Causes of Violence

Where there is no emotion,
there is no motive for violence.
- the character Spock in the Star Trek television series

Is the above quote true? What are the real causes of violence?

At first hearing, the Spock quote seems to ring true. A look at the front page of any newspaper would tend to confirm that the world's violent conflicts are caused by emotions run amok: White/Black hatred, Christian/Muslim hatred, Sunni/Shia hatred. A look at individual violence also shows most to have a cause based in emotions: people kill others they are angry with far more often than they commit strong-arm robbery simply out of greed.

On the other hand, non-emotional violence for the purpose of theft has also been around as long as humankind. Think of the Mongols conquering most of Asia  - highly violent, but not emotionally based. Or think of the conquests of Alexander the Great. While it shows up less often in modern life, theft/greed is also a major cause of both personal and institutional violence.


Other perspectives on violence:

The cause of violence ... is self-interest.
- William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

War does not determine who is right -
only who is left.
- Bertrand Russell

Think a Kind Thought Today

There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this,
we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, think a kind thought about someone who you would otherwise hate, or believe to be evil, or to be an "enemy."

Whether in politics, international affairs, or your personal life, there is someone who you believe to be irredeemably bad. Today, think a kind thought about that person.

There are Only Fear and Love

Every day you feel a variety of emotions.

You can feel joyful, curious, interested, grateful, compassionate, hopeful, contented, and loving.

You can also feel fearful, disgusted, lonely, angry, sorrowful, embarrassed, shamed, guilty, envious, jealous, and hateful.

But suppose that all those emotions were actually variations of only two underlying emotions.

Today, spend some time considering the idea that there are only two basic emotions in the world. There is Love, and there is Fear, and all other emotions derive from those two opposites.

In particular, Hate is a derivative of Fear. A person can never hate that which they do not first fear.

The relationship between one of the negative emotions and fear is not always obvious, but it is always there. For example, if you are angry that your teenager doesn't pick up their room, you aren't afraid of your own child. What causes you fear is the feeling that you are not in control of the situation. We tend to feel feel fear when when we feel we are not in control and think we should be.

Another example is jealousy. Fear is the emotion that causes our upset when our spouse has an overly friendly chat with the waitress.

If we feel lonely, it is because we are afraid to be alone. If we hate all the people of a certain country, religion, race, color, or set of behaviors, it is because we fear such people.

Look deeply into what you are feeling. When you are joyful, you are feeling love. When you are unhappy, you are experiencing some form of fear.

You never hate that which you do not first fear.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie