Yuyutsu:

I think the definition of violence should be that it is physical. The other behaviours are aggression. There are many types of aggression of which violence is only one.

Violence hurts everyone because our bodies are all made the same way. 'Verbal violence' or 'thought violence' are much more subjective and dependent on the attitudes of the victims.

But conceptual and descriptive ambivalence in the definition of violence is necessary to prop up jobs and careers, all of that sloppy research, and media campaigns to keep the usual suspects in clover.

Next you will be asking for the funds allocated by government to show some difference in the bottom line, the final outcome.

Well said, leoj. There are too many cooks spoiling the broth (at taxpayer expense.) Common law, the police and the judiciary should be more than ample to deal with the problem of violence.

ttbn,

And what will common law, the police, and the judiciary do to prevent crime? Or learn how to best do that?

Yeah, exactly...

Dear Phanto,

A breeze, a storm and a hurricane are all wind. While it could be practical for certain purposes (legal, for example) to give different names to different levels of 'violence', saying that lesser violence is "only" aggression, such divisions are artificial and only a matter of degree.

«'Verbal violence' or 'thought violence' are much more subjective and dependent on the attitudes of the victims.»

But apart from the victims, what matters most is the subjective experience of the perpetrator.

Objectively, on the physical level, there could be consequences - one could be punished, but then this is not always the case and one could hope to be lucky and get away with violence.

Emotionally, you feel guilty, still a few psychopaths can get away with that too.

Mentally, this enhances the notion as if you are separate from others, so that their pain is not your pain. That creates constant background fear, but what if you never thought otherwise anyway?

Ultimately, the reason to avoid violence is spiritual: while you truly are God, so are also the ones that you hurt, so when you reinforce this mental and emotional notion of separateness from others, when you subjectively increase the wedge between you and them, you are in fact distancing yourself from God, you prevent yourself from experiencing your true divine nature, because if you did experience it, then you would be feeling the pain that you caused to so-called-others, realising that you have actually hurt yourself.

Violence is the number one hindrance to spiritual progress, this is why one should do their best to avoid it, even in thought.

"What's the difference between beating your Islamic wife and boxing,...."

Well, for starters, in boxing one is allowed to hit back, in fact, it's a requirement.