Is being peaceful taken too far sometimes?

I am a very kind and peaceful guy for sure. But I must admit, I think that some hippies take the peace a little too far.

Personally, I am very spiritually minded, and I try to feel love for everything and everyone as much as I can and i'm a very optimistic and gentle person. But, seeing the yin and yang of things, I think a little bit of aggression can be good and healthy, and appropriate sometimes.

That's one thing I usually disagree with hippies about when I meet them. I feel like they are going too far for peace. And in a way, it seems a bit naive and unrealistic to me. Seems like they are pushing too far into the extreme, and to me, many of them seem overly politically correct. Instead of balance, they exist and the extreme edge of this dichotamy.

The truth is, if you are too peaceful in this world, there are people out there who will take everything from you and leave you for dead. You gotta be ready to take a stand when it's necessarry.

I also think that the over-emphasis on peace has made hippie activists spineless and afraid to take any serious action. Corporations and hardcore capitalists are not gonna be swayed by peace and love, only force. Unfortunatly.

What do you think? Just some food for thought.... :sultan:

 

Being peaceful does not mean you're not proactive. And you can never take peace too far. But having said that, being peaceful takes responsibility and vigilance.

Simply put,
Don't arrogantly flaunt your peacefulness as if it were a medal pined on your chest. And be aware and smart enough to not get into situations where a violent solution to a problem is forced upon you. (But if you ever do find yourself having to choose between peace and violence, make sure whatever decision you make merrits the consequences of your actions.)

 

Great post and I agree totally. There's a lot of grey area on the topic of peace and what is appropriate. The problem is when people reduce it to black and white simplicity.

Lots of great ideas about peace can be learned by studying ancient martial arts texts. And I think many master partial artists represent the perfect yin and yang of peacefulness. Avoid conforntation and violence at all costs and walk as lightly as possible on this Earth. But be ready to throw down if it's the best course of action.

Peace is great. But it becomes bad when people turn it into a dogma that must be followed strictly and rigidly.

 

People are flawed and emotional so chances are if someone is practicing 'excessive peacefulness' they might be bottling anger, or being passive aggressive, or high on heroin, etc.

It's all good if someone is on a level that they can be like a monk about everything and really be at peace with the world, even if others take advantage them. But if they are just 'acting' peaceful when they are not truly at peace, that's self-defeating.

 

Yes. Some people can be very delusional. Like they are trying too hard too be 110% peaceful, but it's really just a front, just playing the hippier-than-you game. And sometimes it becomes a closed-minded philosphy similar to what you would find in dogmatic religions or rigid political philosophies.

But of course these people are usually the young ones in their teens and 20's who are playing this game. Older ones tend to have a more broad outlook.

But hey, we all go through phases of ignorance. And we all grasp onto memes and stereotypes when we are young and trying to figure things out. Then with age comes wisdom and enlightenment. That's the natural human condition. Can't hate on it...

 

I've never studied martial arts and peace and love are my dogma.
But I don't stand on a street corner preaching it. Nor do I sit infront of someone and be arogant about how peaceful I am and they're not.

As for avoiding situations,
I'm certain we all know enough to not argue with the big mouth in a bar and to be polite to the policeman with the gun. These things are just common sense and if you don't have common sense. Then you're going to have problems being a pacifist.

As for violence,
I decided long time ago that there is only 1 thing that will ever cause me to act violently. If anyone tries to harm my children or my grandchildren and it's obviously a situation where something must be done without hesitation.

 

^what if someone tries to harm someone ELSE's children or grandchildren?

 

commence with the riot porn ..

 

Harm has no face.

 

i feel like aggression can be a amazing thing, and i am real envious of it a lot,.. to be an aggressive powerful dominating firestarter!

i am a very peaceful and gentle person too...
and i do enjoy having a kind heart + +

i do think often that being a dynamic aggressive shitstorm of wild fucking energy all the time would be amazing...
but i guess that it gets hard and tiring to sustain that energy,
just like being deep peaceful gets to be heavy on you...

