specific circumstances that arise, for example:

– Defending the border of one's body, bodies or a country from attack. These are natural outgrowths of the fact that an organism is defined by a border: a cell has a cell wall, a body has a skin, a house has a property or area line or border (even if vague), a country has a border, and so forth. Of course, if you look down from space, no borders are seen — just the incredible beauty of the planet we share with all life — and there is an opportunity to see it's all made up by the human mind, when you see globally.

– The killing of an animal to survive (hopefully relatively humanely), when other options are not available (e.g., the Eskimos), or the body calls for it.

These are human examples of course, but we can also see that in nature, predators such as lions or hawks must use violence to obtain their food (even many insects eat other insects, and some plants eat insects too!). But it is a temporary, quick occurrences – the sudden lunging after prey for example – before things return to peace. And, it is not a psychological condition that is behind the dynamic – it's merely instinct and intelligence, the movement of nature: there is no inner conflict. So perhaps "violence" isn't even the right word.

Everything else is unnecessary, such as wars driven by ideological and religious conflicts, or wars driven by made-up political agendas, and so on –  spurred by belief systems clung to as explanations and identities. They are all "mental": artificial dynamics stemming from a deep inner Self-blindness.

Self Knowledge

In other words, what is needed, is for Consciousness, Reality, to know itself, indirectly, via these human vehicles: the See that I am not these contents of consciousness. This play of appearances is only a shadow of my real Self, that shining Sun of infinite glory and peace (a Plato knew), that in some cultures has inspired the concept of God.

But your "Father" so to speak – the Source – cannot be known like any object in consciousness. Why? Because you Are this consciousness. One cannot see one's own eye directly.
What one really is, at bottom is the unseen see-er. This light. This knowing beyond all worldly knowing. You are what you are seeking, as St. Francis intoned.

That is why sages of the highest teachings always emphasized the negative: not-two. See what you are not, and you will know what you are

(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

By calling it God or the One, or any separate thing – such as the brain in modern materialist science and culture – as the answer to life, and worshipping that mental object, that false idol, we only create more of a war: a conflict within and war without. And, when someone tries to point out the inner conflict, and bring it to the surface, that inspires resistance and, potentially conflict inward and outwardly, if that sense of separation is called out – the "ego" wants to defend its existence:

(16) Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they will stand solitary." – The Gospel of Thomas

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The Tao is forever undefined.
Small though it is in the unformed state, it cannot be grasped.
If kings and lords could harness it,
The ten thousand things would naturally obey.
Heaven and earth would come together
And gentle rain fall.
Men would need no more instruction
and all things would take their course.

Once the whole is divided, the parts need names.
There are already enough names.
One must know when to stop.
Knowing when to stop averts trouble.
Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea.
– Lao Tzu

The aim of Self knowledge is to know that to which humans (body), mind, and world appear. If you know who, or what you are, there would never arise the inkling of a desire to harm another, for it would be obvious prior to any thought, that your brother is yourself, in another disguise. You don't want to harm yourself.

This is the esoteric or inner meaning of The Golden Rule: "treat one's neighbor as (one would) treat oneself." Why? Because they literally are you.

And, in a practical sense, it works out better in the long run. Besides, it's a friendly (and beautiful) universe, if you see without the mental filters.

Why do so few "hear" this, or listen? If it is listened to, it seems difficult to understand, obscure. The "open secret" is there for all to see, on a giant sign above a shop, but it's ignored.

The Violence of Mind

The mind of separation is inherently violent. It is like a partition against reality.

Let us look at the profound duality of this God-given instrument.

On the one hand, the mind can be used as an instrument to create the most beautiful things ever experienced in an apparent worldly phenomenon, such as great music, art, poetry, architecture, not to mention gestures of love, transcendent and spiritual and religious experiences.

And, on the other hand, the mind can be used as a instrument to create nuclear weapons, war, killing, savagery, destruction, chaos, anger, and violence.

