September 17, 2016

Why I Am a Pacifist

Why I am a Pacifist

(In no particular order.)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
— Chief Seattle

"Return your sword to its place, for all who will take up the sword, will die by the sword."
— Matthew 26:32

"Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets."
— Matthew 7:12

"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."
— Leviticus 19:18

"What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."
—  Shabbath folio:31a, Babylonian Talmud

"We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if  he saved the life of the whole people."
— Qur’an 5:32

"We shall strive not to cause harm of any kind.
We will live in and be a servant to all that is good..."
— Commands of the Seven Buddhas

"We will be reverential and mindful with all life; We will not kill or be ruled by violence."
— The Ten Precepts [Buddhism (Chobo-Ji Version)]

"There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them." — the Pāli Canon (Buddhism)

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
— Thomas A. Edison


Just for the record, I am a pacifist and have absolutely no desire to fight against any system of authority, nor to hurt anyone, ever, for any reason. Other people must live and play out their own karma. I am also done generating negative karma for myself by trying to help people with information who clearly don't want to be helped. (I have removed most of the material I have been posting, out of fear of being "flagged" or eventually targeted as an enemy of the state, even though my desire has never been other than to promote peace, stability, and justice, and 'We the People' upholding the Constitution and principles of the Declaration of Independence. As a soldier and law enforcement officer, I swore a solemn oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, not realizing I was unknowingly an accomplice to those engaged in an agenda with the "side-effect" of egregiously undermining  the ratified Amendments to the Constitution and the principles of the Declaration of Independence).

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