CHAPTER 9: Extensions of Pacifism

MANY PEOPLE KNOW the simple spiritual law that evil can only beovercome by good. Pacifists not only know it, they also attempt tolive it. In their attempt to live it they refuse to use or sanction the useof physical violence. Those who oppose war but would use physicalviolence in their personal lives I would call war resisters but not pacifists.
Those who use the non-violent method only because theybelieve it to be the most effective method I would call nonviolentresisters but not pacifists. Pacifists use the nonviolent way becausethey believe it to be the right way, and under no circumstances wouldthey use or sanction the use of any other way.
The animal nature thinks in terms of using ‘the jungle law oftooth and claw’ to eliminate all opposition. But this law solves noproblems for humans; it can only postpone solutions, and in the longrun it worsens things.
Some nations, even while they are using the jungle law in theirdealings with other nations—while they are at war—recognize thatpacifists cannot act that way and exempt them from military service.
Instead they usually either serve in non-military ways or spend timein prison.They are often called conscientious objectors.There are, ofcourse, very few conscientious objectors, because very few haveattained sufficient inner awakening at such an early age.
When I talk about extensions of pacifism, I realize that I am speakingjust to fellow pacifists, a very small group in any modern society.
With this small group, a group that I admire and respect very much, Iwould like to discuss three extensions of pacifism that I have made.
I have extended my pacifism to include non-use of psychologicalviolence as well as non-use of physical violence. Therefore I nolonger become angry. I not only do not say angry words, I do noteven think angry thoughts! If someone does an unkind thing to me, Ifeel only compassion instead of resentment. Even upon those whocause suffering I look with deep compassion, knowing the harvest ofsorrow that lies in store for them. If there were those who hated me,I would love them in return, knowing that hatred can only be overcomeby love, and knowing that there is good in all human beingswhich can be reached by a loving approach.Those who use the nonviolentmethod without love may have difficulty. If you force peopleto do things your way without helping to transform them, the problemis not really solved. If you can remember that we are not really separatefrom one another it may increase your wish to transform insteadof subdue. And to extend your pacifism to include non-use of psychologicalviolence as well as non-use of physical violence.
I wouldn’t recommend civil disobedience except as a last resort.
In general, people can accomplish much more out of jail than theycan behind bars. Nor would I encourage any threatening action thatadvocates psychological violence as a solution to problem solving.
What is done to a single person affects us all.
I have extended pacifism to include non-payment for war as wellas non-participation in war. Therefore I no longer knowingly payfederal taxes. For more than forty-three years I have lived belowincome tax level. I admit, of course, that there is a second reason forthis: I cannot accept more than I need while others in the world haveless than they need. Naturally I have never paid taxes on liquor ortobacco because I have never used these items, but I also don’t payluxury tax because I don’t use luxury items and I don’t pay amusementtax because I don’t patronize amusements.
Now, the federal government may be supporting some things weapprove of, but unfortunately it is not presently possible to pay forthem and not for war. A pacifist would answer no were the federalgovernment to say, “If you will spend half of your time on war activitiesyou may spend the other half of your time on good works.” Yetthere are pacifists who answer yes when it is a question of moneyinstead of time. I realize that human beings tend to be inconsistent inone way or another, but since I feel I must be as consistent as I knowhow to be I have extended my pacifism to include non-payment forwar as well as non-participation in war.
I have extended my pacifism to include non-harming of creaturesas well as non-harming of human beings.Therefore for many years Ihave not eaten flesh—not meat, fowl, or fish. I also don’t use furs orfeathers, leather or bone. I realize that some people are vegetariansmerely for health reasons, and are not necessarily opposed to war.
Some people may miss the eating of flesh, but I do not. I don’t craveanimal flesh any more than the average person craves human flesh. Ithink most pacifists—in fact, most modern human beings—wouldnot eat flesh if they had to kill the creatures themselves. I think if youwere to visit a slaughterhouse it might encourage you to extend yourpacifism to include non-harming of creatures as well as non-harmingof human beings.
There is an awakening taking place today which may very welldevelop into a new renaissance. Perhaps the wish to survive is pushingus this way . . . perhaps it is the realization that something mustbe done about our present plight that motivates us. Groups that havetraditionally used violence are talking about nonviolent resistance.
People who have participated enthusiastically in war activities arebecoming war resisters. An ever increasing number of people arebecoming pacifists. I am, therefore, expecting the pacifists to moveforward also and make some extensions of their pacifism.
The following quotations were among the few notes that Peace Pilgrimcarried in the pockets of her tunic:
General Omar Bradley: “Wars can be prevented just as surely asthey can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must sharein the guilt for the dead.”
General Douglas MacArthur: “I have known war as few men nowliving know it. Its very destructiveness on both friend and foe hasrendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.”
Pope John XXIII: “If civil authorities legislate for or allow anythingthat is contrary to the will of God, neither the laws made nor theauthorizations granted can be binding on the consciences of the citizens,since God has more right to be obeyed than men.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Every gun that is made, every warshiplaunched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft fromthose who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and notclothed.” Speaking “as one who has witnessed the horror and lingeringsadness of war—as one who knows that another war couldutterly destroy this civilization,” he warned against the militaryindustrialcomplex.
John F. Kennedy: “Mankind must put an end to war, or war willput an end to mankind ...War will exist until that distant day whenthe conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestigethat the warrior does today.”
Lyndon B. Johnson: “The guns and the bombs, the rockets and thewarships, all are symbols of human failure.”
Pope John Paul II: “In the face of the man-made calamity that everywar is, one must affirm and reaffirm, again and again, that the wagingof war is not inevitable or unchangeable. Humanity is not destined toself-destruction. Clashes of ideologies, aspirations and needs can andmust be settled and resolved by means other than war and violence.”
Herman Goering, at the Nuremburg Trials: “Why, of coursepeople don’t want war.Why should some poor slob on a farm wantto risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to comeback to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’twant war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter inGermany.That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of a countrywho determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to dragthe people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship,or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.Voice or no voice, thepeople can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That iseasy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, anddenounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the countryto danger. It works the same in any country.”
I have never met anyone who built a bomb shelter and felt protectedby it. I have never met a modern military man who did notrealize that military victory is a concept which became obsolete withthe coming of the nuclear age, and most civilians realize this also.
Wisdom demands that we stop preparing to wage a war which wouldeliminate mankind—and start preparing to eliminate the seeds of war.
Extensions of Pacifism