Of course the mind has no power in itself, has no creative ability. The concept of a "mind" is itself an abstraction, a concept, just another mental object. But where do these objects appear and arise from?

It all come from what we can call the Source, this “universal consciousness from which it arises, on high" – a source we can never seen as an object of knowledge, as objective, because it is us, it is all, it is the Totality from which we arise. Relative to an apparent human being, this source is a "higher power".

Relative to itself, there is no power, and none needed, since power is only needed if you are apart from the Whole, the infinite.

Why do human beings get in so much trouble with their minds, with the power of thought?  With all this freedom – apparently – why do we go astray, and so easily, and so often?

The mind is this tremendous two-edged sword. It can use objective thinking as a functional tool for survival and problem solving, but then that tool is applied where it does not apply.

A surface intelligence is arrogated to rule over – or is listened to, as if it were the real thing, and given credence. We listen to the brain, the wrong radio station – and that interest and attention, that worship of a voice, a noise, as representing a true or meaningful signal, leads us down Stupid Alley.

Because we don't know what we are.

We are the tail end of the Uncaused.

Ending What Never Began

"The best way to make dreams come true is to wake up." – Mae Jemison (first African American woman astronaut)

You can't end violence with violence. You can only end it with love: the love of Truth. In that love, a freedom is found – an inherent freedom.

Seeing directly is like waking up from a bad dream. Suddenly, it's all gone, like a puff of smoke blown away in the wind.

 

The Suffering That Spurred It

The real question that should be asked, is why is there so much pain, fear and suffering in the first place?  Why would anyone want to do such a thing as hurt another?  Can you imagine the pain — the state of mind — that was being experienced, in order to be driven to act out in such a way? Even kids are using guns – and it speaks to the depth of the need for attention, love, understanding, forgiveness, connection… Why were they not seen, understood, loved, by someone in the school, the community, or near home? Where is the healing? Where is the love? Where is the compassion, the forgiveness. Where is the understanding?

The Problem of Evil

Another way, a classic question, is to ask: why is there (so much) evil in the world? If God is all-loving, omniscient, omnipotent, why does she allow or create it?

If we see everyone and every thing as separate, as material, as objects, as "other", identifying with positions and parties and clans and programming and being accepted, on and on... and treat each other that way, thus causing pain and reacting from pain and creating more pain, anger, fear, frustration, tension, division, taking up positions... all mental violence breeding violence.

The mistake is then to think it's out there, in objects of Consciousness, or in society, in an abstraction, an enemy, something to judge, fear, hate, kill.

But we are society. Our minds play out as this society. There is no real Other. The conflict within is the conflict without, not the other way around. The violence is within, otherwise it would not be there, to be acted out, or bleed out as energy, as mind... I could have a roomful of guns and not have the remotest interest in using them. Why is no one interested in that fact? We are not victims, we are creators.

So as long as the focus is on externals, the same things will go on forever. We will go around and around in circles, circles of our own creation.

The solution has been the same for thousands of years, but no one listens and no one is interested (or very few) other than with an agenda: personal, political, religious, business, whatever... which is all mind-based, created, artificial... in order to maintain a separate self, and a sense of separation against love. So love gets interpreted rather than seen as the fact it is. It gets interpreted as personal, social, religious, political... as the opposite of hate. '

But real love has no opposite, is simply what it is, an unnameable given, even when ignored.

Human beings can be agents of love. Simply That.

To put it another way, "there is no such a thing as human love" as one of my teachers said.

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”
― Albert Einstein

All or most beings would have to realize their true nature, to not identify, not ignore the fact they are not the body, are not separate, see that they are free and safe and happy and loved already... Even despite outward appearances to the contrary, which are temporary. Even despite thoughts and state of mind and feelings and beliefs. Despite conditions. To use, to be, to allow true intelligence, which is universal and impersonal, creative, omnipotent, omnipresent.

