As we observe the fiftieth anniversary (on August 28th) of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Martin Luther King’s transcendent “I Have a Dream” speech, I am reminded of the quiet power and effectiveness of nonviolent collaborative community effort directed towards achieving common goals. Nonviolent action achieves its objectives without using violence, but rather through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other means. The modern form of non-violent resistance was most notably practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, and subsequently followed … [Read more...]
People Are Good
Really. I mean it. We often forget this is fundamentally true, and are too often reminded of our weaknesses, not our strengths, as humans. But it is my consistent experience that generally people are good, they mean well, and try to do the best they can for themselves and others. We can feel so discouraged or disappointed at times in what we see in the world around us, and alas, any such sense of pessimism can be negatively reinforced from a variety of directions (not the least of which is the incessant barrage of bad news by media on a 24-hour cycle of filling digital formats of all … [Read more...]
Politics, Truth and Compassion
Are you as worn out from this election season as I am? I am beyond weary from fending off the incoming—all kinds of energetic approaches vying for my mental, psychic and emotional attention, ranging from snail mail, email, print and TV ads, the endless coverage by the media of each side’s daily talking points and the innumerable partisan surrogates appearing on behalf of each agenda, and, most difficult of all to bear, the relentless sniping and small hearted negative attacks that appear to be acceptable terms of engagement in politics. We are all being subjected to energetic fields replete … [Read more...]
Free Will
Free will is complicated. We all have it, and we all want it—as long as it is our own free will we are exercising. But it is more difficult when someone else is exercising their own free will—against our interests or better judgment. Whether it is a two year old throwing a tantrum or self-governing nations in armed dispute, it comes down to a battle of wills. Of course we agree to submit to the will of others in many ways, for good reasons. So the parent must teach and protect the two year old, and in doing so denies the child her will, and properly so. Likewise, to organize ourselves … [Read more...]