The Tactic of Nonviolence is Love – Thomas Merton

Food for thought as the political and civil discourse in this country and around the world continues to descend into madness… this is as much for myself as it is for anyone else to contemplate and do some self-examination…

The tactic of nonviolence is a tactic of love that seeks the salvation and redemption of the opponent, not his castigation, humiliation, and defeat. A pretended nonviolence that seeks to defeat and humiliate the adversary by spiritual instead of physical attack is little more than a confession of weakness. True nonviolence is totally different from this, and much more difficult. It strives to operate without hatred, without hostility, and without resentment. — Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 81 (Kindle version)