Erika

I will bravely be the first to share my New Story!  🙂  And without further ado…..
My 90 year old grandmother recently called to discuss a documentary she had seen on PBS.  “They said that all the corn is cross-contaminated with corn from other fields, so there’s no point in spending all that extra money on organic food.”

I launched an explanation of GMOs, pesticides, sustainable farming, farm workers’ rights, animal welfare, human health, and the fact that it takes more calories to ship a strawberry from Mexico to New Jersey than the strawberry is worth.  I may as well have changed the subject to the weather (sans mention of global climate change).

I can hardly blame her for her point of view.  She grew up on a farm where she pumped water from a well and carried it in a bucket.  She washed, hung and ironed the laundry for her family of nine by hand.  Every meal was prepared “from scratch” without microwaves, cold food storage, an electric or gas oven, or even Hamburger Helper.

I often tell her that she is from the Better Living Through Science Generation.  The washing machine meant that laundry took a couple of hours instead of a couple of days.  New cleaning products meant less time spent on her hands and knees scrubbing floors and bathtubs.  Medical advances all but eliminated diseases like smallpox and polio.  Her telephone and medical alert system allow her to continue living independently.  She is by no means “rich” but she lives a life of comfort she never could have imagined as a girl.  She simply cannot fathom why I would create unnecessary work for myself by line-drying my clothes or canning my own pickles.

To my grandmother, who watched her husband, brothers, and sons go off to war and who now lives in a middle-class suburb of New York City, it looks like violence is steep declining.  The women’s rights and civil rights movements have been successful.  The world is full of democracy and no one need fear a midnight knock from the KGB or the SS.  Human rights and international aid organizations build more wells and medical clinics every day.

These points are hard to argue, yet they gloss over a great deal of complexity.  While she, like many others, is surrounded by items manufactured halfway across the globe, she has very little knowledge of the lives of people a few miles away in cities like Newark or Camden, never mind the people in China who made her slippers.  Violence is largely more subtle now, making invisible unless you go looking for it.  (And here we all are, doing just that!)

There may be laws to protect people from discrimination, but centuries of systemic, habitual oppression cannot be easily cast off in the oppressed or the oppressors.  The Iron Curtain may have fallen but people from former Soviet-Bloc countries who are ill-equipped to compete in the global marketplace now live in poverty.  The period of European colonialism has ended, but it has been replaced by neocolonialism which simply uses money instead of guns to wield power.  Americans reap the benefits of outrageously expensive medications while children are orphaned by AIDS or die of diseases that cost pennies to treat.

Violence against humans is just the tip of the iceberg.  Sitting at the zenith of the Industrial Age that has given us washing machines and cell phones, we can see the exorbitant toll it has taken on the natural systems that maintain us.  We use increasingly destructive means to extract resources,  diminish biodiversity daily, manipulate our food systems with chemicals and genetic modifications, all in the name of turning a profit but without a clue as to the effects on our health in the present or our ability to exist into the future.

Lest I leave the impression that my grandmother is an enemy of nonviolence, I will share my youngest uncle’s favorite story about her.  When he was maybe six years old, she took him to visit her sister in Paterson, which was once a thriving industrial city but had begun to descend into urban decay.  They stopped for ice cream on their way home, and while they sat at the counter an African-American man came in and sat a few seats away.  My uncle was nervous and asked if they could leave; in response she sat next to the man and started chatting about his children, where he lived, what he did for a living, and what he liked to do with his spare time.  She never lectured about racism or equality.  She simply respected the dignity of each human being she met.

I see myself as part of a growing movement towards sustainability and harmony, and my grandmother played a huge part in starting me on this path.  My hope is that I will find the grace to live the message of peace and love that is in my heart to show my own children – indeed, everyone I meet – that we have a choice.  We can make world into a place of beauty and nonviolence.
 

The main thing I take away from the Week 1 readings is an awareness of the many ways in which the Old Story is embedded in our thinking, and how the New Story will require  a fundamental restructuring of our worldview.  I wonder about the interplay between greed, ignorance and hopelessness and how these things interact to create inertia when it comes to our behavior.

