N… for Non-Violence
NONVIOLENCE, 2 Feb 2026
Prof. Antonino Drago – TRANSCEND Media Service
The teaching of non-violence, a double-negative word, summarizes the entire second tablet received from Moses, namely the six social commandments, also double-negative (e.g., “Thou shalt not kill“). These are not commandments, except for the hardness of the hearts of the Jews of the time; the Bible, however, rightly calls them “words” of the “Decalogue” (= ten words); that is, advice from the Father who, being Eternal, understands the lives of men and the spiritual dangers they face and hence understood His “words” as warnings; which for us are principles of method on which to base our lives.
It took a little Indian, Gandhi, to understand this synthesis and give it the right word. Therefore, he taught us to practice “non-violence towards our enemies.” But since in all types of logic three negations are equivalent to a single negation, we rediscover what Jesus called the “new commandment” summarizing all the ancient social commandments: “Love your enemies” (Mt 5:44; Mk 12:31). Thus, through the spirituality of the East was reunited with that of the West, thus initiating a universal spirituality. Indeed, the very beginning of a new civilization, no longer Eastern or Western, but valid for all men, of all skin colors, all ethnicities, all cultures, all ethics, and all religions.
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Prof. Antonino Drago: University “Federico II” of Naples, Italy and a member of the TRANSCEND Network. Allied of Ark Community, he teaches at the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. Master degree in physics (University of Pisa 1961), a follower of the Community of the Ark of Gandhi’s Italian disciple, Lanza del Vasto, a conscientious objector, a participant in the Italian campaigns for conscientious objection (1964-1972) and the campaign for refusing to pay taxes to finance military expenditure (1983-2000). Owing to his long experience in these activities and his writings on these subjects, he was asked by the University of Pisa to teach Nonviolent Popular Defense in the curriculum of “Science for Peace” (from 2001 to 2012) and also Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping (2009-2013. Then by the University of Florence to teach History and Techniques of Nonviolence in the curriculum of “Operations of Peace” (2004-2010). Drago was the first president of the Italian Ministerial Committee for Promoting Unarmed and Nonviolent Civil Defense (2004-2005). drago@unina.it.
Tags: Ahimsa, Bible, Christianity, Gandhi, Hinduism, Nonviolence
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 Feb 2026.
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