In this course you have learned of the importance of being
compassionate and of controlling negative emotions like anger
and hatred that can cloud one's vision and better judgment. Our
underlying premise has been that doing so helps improve the
world. True compassion — a sense of concern for others that
stems from feelings of equality with them — the Dalai Lama says,
drives peace. An ethic of compassion contributes to an "inner
disarmament." In concert with a sense of universal
responsibility compassion can help people get along and
eventually lead to world peace. Without inner disarmament, it is
very difficult to achieve genuine, lasting world peace. In this
lesson we look briefly at the issues of non-violence, peace and
disarmament from the perspective of universal responsibility and
personal ethics.