Non-violence

 Try to turn on any news channel any day. You might hear about rain or drought, natural disasters and incredible acts of kindness, but you’re also likely to hear about conflict. Politicians may be squabbling over this issue or that issue; anything between civil debate to hurling insults. Individuals and nations may be at war with one another, each of them doing their very best to inflict maximum injury on the other. 

The ancient writers recognized the dual nature of good and evil in us humans. Modern scientists have identified our most basic response to danger, real or perceived, as “fight-or-flight.” Some people tend to be more on the confrontational side of the spectrum. Most, however, tend to respond with avoidance. These two responses tend to result in either injury or lingering resentment. A third way is the restoration of the relationship to the state it was in before it was broken.

When Jesus says to turn the other cheek in Matthew 5:39, he doesn’t mean to run away. What he demonstrates is an active non-violent response, not just passive non-resistance. The act of turning the other cheek implies an invitation to resolve the conflict; to restore the relationship. 

Responding with violence is almost certain to result in harm to at least one and more likely to both. Remaining on the scene ready to engage in conflict resolution is not without risk either. It takes a lot of courage to not only resist the temptation to retaliate, but also to accept the possibility that the attacker might actually slap you again.

Humans have been blessed with a brain more capable of overriding basic instincts than any other in the animal kingdom. With few exceptions, we have all experienced regrets. We have all done or said things we shouldn’t have and immediately regretted it. We know it is going to happen again. The trick is to learn to recognize the triggers, the situations where this is likely to happen so we can prepare to intervene in our automatic responses.

The trouble is that our culture keeps telling us the opposite. We are constantly encouraged to be the first, strongest, fastest, richest, always in competition with one another even though we know that we can accomplish so much more together than we can individually.