The Way of the King

Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.

Okay, I’m still thinking about Martin Luther King—can’t let that go. The paragraph above is part of a summary he wrote for Christian Century in February, 1957. He was explaining the basis for the nonviolent approach to resistance.

But I think it is very much the basis of all human relationships, as it comes from the teachings of Christ. Look at these wonderful ideas: the way of nonviolence . . . avoids not only external violence but also internal violence of spirit. At the center . . . stands the principle of love. We must project the belief system . . .of love to the center of our lives.

Also, I can’t forget the father-son scenario I saw yesterday and described for this blog. It’s easy to see both physical violence and internal violence of the spirit in many families today. We need to see the teachings of MLK as meant for all kinds of human relating, not just the Civil Rights movement. If you think about the essential meaning of “Civil Rights,” doesn’t that mean rights of every human?

The Way of the King

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/01/way-of-king.html