Words With A Nonviolence Practioner
ServiceSpace
--Nupur Amin
2 minute read
Oct 20, 2014

 

On Tuesday, October 14th, our South San Francisco Awakin gathering presented the opportunity to be in conversation with Kazu Haga, a nonviolence activist and peace worker of the East Point Peace Academy. He shared with us some wonderful insights that have come up in his work with prison inmates and the idea that there lies a great difference between 'non-violence' and 'nonviolence'. The former signifies a state where there is an absence of violence, but that is not how nonviolence should be defined. 'Non-violence' can be compared to the bystander effect where one does not engage in acts of violence but also refrains from actively resolving conflicts of violence. Kazu explained that this is the easy non-violence, but not the true one.



We were shown photos of a Vietnamese monk who lit himself on fire during the Vietnam war, a sit-in by activists during the Civil Rights movement and prisoners meditating in a local jail Kazu works with. The photographs were meant to be an answer to those who believe that nonviolence is weak, that it is easy. This lead to a conversation about "McMindfulness", which is the concept of active mindfulness being mass distributed and mainstreamed to an extent where the true essence of the ethic behind it is lost.

Alam raised an interesting question, he asked "How do we make anger a sustainable force?" to which Kazu explained that the key to effectively channeling anger is to sympathize with people and be angry at the condition instead of the other way around. The example we discussed was about how we often see a homeless man on the road and think to ourselves that they should make a living for themselves, that they should stop being lazy, dependent on passers by and do something worthwhile with their time. However, towards the condition of homelessness itself we show great concern and dismay. This is where our fault lies, but it is also something we can correct by watching our thoughts and maintaining mental discipline.

                                   

The evening also included discussions of great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. King – including his Six Principles of Nonviolence. Kazu shared that one of the greatest steps in attaining what these figures have attained is to recognize their faults but also to understand that those faults do not take away from the great work that they did. Kazu then gave the example of himself, stating that he is not nonviolent but a nonviolence practitioner and will continue to hone this quality in himself throughout his lifetime.

The evening ended with wonderful strawberry cobbler and more discussion on Kazu's practices and upcoming workshops. It was truly an honor to learn from someone with such powerful will.

 

Posted by Nupur Amin on Oct 20, 2014


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