Dear Friends,
When we begin with a definition, do we truly
find that which we seek?
To find the Unknown, for instance, I must
discard the Known, all that junk in the
mind, including all the dictionary
definitions that we tend to use in all
our argumentation and discourse.
I feel strongly that by indulging in
academic arguments or intellectual activity,
we may fail to experience the truth
that leads to self-knowledge, the kind of
knowledge that is power, not the parrot
knowledge of repetition.
Like M.
Iqbal Chaudhry, if we were to say, "Violence
is an act of gainful physical or verbal
aggression carried out by an individual/s
against the other individual/s with the
intention to fulfill the lust of the
foresaid individual/s",
would that help us to see, acknowledge and
realize that this violence is a potential
reaction within each individual self, not
something out there?
Intellectually, there's nothing wrong with
that statement. My point is that we
shouldn't attach too much importance to the
word, because the word, the definition, is
not the thing it represents.
The real
issue, I think, is for us to see the problem
of violence as an integral part of oneself
and wonder, innocently, not intellectually,
what one can do to realize peace, first
within oneself and then around the world.