Is humanity becoming more violent? According to OECD Observer: The world is getting more violent, and violence is occurring in surprising places. Over the past 15 years, 3.34 billion people, or almost half of the world’s population, have been affected by violence. The number of violent conflicts is decreasing, but conflicts are killing more people: conflict-related deaths have tripled since 2003. Violent extremism and terrorism are also on the rise. The economic cost of violence is rising too: the global economic impact of violence is a staggering USD 13.6 trillion, equivalent to 13.3% of the Global GDP. And civilians, especially children and women, are most at risk.
These statistics are alarming. As we make advances in technology, medicine, and industry that benefit mankind, we also run the risk of people using these advancements for self-gain with often violent designs.
With incidents of violence omnipresent in the news media, one wonders if mankind is destined to live in strife. What is the solution to ending this cycle of violence once and for all? Sadhguru shows the way.
Sadhguru: A few years ago, when I was in California, I saw a bumper sticker which said, “Our governor can beat up your governor.” That really shows where the culture is being taken. Today’s movies are all about someone shooting someone else. Video games are mostly shoot-em-up games. If you walk into a toyshop, half the toys are guns. We eulogize wars and smart bombs which can go through the window and kill someone. Almost everything in the world today is becoming violent. Our music, our dance, our culture, the very way we move and do things in our lives is becoming violent. We shouldn’t be surprised if it spills over onto the street once in a way.
Look at yourself as an individual and see how many moments in a day do you feel you simply cannot stand the person sitting next to you? Trying to hold yourself back is going to work only for a certain period of time. It is bound to explode somewhere when certain situations allow it because the violence is within the human being. That is the violence that needs to be attended to. If we do not put out the fires within the human being, you cannot put out the fires on the street. Today or tomorrow it will light up again.
We need to understand that a human being is enormous energy and tremendous potential. If he doesn’t find expression to his energies and harness and direct them properly, he will invariably perform violent acts. Violence does not necessarily mean you go out and kill someone. You are angry, you are irritated, you cannot sit still – this is violence. If we do not root it out from its innermost core, peace will not happen. The science of Yoga is just this: learning to harness and direct your energies in the right way, so that who you are finds its ultimate expression. If you do not allow this energy which you call as life to find its expression, it naturally tries to find its way out in violent ways.
Unless there are movements which work towards individual transformation, there will be no peace. This is not something that can be done on the street with a crowd. It needs a committed approach to individual transformation. It is not slogans and statements that will bring peace to the world, but a lifelong striving to produce peaceful human beings on all levels of human society. Is such a thing possible? Do not think of the future on the basis of existing realities. Existing realities on the planet could be changed in a moment, because existing realities do not take into consideration people’s will, commitment and what is beating in the human heart. If only we can stoke that, if only we can stir up what is happening in individual hearts, peace is definitely a possibility. If we dedicate ourselves to making this happen around us, we can see something tremendous and dramatic happening on the planet in our own lifetime.
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