© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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Violence can also result from the human need to Escape an often intolerable state of Pose/Poise. Some humans lack creative outlets for their kinetic Discontent because they suffer from emotional or psychological illnesses. Others are deprived of creative outlets by their socio-economic condition or upbringing. It's against human nature to do nothing. If human beings are blinded to their creative outlets they usually find destructive outlets. That energy has to go somewhere. Only a small fraction of violent people are motivated by a need to do actual evil.

For perspective, let's note here that violent thought is not always expressed in violent act. Violence pervades our media and culture. For every one person who commits a violent act, perhaps hundreds wait in the wings, prevented from acting on their violent urges by lack of opportunity, moral strictures, or fear of legal consequences. In America, for example, if some all-seeing and all-knowing presence could somehow take a tally, how many shotgun-toting homeowners would it turn up who are just waiting for the right circumstance to blow away some unlucky intruder and get a glowing write-up in the local paper? Some tens of millions, certainly. The need to do violence under color of self-defense is as damaging to the human spirit as any other kind of violence. It dwells in many a human heart. But it does not have to dwell in yours.

Exercise: Violence

The problem of violence is a serious one. When you see violence in the media or have violent thoughts and fantasies yourself, talk to yourself. Strive to rid your life of violent thought, and speak out against violence.