In this timely session of Awareness in Action, Father John Dear confronts the urgency of our times with an echo from Martin Luther King Jr.: “The choice is no longer violence or non-violence… It’s non-violence or non-existence.” Rooted in Gandhi’s teaching that “nonviolence is the highest form of human consciousness,” Father John presents nonviolence not as passivity but as the already existing, already pervading force waiting to be tapped – a force that can transform humanity, embodies healing and compassion toward all beings, and is accessible and expressible by all. He challenges religious practitioners who condone war, reminding us that without nonviolence, we “miss the whole point” of Buddha, Christ, and peacemakers throughout history. Ultimately, Dear calls for an uncompromising commitment: “There is no cause ever again… for which you and I will ever support the taking of a single human life.”
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