...for non-violence seeks to "win" not by destroying or even by humiliating the adversary, but by convincing him that there is a higher and more certain common good than can be attained by bombs and blood. Non-violence, ideally speaking, does not try to overcome the adversary by winning over him, but to turn him from an adversary into a collaborator by winning him over.
Thomas Merton. Faith and Violence, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press: 1968, 12
Thomas Merton. Faith and Violence, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press: 1968, 12
Ron, have you heard of Robert Wright? In his book "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," he argues that the common cause of the human race advances when people realize that "win-win" situations are all around us.
ReplyDeleteAll too often, however, we see "zero-sum" situations. Usually, he argues, where they don't actually exist.
That non-violence stuff doesn't work very well with cops and billy clubs...
ReplyDeleteNota, I am not familiar with that book. I checked it out at Amazon.com. I put it on my wish list. I will order it when I have the time to read it.
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