The most challenging part of the nonviolence pledge for me is without a doubt minimizing my exposure to mass media.  I watch very little television, but I do like to unwind in front of the TV at night and the shows I enjoy are generally crime dramas.  I had convinced myself that limiting my exposure and maintaining awareness would inoculate me against the effects of  the violent imagery.  Then, a few weeks ago, I was sitting in zazen and a particularly gruesome image from a program I had recently watched popped into my head and wouldn’t leave, and I realized that I was fooling myself!  I am a work in progress on this front….on all fronts really, but this is one I have been working on in particular as of late!  🙂

Hi everyone,

I have just read the previous introductions and I am really touched by the diversity and the sincerity of the individuals in this group.  I feel “wow-ed” by all of you and the fact that I am getting to be a part of this.  I feel grateful to Stephanie and to The Metta Center!

My name is Sydney Hughes-McGee and I live in a rural area outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  During the week, I work in Winston-Salem teaching yoga (Desikachar style, aka Viniyoga) and doing bodywork.   I spend much of my weekends at a family campground in the Sauratown Mountains that my husband runs on the Dan River.  I have  teenage son.  In this second half of my life I want to put my energy into cultivating the world  I imagine is possible for my son, for his generation and for their children.

My work until now has been focused around embodiment- inviting people into an aware and loving relationship with their bodies- a relationship based on listening, rather than on dominating.  I believe that  aware and awake bodies lead us into a vital and responsive relationship with the larger natural world.   This has been a big piece of my own healing, which seems to go on forever.

I feel a lot of pain for the loss of natural places and the health of natural systems.  I don’t always know what to do with this grief.   In the last year, I have begun to develop an aspect of my work that I am calling  “Eat, Pray, Local.”   What I am wanting to do is be together with others in silence in nature- spiritual adventuring in our own backyard, so to say.  I have started by offering day trips on the Dan River that combine meditation, movement and kayaking, and introduce the practice of being present where we are, with nature as our teacher.    I feel like a real beginner at this, but have had moments of feeling heart humbled and restored to my truth just by giving it a try.  I am excited to be introduced to the depth of Joanna Macy’s work in the readings this week.

Like Stephanie, I came to learning about ahimsa through yoga studies.  So much of my experience has been interpersonal.  I want to be more socially active and responsible and have a feeling that this program will expose me to some new avenues.  I hope I can keep up with the intellectual and political savvy of this group.

I look forward to getting to know you all better,

Sydney

Greetings Everyone! Thanks so much for introducing yourselves and for welcoming me as a participant in this wonderful course of study.  My name is Jean Thies (some know me as Claudia, which is my given first name).  I live in an Intercommunity Contemplative house in the north end of Seattle, Washington.  Four of us share this home–two humans and two elderly rescued golden retrievers!  Our purpose or mission is to support peace and justice makers by educating ourselves and others about the fine work that is being done on the planet by folks such as you!

I attribute my interest in nonviolence to a summer workshop in New Mexico that I took four years ago. The week long workshop was a study of the work of Gandhi, Dorothy Day (the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement), Martin Luther King and Thomas Merton (a contemplative monk). These four nonviolent peacemakers inspired and challenged me to embark on a journey into nonviolent peacemaking.  Our teacher, John Dear, is a contemplative, nonviolent peace activist who has written over 30 books, mostly about the nonviolent Jesus.  John works for another organization dedicated to teaching nonviolence, Pace e Bene.

I’d very much like to immerse myself once again in the work of Gandhi, Jesus, and all of the other nonviolent mentors we have here to learn from so that I can contribute to the transformation that is so needed on our planet.

Many years ago I stopped watching news programs on television when I saw an individual commit suicide in one of the stories.  Sure I had seen violence in movies and tv – but somehow my mind knows that isn’t real – and knew in  that instance that what I just witnessed in  the news clip was.  I can still rerun that clip in my mind – not an image I want to carry with me but there it is nonetheless.

