Aidan Rankin
JVB London - Souvenir 2007
on
Ahimsa
Non-violence
Non-Violence Of The Mind
When the Green Party first broke the political mould in Germany two decades ago, its slogan was 'neither left nor right, but in front'. In other words, the protection of the environment involves radical activism and a change of values. But equally, it requires the revival of an instinct to conserve - be it familiar and cherished landscapes, intricate ecosystems, minority languages or traditional cultures such as those of the Native Americans. The rising ecological consciousness of the modern, so-called developed world is leading more and more of us to question our society's received ideas about 'progress' as the accumulation of material possessions and the 'conquest' of nature. It is therefore at once radical and conservative.
Increasingly, we realise that this mechanistic world-view and the narrow linear thinking that accompanies it, fails to uplift the human spirit but instead gives rise to anxiety, unhappiness and neurosis. Such symptoms translate into community breakdown, aggression - whether by individuals or by states - and violence against the earth in the interests of spurious economic growth. The post-industrial one-sided view of the world now points only to social and environmental disaster and it is also inflicting deep spiritual wounds on the human race.
This intuition, coupled with the insights of a more holistic science, leads us towards the ancient wisdom of indigenous people and to spiritual paths such as the Jain dharma. This traditional wisdom reminds us that all forms of life arc intertwined and mutually dependent, often in ways that we do not immediately discern. Nowhere perhaps, is this sense of connectedness and respect for all life expressed more clearly than in Jainism, through concepts such as Parasparopagrabo Jivanam (inter-connectedness of all life), Jiva Daya (identification with all living beings) and Maitri (friendship with all beings).
There is an understanding at the heart of Jainism that each individual life form is individual and unique. At the same time, all are inextricably linked because they contain jiva the life force and have the potential to achieve spiritual liberation. From that sense of unity-and-diversity follows logically the doctrine of ahimsa - non-violence or non-injury. Bhagawan Mahavir reminds us that when we injure other life, we harm ourselves and that kindness to all beings is kindness to ourselves as well. All human-constructed barriers are illusory, be they between people (as with racial or religious prejudice) or between humanity and 'the rest' of nature.
The practice of ahimsa must begin with a mental attitude of non-violence. This is the spiritual underpinning for the Jain idea of Anekantavada or many-sidedness. Anekantavada is recognition that there are many paths towards the same ultimate truth. We should not impose our own path on others but on the contrary, we must question continuously our most cherished assumptions and the true intentions behind them. Anekantavada provides a healthy inoculation against fanaticism and complacency alike. It takes us beyond the cliches and mutual insults of 'right' and 'left' and points to more holistic approaches to ecological and human problems. When we begin to think in terms of Both/And instead of Either/Or, we might begin to live at peace with ourselves and with the earth.