当你谈论暴力时，请问你所谓暴力是指什么？如果你能深入这个话题，进而探讨：人生于世上，能否彻底终结暴力，这实在是一个有趣的问题。各种社团与宗教团体倡导不杀生，有些人甚至反诘：“你们就算不杀动物，那么植物呢？”你可以这样穷追不舍，逼到没法生存的程度。那么你应当把这条暴力分界线画在哪里呢？能不能根据你的理想、想象、准则、脾性、局限，武断地画线，并声称“这是上限，绝不逾越”呢？个体的愤怒导致个体的暴力行为，而社会组织化的仇恨，滋养并建设出军队，导致相互杀戮，这二者有区别吗？你所说的，究竟是哪个层面上、哪一断章里的暴力？抑或，你想探讨人类能不能整体上彻底解脱于暴力，而不是暴力的某个片段？
其实，我们明白何为暴力，无需诉诸语言，诉诸行动。虽然人类经过了漫长的所谓文明进化，但人的动物属性依然很强。我从哪里开始谈？是从外在——也就是社会，还是从内心——亦即自我？你告诉我，不要暴力，因为暴力是丑恶的；你向我解释各种原因，我明白无论外在或内在，暴力都是人类可怖之事。那么人类能终结暴力吗？
——克里希那穆提《生命书：365观心日课》（The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti）
Is It Possible to End Violence?
When you talk about violence, what do you mean by it? It is really quite an interesting question, if you go into it deeply, to inquire whether a human being, living in this world, can totally cease to be violent. Societies, religious communities, have tried not to kill animals. Some have even said, “If you don’t want to kill animals, what about the vegetables?” You can carry it to such an extent that you would cease to exist. Where do you draw the line? Is there an arbitrary line according to your ideal, to your fancy, to your norm, to your temperament, to your conditioning, and you say, “I’ll go up to there but not beyond”? Is there a difference between individual anger, with violent action on the part of the individual, and the organized hatred of a society which breeds and builds up an army to destroy another society? Where, at what level, and what fragment of violence are you discussing, or do you want to discuss whether man can be free of total violence, not a particular fragment which he calls violence? …
We know what violence is without expressing in words, in phrases, in action. As a human being in whom the animal is still very strong, in spite of centuries of so-called civilization, where shall I begin? Shall I begin at the periphery, which is society, or at the center, which is myself? You tell me not to be violent, because it is ugly. You explain to me all the reasons, and I see that violence is a terrible thing in human beings, outwardly and inwardly. Is it possible to end this violence?
JUNE 23
