Today I participated in celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by joining in a community prayer circle and then a march to the local Martin Luther King Center. The image above is a wonderful mural that is painted on an outdoor wall at the center. Included on the mural are Dr. King’s Six Principles of Non-Violence. A few have been abbreviated. I wanted to share the full versions in honor of this special day.
1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
2. Nonviolence is an effort to achieve a reconciled world by raising the level of relationships among all people to a height where justice prevails and persons attain full human potential.
3. Nonviolence attacks forces of evil and acts of evil, but never persons as evil. Nonviolence believes in the ultimate good of every person and seeks reconciliation.
4. Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation for its moral power toward achieving a goal.
5. Nonviolence avoids internal violence of the spirit as well as external physical violence.
6. Nonviolence believes that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.
“Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love.
Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism.
It is the active outpouring of one’s
Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism.
It is the active outpouring of one’s
whole being into the being of another.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1957
We Are All Meant to Shine! 