The willingness to harm or hurt comes ultimately out
of fear. Non-harming requires that you see your own
fears and that you understand them and own them.
Owning them means taking responsibility for them.
Taking responsibility means not letting fear
completely dictate your vision or your view. Only
mindfulness of our own clinging and rejecting, and a
willingness to grapple with these mind states,
however painful the encounter, can free us from this
circle of suffering. Without a daily embodiment in
practice, lofty ideals tend to succumb to self-interest.
Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to
be practiced by everybody in all the affairs of life. If it
cannot be practiced in all departments, it has no
practical value.
If you can't love King George V, say, or Sir Winston
Churchill, start with your wife, or your husband, or
your children. Try to put their welfare first and your
own last every minute of the day, and let the circle of
your love expand from there. As long as you are
trying your very best, there can be no question of
failure.