Faith, Works, and Non-Violent Protest
By D. Kirk Nordstrom
When I write a scientific paper, it is nearly always something new and original. I have done a calculation not tried before or considered a new model or approach for a stubborn problem and there is an audience of people who respond favorably. This audience sees the implications and applications of my work and carry it further.
When I write about something religious, spiritual, or otherwise transcendental, I face this writer’s block because I feel that it has all been said before. And it has been said more eloquently than I could possibly do. Hence, I write with some hesitation.
The well-known British author, Karen Armstrong, reminds us of the “Axial Age,” [The Great Transformation, 2006]. This term, proposed by German philosopher Karl Jaspers, refers to the period 900 to 200 BCE as pivotal to humanity’s spiritual development. It was the time when the world’s great traditions developed: Hinduism and Buddhism in India, Confucianism and Taoism in China, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. The Aryans, whose movement into the Ganges Basin, led to the Upanishad and Vedic traditions and one of the greatest texts of the Axial Age, the Bhagavad-Gita. Siddhatta Gotama, left a life of luxury to search for the meaning behind pain and suffering and we have the “Four Noble Truths,” and the beginning of Buddhism. Confucius whose teachings through The Great Learning and The Analects and Lao-tse through the Dao De Jing [Book of the Way and its Virtue] evolved into two dominant traditions in Asia. Judaism, documented in the Torah and bolstered by the Hebrew prophets, became the foundation for Christianity and Islam. The early Greeks were also looking for meaning in the world around them and laid the foundations for philosophy, especially logic, rhetoric, and mathematics, which strongly influenced western civilization and the development of modern science.
The idea of non-violence and non-violent protest began with the Vedic Aryans during the Axial Age. It was the backbone of the Quaker’s tradition which influenced Leo Tolstoy to write The Kingdom of God Is within You: Christianity not as a mystic religion but as a new theory of life. His book had a profound effect on Mahatma Gandhi whose non-violent protests influenced life in South Africa and whose life played a pivotal role in India becoming an independent self-governing country. It was one of many classic examples of love for humanity overcoming hate and violence. We are seeing a rise in non-violent protests in our country now and it is as important today as it has been in the past millennia.
Why bring up ancient history? Because the Axial Age of about 2,500 years ago was the culmination of civilization’s spiritual development with one common theme: the Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It permeates all faith traditions. Jesus Christ took it a step further and said do even more than that. It is a matter of what you believe to be most important. Anything that important will guide your actions. It becomes a faith that inevitably leads to action. A strong faith produces good works that will be seen as a model for others to emulate. It is through such action that purpose and meaning can be found.