My challenge will be to work on the knee jerk reactions that I am prone to when other people push one of my buttons – which seems to be happening a lot at work lately.  When they appear to be speaking down to me, boy does that make me crazy.  And really, what difference does it make?  It says far more about them than me.  I just have to remember this in that moment – not 15 minutes later when I beat myself up for getting angry about it.

Which brings me to another area to look at – being a little more loving towards myself.  Not expecting perfection – being okay with less than.

Key takeaways from this lesson: Human beings are much better, much more capable of living together and creating a better world for all than most of us realize! I need to emblazon that on my own heart and shout it from the mountain tops! We must remember who we are!

Question I continue to ask (and even more so after studying this lesson) is how can we remind ourselves and one another of just who we are? Maybe the answer lies in continuing to tell the nonviolence stories that we hear and read over and over again.  And listening for the new ones that are being told today.

Minimizing my exposure to commercial mass media is a challenge I am willing to take on. It is a challenge for me as well as for those in my household.  The other challenge for me in the Pledge of Nonviolence is to be creative enough to offer positive alternatives when I am faced with unjust situations. I don’t think on my feet well. So I am being challenged to spend more time thinking deeply about those situations and begin to look for creative, positive alternatives.

Hi All

My name is Paul Bazely. I having been practising Passage Meditation for 20 years now and that is how I was introduced to Michael Nagler and his work. I became convinced that nonviolence was the missing piece in the jigsaw of my world view. It linked and underpinned all the other activism issues that i am passionate about like environment, social equality, restorative justice etc. I think it is THE means and the end to all these issues. I’m hoping to gain a firm foundation in nonviolence practice and theory that I can take into all other areas of my life personal, professional and in the community.

I am an actor who lives in Brighton UK. I am a part of the NVC community in Brighton and am also a Quaker. I am looking forward to extending my nonviolence community online with you all x

Dear Friends,
I am Warren Summers. *nervous*
I find these introductions very difficult, because I am never sure which information will most help you (who I do not know yet!) to connect with my story. I notice that I feel a kind of pressure to explain myself and my ideas according to an imagined hierarchy of values that might not reflect exactly where I am at now.
Should I begin with details of what I love? I think so.
I am currently studying handweaving. It is slow and really challenges me to think about how I understand the objects/process of production that surround me. It is also a place for me to engage with my mindfulness practice. Weaving gives me the ability to wrap people in the energy of my care and I find this to have a deeply healing effect for people and for me. When I first took a piece of handmade fabric off of my loom I was struck by how simple, direct and honest it felt. *warm and fuzzy*
I love taking time to stop and be with people. I am not sure where the weaving is heading, but it has opened the doors to community and conversation with many people so far.
I am a spiritual amalgam of learnings from a wide range of traditions. I was raised in an urban catholic church. Found a home in the yoga of Krishnamacharya. Wandered with the ideas of Sri Aurobindo. Landed near Krishnamurti. Spent time with Australian shamans. Simultaneously, I moved from Catholicism into the Quaker tradition – where I feel a deep kind of homeliness. I am now also involved in a zen sangha that practices in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hahn. This tradition of mindfulness is very alive for me at the moment. Locally I am also involved in a Nonviolent Communication group (in the tradition of Marshall Rosenberg) and we have recently set up a ‘despair and empowerment’ circle in the tradition of Joanna Macy.
(Sharing this information so plainly, I feel a little vulnerable. I hope that this transparency is helpful in some way.)
The aspect that all these traditions have in common, for me, is a great amount of space for plurality and inclusion. All of these teachers and practices ask me to question dogma and assumptions – and to develop a personal practice that reflects and respects the needs of me and my community/ies.
I have a music degree (composition) and currently work as the communications manager for a national alliance of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) health organisations. This role is a constant source of learning for me. I am hoping to incorporate the principles of nonviolence into the fabric of our organisation.
My hope for this course is that this time spent exploring nonviolence will make me an instrument of peace and wellbeing. I am really looking forward to interacting with everyone that is a part of this course. I am deeply grateful to the Metta Center for the opportunity to participate. *inspired*
 
Blessings and peace to you all!
W