Thoughts to Build On

knowledge to arouse the violence of more ignorant fol-
lowers. A leader, who will choose the road of violence also
will choose the most ignorant to carry out his purpose.
In all of the major revolutions and rebellions
throughout history, the leadership came from the educated,
but the violent, mass manpower came from the most igno-
rant.
As education increases in quality and is spread
throughout all populations, there will be a marked decrease
in the use of violence in problem-solving. And, as you pro-
gress through life, you learn that problem-solving is "the
name of the game".
There are better ways of solving problems-
personal, group, national and international-than by intro-
ducing violence or even the threat of violence. Surely, by
now, we have sufficient evidence to prove that.
In a recent chapter (Chapter 73: "Pressure
Creates Resistance") it was pointed out that applying
various forms of pressure actually produced the opposite
of the result hoped for. Instead of causing acquiescence,
retreat or collapse, pressure actually creates resistance in
exact proportion to the degree of pressure applied.
Since violence is an extreme form of pressure,
violence and even the threat of violence creates resistance.
And being an extreme form of pressure, violence creates
extreme forms of resistance: hostility and counter-violence.
Also, violence and threats of violence have a built-in ten-
dency to escalate. Thus, violence breeds increasing vio-
lence.
How do we stop it?