 

I dont go around preaching Peace , And Im VERY anti- violent , but there are times when the need to protect someone does come into play.
Just because you may be put into a situation where you HAVE to fight back , doesnt mean you are a hypocrite , it means that you have enough love in you to put your butt on the line for someone else.

 

peace is good

 

This is a key point that cannot be overstated. Failing to grasp the shades of gray that are vital to understanding any important issue is a road that leads to deeply flawed conclusions. Fanatical devotion to a simplicity of understanding accomplishes nothing more than making you feel better about yourself.

 

The problem is you can't make it too gray either. When you do that, you get the mess we currently have. At some point you still need to draw the proverbial line in the sand. A sort of "yes I see the gray but I'm not going any futher than this."

For me,
It's my children and grandchildren. Other than that, I refuse to use violence to save even my own life.

 

Yet violence would not, or has not, saved a single life from the fact of temporal dissolution.

 

I'm of the opinion that no one is 100% pacifist. We are all capable of violence it's just how much and what's the trigger.

One of my criticisms of liberals is that there has historically been alot of picking the wrong fight. I recently watched videos of Frank Zappa's testimony before congress about censorship and got really pissed off at Al Gore. He came across as a kiss ass. I was thinking that we knew about global warming and the ill effects that pollution was having on the environment. Jimmy Carter had a clean energy program that the Republicans got stripped that allowed the current environmental situation to get the way it has. What was Al doing at the time? Trying to pass legislation that controlled what your kids listen to. Essentially doing your job for you.

My point is that he should have been on the environmental thing then and as vocal then as he is now. Don't even get me started on the rave act.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Don't get me wrong. I do go for peace at all times and I walk lightly on this Earth. I minimize my consumption as much as possible and pollute as little as possible to cause theeast amount of harm on this Earth. And when I meet people, I try to be all peace, no jealousy, no ego, no paranoia, no envy or greed. I try to think positive thoughts and project positive enjoy. This is what I strive for.

But.... I know that there is a lot of serious stuff happening in this world. And there are a lot of people in this world who cannot be reasoned with. I think that if we are going to save this Earth from destruction and mass extinction, then a violent uprising might be necessarry.

Corporations and filthy rich people in destructive industries are not going to stop what they are doing unless they are forced to do so. Sometimes one act of violence can bring a million acts of peace. Many of you might disagree with me on that, but that's what i've seen.

Of course aggression and violence is innappropriate 99.999% of the time. You just need to be open to the fact that there is that 0.001% chance that it is the proper thing to do.

PEACE is the best way though. I'm not trying to say otherwise. I'm just analyzing the topic.

 

Al Gore is nothing more than a total sellout and corporate elitist.

He portrays himself as green and environmentalist, but it's just a political and financial move on his part. He is getting rich off it and gaining a cult following of people who believe his nonsense.

Meanwhile, he travels around in a private jet, lives in a huge mansion, and generally lives a very environmentally destructive life.

He appeals to the yuppie-environmentalists, the types who drop 700 dollars on a cart full of groceries at Whole Foods and drive a hybrid. People who live a very watered down version of environmentalism.

Al Gore is not about real change and revolution. He is about keeping the status quoe the same. He is a capitalist leading the green industries. All about money and power for him.

 

Over the years I have become a hippy redneck.

All around me I see the new movement isn't the environment, peace, acceptance-

It's environmental snobbery

It's peace snobbery

It's acceptance snobbery

and in a lot of public situations-it's funded anarchy.

If you believe in the ideal-start your own grass roots movement and do something about it, peacefully. But don't step on your brothers and sisters on your way up the snobbery ladder.


The hippy rednecks are gathering and are getting f------ sick of the snobbery which is intruding our OUR rights. Yes it is beginning to be all about me and mine, and yes I'm kinda liking the hippy redneck title

 

Interesting question...
Peace can most definitely be taken too far... especially when it starts gettin' violent!

Anyway, I agree with the whole yin/yang aspect of life, but day to day small non-heated arguments/disagreements/sibling rivalry, etc. are all non-peaceful events that aren't bad. Those make up the yang. But war, murder, hate, intolerance, discrimination, etc. etc.... those are bad!