August 29, 2008

The Way of Non-violence

In his recent autobiography, A Persistent Peace, Father John Dear writes about his practice of non-violent civil disobedience (which has resulted in his being arrested many dozens of times and serving jail sentences) and his revolutionary faith in the emergence of a non-violent world. Like his role model, Mahatma Gandhi, John practices vegetarianism and, also like Gandhi, John personally lives an abstemious life. Saintly, some say, but I take the point made by George Orwell who, in writing of Gandhi, noted that "the essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection." I honor John for his tremendous personal courage, his faith, and the critically important reminder he brings that a world tolerant of war should be unacceptable. Total runtime an hour and seven minutes. Listen carefully to your conscience.