Education and Violence

Jean Klein:

Q. How much of education belongs to the parents and how much to the schools?

JK. It mostly belongs to the parents. When the parents live in freedom and beauty they are the best teachers. But most of our so-called education is based on competition and violence. And television is a great generator of violence. It stimulates violent reactions in us. Merely sitting in front of the screen disturbs our subtle organism. Violence on television is widely responsible for a general acceptance of violence, since most of the time the violence expressed is considered heroic. We cannot eliminate television, but it should be used for culture, education, learning languages, etc. The news is depressing. It takes us away from a real sense of what life is.

Children closely watch their parents and the society. We must understand very deeply the nature of the child and educate according to the age of the child and not another age. We should not push the child into achieving, completion. This is only an extension of the parent’s ego. One must expose the child at an early age to art, music, painting and dancing. It brings harmonization. Sports must be undertaken in a new way. Sport is usually violence as in the much acclaimed “competitive spirit.” We need only show our own possibilities, not in relation to others.

Q. Do you feel that the reign of quantity is responsible for an escalation in society’s problems, violence, boredom, etc.? Perhaps because there is a deep lack of satisfaction.

JK. Certainly. Many factors in modern society contribute to violence, especially noise, television, a complete elimination of the value of psychological and physical space, and the objectification of the man-woman relationship. This leads to a deep reaction and frustration which looks for outlets. A new society begins with education. It begins with our children. How is it possible that children are given toy guns, soldiers, and tanks to play with?
Children’s toys today are too expressed. The absence of the anecdotal makes the imagination work. The child can complete the game, as a painter or poet leaves something unsaid in the work so that there is room left for the audience to complete it, to join in the creative process. Toy-makers now leave nothing to the imagination, and violent toys should be banned altogether because they stimulate violence.

 

Compassion Cannot be Legislated

You cannot enforce, force, or legislate compassion. It has to come naturally. It cannot be manipulated into being. It has no agenda, it is life as a whole Being.

To change the world, change yourself. It’s an inside-out reality, a flow, a creation from inside to outside. It’s not personal, it’s universal in source and essence. It’s has nothing to do with me or my brain, other than appearing in…

If an outlook on life sees us each of us separate, in a separate world, an unfriendly universe, alien and in conflict with the world with others, in competition – either on the top or on the bottom – and with oneself, and having to fight for what we want, and that what we want personally – it is a view only applicable in limited circumstances in time and space, such as figuring out a competitive business or military strategy, or in a  game, for example. But it gets expanded as a view of life, such as in Darwinian survival competition views, or coming from mental anxiety ear, rooted in a sense of separation.

Is Mental Illness The Culprit?

When, through a lens of psychology, that mental illness is the problem, the solution would look like counseling and therapy and social work.

But those fields currently are based on a psychology based in materialism (and sometimes with underlying political ideologies or agendas), which can create a sense of victimhood, or at best, the temporary relief of being identified with labels or syndromes, or of a technique or pill. Being given medication and treated like damaged material – seen as having a "broken brain" (that was part of the title of a book about neuropsychopharmacology) – there can be a feeling like one is flawed and a sack of erroneous chemicals and circuits – a meat robot in competition with other selfish robots, grabbing as much as one can. Or being frustrated by being at the tail end of causation, an object not knowing one's subjecthood.

Fundamentally it’s a bleak outlook on life that causes a lot of despair and anger, frustration and anguish, and acting out on those in turn, since the problem is seen as outside oneself.

Why Isn't The World Getting Better

We’ve had spiritual teachings for thousands of years, and hundreds of kinds of therapy and psychology for hundreds of years, yet it doesn’t seem to help or change anything.

I see people going to a teacher or teachers or satsangs for decades, but they are not helped much, or don’t "get it", or are unchanged, and complain, or just repeat empty words.

People always talk about how they want peace, or happiness or to be free, but at the same time, we can't seem to let go – allow a not-holding that is freedom itself. In other words, it's a kind of choice.

So in a sense, strangely enough, people enjoy suffering, though it may be a secret even to themselves. And, they love to complain, and sometimes, love to feel they are a victim (or victimizer), point fingers, blame… it supports the illusion of being a human being, a separate entity.