Nonviolence has been one of the most cherished principles of humanity. The very word “humane” is synonymous with nonviolence implying benevolence, being kind or having a disposition to treat other human beings or animals with kindness. Thus being humane is same as being nonviolent. Ahimsa (nonviolence) had been one of the core values of East which is incorporated in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.  It has also been the core value of the West since Jesus Christ advised the humanity to shun the policy of “eye for eye” and follow the new principle of nonviolence. He proclaimed

"You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (Matthew 5:38-40)

Yet Christianity could ever get rid of violence. Most of the people killed in the twentieth century in the two World Wars had been Christians who had been killed by their own brothers. Every single society and nation uses violence to punish the criminals and awards even death sentences to some criminals. Every country maintains an army which is trained to kill people and protect its people from enemy forces.  

Many religions had justified the use of violence at least under certain circumstances. Koran exhorts the Muslims to kill the unbelievers in the following words,

Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. – (Koran 2:191)

Even in Hinduism, which otherwise lays high value on nonviolence and most Hindus do not even kill an animal, violence is not prohibited. In fact, Bhagwat Gita, which is the holiest scriptures of Hinduism, preaches war against the enemies as a sacred duty. Lord Krishna clearly says to Arjun,

Considering your specific duty as a warrior, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation.  O Partha, happy are the warrior to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets. (Gita 2:31-32)

War and violence had been unavoidable in the fate of humanity despite all efforts. Yet men have always strived to create a society which is based on love and nonviolence. Men, by their nature, could not defend the killing of men and always wishes to follow a peaceful life.

It is, therefore, required to understand why nonviolence is incompatible with humanity and yet humanity is always driven towards nonviolence.

The Principles of Nonviolence

Nonviolence is a much wider term. It includes not only the physical hurt to an individual but also violence of any sort whether in thought, action or words. The murder of another human being is the final act of violence which is often preceded by milder form of violence. Therefore, one has to avoid all form of violence as Jesus said,

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, Raca, (a contemptuous word) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, You fool! will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Mathew 5: 21-22)

Thus in a perfect nonviolent society, no one should even hurt the feeling of other person. In case of any difference of opinion, the only resort available to the man is to convince the other person. If the other person does not agree, the person has no option but to agree with him.

A nonviolent society can be formed only when the world has justice, fraternity and equality where every person shall have equal wealth, equal opportunity and equal position in the society. However, this is impossible in the modern society which is created on the basis of opposite principles. The son and daughter of a rich person inherit billions from their parents while the poor person’s offspring inherit only poverty and hunger. The equal distribution of resources essentially means making the rich people poorer by many times and distributing the wealth to the poor. Since the rich people would never like to give away their wealth voluntarily, hence violence would be necessary. Hence there is no possibility of making equal and just society by purely nonviolent manner.

Another important aspect that needs to be considered is whether, humanity can grow at all if the rewards for excellence or performance are withdrawn. Why should someone like to work, if every person is going to get the same wealth, position and respect from the society? All the development of the mankind had been made because the human society had given extraordinary rewards to the people who have made great contribution in the progress of humanity. There could be no inventions and hard work in a society that fails to reward the extraordinary.

Practicing Nonviolence

Nonviolence is a great idea till it is actually practiced. Even though, there is no society which can claim to be nonviolent in absolute sense, yet some countries score high in the nonviolent index than others.

India is certainty one of the most nonviolent countries. It is evident from the fact that it still calls Gandhi, (the man who symbolized nonviolence in the modern times) as the father of the nation and even now more than half of Indians are vegetarians who do not eat even meat. There is greater deal of equality in most of the jobs where the age and seniority decides the position of the person rather than merit or performance lest it promote competition. The result is that most senior politicians and either quite old or the offspring of famous politicians. All top positions in bureaucracy and industry goes to the senior most person.

On the contrary, USA can be considered to be one of the most violent countries as it is engaged in more number of wars than any other country. There is also the greatest inequality in USA which has the maximum number of richest people in the world. Most of the positions are decided on merit and not on age and the President of the USA is a man in forties who had made it to the top position based on his merit alone.

Yet one can see the India continues to be a poor country whose per capita income is less than 2% compared to USA. Even though, the population of India is more than a billion, it has not been able to produce a single Nobel laureate from its soil in the field of literature or science since sixty years of its independence. There had been only one Gold Medal in the sixty year of independent India in the individual event while USA wins these medals in hundreds.

Thus, a country has to leave all its wealth and power if it wishes to follow the path of nonviolence which is actually the spirituality in action. Jesus had , therefore, warmed the humanity

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24)

Man’s Romance with Nonviolence

It is evident that humanity can not become nonviolent unless they eliminate all disparities in the world which is simply impossible since the very foundation of human being is based on inequality. Still man could not avoid his attraction towards nonviolence as his very nature is spiritual.

In some ways, the attraction of men towards nonviolence can be compared with the attraction a man towards a woman who is so different from him. She is powerless, soft and feminine. Yet no man wants to become like woman as he likes to retain the power and position that comes with being a man and his attraction towards a female is due to the attraction of the opposite. Therefore the human civilization is quite unlikely to become nonviolent ever though it would always seek peace, love and nonviolence.

Humanity and nonviolence are thus not opposite but complementary to each other that are always attracted towards each other. Whenever, man becomes more materialistic, he loses peace and love as he has to win competitions and fight wars to achieve material gains. However, war creates hatred and destroys his peace. His attraction towards love and nonviolence become much stronger after the war. He keeps on moving from violence to nonviolence like a pendulum. Yet when men become nonviolent he starts losing the wealth and power which again drives him to resort to violence to regain the wealth and power in the world. The game continues forever.