Ethics of non-violence: is it possible to achieve your goal without harming anyone

"A severed head is cheaper than a felled tree" said Amrita Devi and hugged the acacia. Then she and her three daughters were beheaded by the soldiers of Maharaja Abhay Singh.

Amrita Devi belonged to the Bishnoi community. They profess one of the directions of Hinduism, which prohibits cutting down trees.

This religious principle has a perfectly understandable reason. The community and these commandments appeared in the wilderness in 1485. During the drought, people uncontrollably cut down trees to feed their livestock, which eventually fell anyway. The felling led to an ecological disaster, so the Maharaja of Jambaji forbade the killing of animals and birds and touching the trees. This has borne fruit - the once desert region is famous for its vegetation and animal diversity.

300 years after these events, Maharaja Abhay Singh was about to build a palace. According to various sources, he needed wood for construction or ash obtained from burning trees. Therefore, in 1730, his servants came to the village of Khedzharli, where hejri trees - acacias - grew.

The village elders, led by Amrita, said they would not give up the trees because it was forbidden by their faith. They were offered bribe, but the people replied that it was an insult and they would rather die than agree. They hugged the trees to cover them with their bodies, but were killed by the soldiers. Before her death, Amrita uttered the very words that became a symbol of the struggle.

News of the desecration of the grove quickly spread to all the Bishnoi. People began to arrive in the village. At the council, it was decided that one volunteer should give his life for each tree. The old men volunteered first, but the soldiers said that the Bishnoi sacrifice those who are not sorry. Therefore, young men, women and even children began to hug the trees. As a result, many of them were killed. In total, 363 people died during the protests in Hejarli.

Shaken by the courage of the Bishnoi, the Maharaja personally arrived at the scene, apologized and decreed that the village would never be a supplier of timber. Hejarli has become a place of pilgrimage for all Bishnois. And the Government of India subsequently established the Amrita Devi Award, which is awarded to environmentalists. And the day of the tragedy - September 11 - was declared the National Day of the Forest Martyrs.

What is the ethics of non-violence and what does it have to do with it

The ethics of non-violence is an ethical and philosophical a concept that is the rejection of violence and the rejection of it in order to achieve their goals.

The roots of this doctrine go from the Sermon on the Mount, in which the main content of Christianity is concentrated. Subsequently, this sermon as the basis of their philosophy was used by various thinkers, such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others.

Ideas of Leo Tolstoy

The main work on the essence of non-violence was written by Leo Tolstoy. This is the Way of Life. In it, the author discusses how violence has replaced violence throughout human history and led to the enslavement of people, revolutions, wars, because it cannot give rise to anything else. Therefore, the only way to live in a civilized way is to abandon violence as a means of solving problems. Instead, you need to call to the conscience and the spiritual part of each person.

Ideas of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi wrote that it was Leo Tolstoy who inspired him not to aggressively fight the British colonists, but to non-violent resistance. The Mahatma urged the Hindus not to work for the British, not to pay them taxes, not to recognize their administration. Gandhi proposed to replace revenge and punishment with forgiveness, compassion, trust, but at the same time intransigence. Is not passive acceptancebut active actions. And so India gained independence, which confirmed the viability of Tolstoy's ideas.

Erich Fromm's ideas

According to Fromm, the humanization of modern society is impossible without the victory of the principle of non-violence. The philosopher equated violence with the ideas of superiority, hostility, aggression and considered it a sign of an unhealthy society. Violence is destructive because it involves exploitation, manipulation, it is associated with the desire to possess, have, own. In general, it alienates people from each other. Only non-violence can be considered constructive, because it unites us.

Why the ethic of non-violence is not cowardice and passivity

Non-violence is not the same as passivity. Doing nothing is powerless capitulate before injustice. Philosophers, of course, deplore such a choice.

Even violence, compared with passivity, seems more justified: this is the wrong way, but it implies active resistance to evil. A nonviolent resistance all the more requires a lot of inner work to overcome fear and gain the ability to influence people and entire institutions for change. This requires great strength and courage.

Why Know About the Ethics of Nonviolence

To know that there is a choice. Even in battles, you can behave differently: someone generously spares the prisoners, and someone falls into an insane rage. But this is a battlefield ancient timesand we live in a civilized society.