I take the vow. I support this 100%. I will send a link to all my personal friends, as well as display this link on my myspace.

Peace,
Gary Hickey

I take the vow.
Namaste.

Is it possible to take such a vow and follow it without consequence? With out harm to ones self? Or harm to others?

Is it violent to protect yourself with deadly force if faced by deadly force?

The reason I ask this, is that I am in the beginning stages of a law enforcement career. How dose one take such a vow while walking right into the darkness of society shadow. I will no doubt face violence and I will need to protect myself and others through measures of self defense which can be violent. I felt this calling for very long time. I think it may be my purpose or darma, but I do not know for sure.

I don't mean to sound so pessimistic. It's a wonderful thing to aspire to this non violence, however the world and reality I will face will be full of it. If I took such a vow could I do my job without risking my life or others? Can our society exist in peace without Police? If so, ....not where I live.

I think this is very beautiful and i'm fully committed! I think it ties directly into the messages you're conveying at your "Peace Is The Way" online Community located at - http://peaceisthewayglobalcommunity.org/.

I've invited all the members and visitors of The Chopra Community online to take this vow. I've posted a link "front and center" for all to see to this invitation. I've also opened the network for public viewing of all pages, i'm not sure why I haven't done this before. sigh!

Hugs, Lily S.
The Chopra Community
http://www.thechopracommunity.org

A Vow

I think if our society progressed to the point of being able to live up to the standards of inalienable rights we espouse to possess, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we could not only greatly reduce the violent nature of our society, we could bravely enter the 21st century with a newfound sense of what being free truly means, and how peace on earth may be realized.

Sadly, being that we want to have a capitalistic way of life, in that we sell our very time, our very selves, for money, why would it then matter how others spend their time or invest in tomorrow; as long as they are harming not others. But investing money in tomorrow does harm others because that time and resource would be better spent feeding a sister and brother today, just as the very act of selling a love song indicates we are at war with one another (some say freedom is not free, but when even love costs money we are all on the losing side in a zero-sum game); so peace is truly an empty concept in a capitalist society. Nevertheless, decriminalizing activities that are unjustly deemed crimes would go a long way in making our society less violent, freer, and consequently more peaceful. The primary activities of which I speak are “drugs” and prostitution.

Peoples’ personal use of drugs as long as they are not harming others should be of no concern to other people. We can go into the decidedly medically beneficial qualities of marijuana, the occasionally enhancing attributes of cocaine, the acclaimed epiphanic nature of peyote, mushrooms, and poppy, etc., and these aforementioned organisms of our world are naturally occurring as compared to methamphetamine, the manufacture of which can pose a physical danger to communities; but why do we even need to debate these matters. As long as nobody else is harmed by the actions of a moral agent then how can we deem their actions illegal? If we are to say, “well they are harming themselves and we know better”, should we then outlaw cigarettes, alcohol, soft drinks, eating pig, tattoos, etc., ad nauseam . . .

We can always provide services for those who may seek help with addiction, and we will always protect our children under the age of eighteen, but we have no right legislating how somebody may pursue happiness.

Prostitution likewise is nobody elses’ business but the two consenting adults who are spending time together. There are only two possible laws they are breaking, one biblical and one civil. The biblical notion of prostitution being a sin has no legal bearing on how a society predicated on separation of church and state should legislate or adjudicate civil law. The civil law that prostitution would be breaking would be untaxed income; alright, make sure they pay their taxes in this service oriented industry.

Society economically benefits, the police forces diminish, lessening government and saving more money, and all the meanwhile we can then re-focus our work force and resources in whatever productive industry our fertile minds can imagine, in stark contrast to the waste of life and human potential in the death of more prisons and more guns! And these are but two examples of victimless “crimes” where theology clouds civil reasoning, and “war” erupts in areas of life that ideally, in the eyes of the respective pursuers of happiness, seek to promote in their lives peace by making money or chemically altering their perception of reality.

Making money and wanting to alter ones’ perception of reality are avoidable terrors, but not in a society where profit is the bottom line of life.

Peace can always break out, but not as long as we are locked into wars (such as “wars on drugs”, “wars on prostitution”, and even ironically enough “wars on poverty”! Poverty would disappear if there was peace; so maybe we should start ending entirely needless wars and unite in fighting the only war we need to win before peace is possible: right now let us declare war on war!

Resistance is violent and futile, peace is non-violent and forgiving; and I know we all need forgiving. I vow: I forgive myself, I forgive you, and may the Lord forgive us all.

Pass it on.

Peace