The confusion between religion and forcing our will on others is caused by our understanding of what helping others means. If we help others to hurt someone, we become harmful ourselves. We become "Enablers" [1] to those hurting others. Without our consent, the aggressor could not have taken advantage of his weaker neighbor.
The Eastern religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, which is intimately associated with the Samurai warrior of Japan, take great care to teach tranquility and self-control in the use of force. Anger is not a part of thoughtful action.
Aikido, The Way of Harmony, teaches tranquility in the use of force, and compares it to the calm in the eye of a hurricane.[2]
The great Christian pastor, Dietrich Bonhoffer, pointed out that "just causes" for anger did not exist in the earliest accounts of Christ's Sermon on the Mount.[3]
* * * * *
DEALING WITH INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT.
1. Miller, Angelyn. The Enabler.—When Helping Harms the Ones You Love. New York Ballentine Books, 1988.
[(return)]
2. Stevens, John. Abundant Peace—the Biography of Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. Boston: Shambhala, 1987.
[(return)]
3. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. New York: Macmillan, 1963.
[(return)]
* * * * *