On Tuesday the 10th, my friend Bailey Earith & I went to see Arun Gandhi speak at Pellissippi. He was fantastic! Bailey posted a link on her blog about it as well as a video. Go check it out at the Bailey Fiber Art Blog.
I want to share a few things I took note of during the lecture.
First, over-consumption is violence against the world and against Nature and humanity by creating poverty in those areas that are stripped of resources so that we can have our goodies. I am not perfect in this, but I am trying to shrink my carbon footprint as best I can by buying local and recycling among other things.
Passive violence is just as bad as physical violence. Passive violence creates anger in the victim who then resorts to physical violence seeking “justice.” There is not such thing as closure through revenge. Violence (both passive & physical) begets more violence.
Arun suggested that prisons should be for reform rather than just punishment. It would require a complete overhaul of the system, but think about what our world would be if people released from prison had skills they could use for gainful employment rather than a sense of violence and only those skills useful to continue a life of crime. We should also raise our children with penance not punishment because punishment is control through fear while penance is control through love.
My favorite part was a story about a king seeking the secret to peace. An old wise man gave him a grain of wheat which the king put away in a gold box and studied every day. When the wise man returned to the king’s realm, the king asked him how this grain of wheat was supposed to teach him the secret to peace. The wise man told him that peace and wheat are the same. If you keep a grain of wheat locked away and never share it with anyone it will eventually rot and perish with you. Peace must also be shared. You must plant it and let it grow. Let it interact with the world so that everyone can have some and share it with others. In this way, peace will be available to everyone.
To avoid too much repetition, here’s a different video.
My team donated their time, so they only make money if you buy prints. I would love for them to make lots of money because they did just a fabulous job.
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