One piece that is largely missing in the movement for personal and social transformation is a network of holistic political organizations that aim consciously to both directly impact public policy (by proposing reforms using methods such as lobbying, elections, demonstrations, boycotts, etc.), and explicitly, intentionally foster personal growth (sometimes including spiritual development), healthy group dynamics, cultural change, and a compassionate sense of community among its members.
Service organizations assist individual activists with their personal growth. Social-change activists organize “counter institutions” as models for the future. Some caring friendships spontaneously, naturally form as a byproduct when people get involved in political organizations. Advocacy organizations promote important increased public awareness and other forms of cultural change. These efforts are valuable, but insufficient.
Some practitioners of personal growth (including spiritual development), healthy group dynamics, and cultural action believe that their efforts will eventually lead to large numbers of people becoming politically active.
Some creators of counter institutions believe that when the existing system collapses, their alternative systems will help fill the vacuum. Others believe that their alternatives will eventually attract enough people to trigger massive social change.
But I see little hope for those scenarios. Given the power of the dominant social system, those small isolated alternatives will likely remain small and isolated.
The way we’re going, those personal, interpersonal, local, small group, and cultural efforts will continue to be swamped by socialization that inculcates widespread selfishness. And the misery that is created by governmental policies will continue to overwhelm efforts to relieve that suffering.
Rescuing babies drowning in a river can save lives. But we also need to stop the monster that throws those babies into the river.
Many alternative models have been demonstrated. What is lacking is the political power to change those policies that suppress the expansion of those models.
Efforts to promote personal, social, and cultural growth may indirectly encourage the spread of holistic politics. They are certainly complementary. But being complementary, they remain separate.
Without sustained, conscious, intentional effort, such projects won’t scale up to effective political action. The dilemma is how to develop and institutionalize holistic methods.
Inner transformation needs outer transformation. And outer transformation needs inner transformation. But those arenas are seldom integrated.
In our hyper-specialized age, folks tend to stick with particular areas of interest. Political activists and political organizations generally avoid personal, social, and cultural issues. And people who work in personal, social, and cultural arenas tend to avoid politics.
This country needs massive, effective, grassroots, political movements that are able to help change deadly public policies by building momentum with a never-ending series of victories that improve lives in an ongoing process of evolutionary revolution.
A focused commitment to holistic political organizing that spreads joy and enriches lives could enhance prospects for this kind of transformation.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Obama Speech Addresses Tragedy in Tucson: Transcript
Obama Speech Addresses Tragedy in Tucson: Transcript
Jan. 12, 2011
To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.
There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.
As Scripture tells us:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation's capital. Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner" -- just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.
That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday -- they too represented what is best in America.
Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.
George and Dorothy Morris -- "Dot" to her friends -- were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what t heir friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.
A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great- granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.
Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson advertisement TRANSCRIPT: Obama Speech Addresses Tragedy in Tucson Full Speech: Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama together -- about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again." When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.
Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion -- but his true passion was people. As Gabby's outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved -- talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.
And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, "We are so blessed. We have the best life." And she'd pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.
Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken -- and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.
Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the c ongresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this -- she knows we're here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.
And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.
These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned -- as it was on Saturday morning.
Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations -- to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -- at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and advertisement that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness." Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
After all, that's what most of us do when we lose someone in our family -- especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward -- but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -- but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.
That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions -- that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed -- they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis -- she's our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.
And in Christina ... in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.
So deserving of our love.
And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.
The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives -- to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all advertisement Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.
I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here --they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us -- we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.
Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles."
If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.
Jan. 12, 2011
To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.
There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.
As Scripture tells us:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation's capital. Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner" -- just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.
That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday -- they too represented what is best in America.
Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.
George and Dorothy Morris -- "Dot" to her friends -- were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what t heir friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.
A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great- granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.
Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson advertisement TRANSCRIPT: Obama Speech Addresses Tragedy in Tucson Full Speech: Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama together -- about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again." When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.
Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion -- but his true passion was people. As Gabby's outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved -- talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.
And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, "We are so blessed. We have the best life." And she'd pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.
Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken -- and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.
Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the c ongresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this -- she knows we're here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.
And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.
These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned -- as it was on Saturday morning.
Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations -- to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -- at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and advertisement that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness." Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
After all, that's what most of us do when we lose someone in our family -- especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward -- but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -- but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.
That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions -- that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed -- they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis -- she's our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.
And in Christina ... in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.
So deserving of our love.
And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.
The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives -- to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all advertisement Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.
I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here --they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us -- we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.
Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles."
If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Various Items
CONTENTS:
--Jo Sanzgiri on Nonviolence
--Seasons Fund For Social Transformation
--“Transformative Movement Building:”
--Reader’s Comments
On January 9 at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, Dr. Jyotsna Sanzgiri and Imam Khaled Hamoui served on a panel that responded to Kathleen Barry’s opening talk concerning her new book, Unmaking War, Remaking Men: How Empathy Can Reshape Our Politics, Our Soldiers and Ourselves. Sanzgiri’s comments struck me as particularly telling.
With deep roots in the Indian independence movement led through the involvement of her parents and currently serving on the faculty at the Unitarian Starr King School for the Ministry, Sanzgiri said:
Our focus [prior to independence] was not on the British but on building a nation….
It's harder to deal with the enemy within.... including the degradation that comes from passivity.
[We need] the reclamation of the soul... [which requires] daily practice, standing up and talking about our actions...debriefing....
We have lost our humanity in the way we are treating each other, and other countries. We need to develop more compassionate means of communicating.
During the discussion period, I remarked to Sanzgiri, “If we translate your comments to our current situation in this country, it seems that our focus should be not on the war machine but on growing compassionate communities, transforming our nation into a compassionate community.”
I also said to Sanzgiri, “I assume that when you referred to the enemy within, you weren’t just talking about within this country but also within ourselves and our need to engage in ongoing introspection and self-improvement in order to acknowledge our mistakes and correct them.” She confirmed my understanding on this point.
I then argued that we need support groups for activists, so we can listen to each other report on our self-improvement efforts. Merely listening can be very supportive. Many activists have told me they like this idea, but no one has implemented it. Most activists are so focused on their outer work they have little time for inner work.
In response, Sanzgiri supported my comments and Barry said that in Santa Rosa she’s proposing the development of small groups dedicated to nurturing both empathy and action, similar to the consciousness-raising groups in the women’s movement.
The next day, I emailed Sanzgiri to confirm the accuracy of my notes and asked her to send me or refer me to any of her work, or the work of others, that elaborates on these themes. She replied:
I have not published papers in this area specifically, but the following two books outline a lot of what my philosophy is based on: MK Gandhi, My Autobiography; Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian. They describe the roots of the philosophy through which Indians eventually returned to a spiritual base in their activist work.
Upon further reflection, seeking to clarify the basic point, I asked her:
Would you agree that what we need is a balance between inner and outer work, and between confronting established policies and growing alternative institutions -- rather than a primary or exclusive focus on one or the other? Was this the case with the Independence movement?
She replied:
I could not agree more that a balance is what works the best, especially between inner and outer work. Once we take the time to get those primary balances in focus, we take on increasingly complex work, within ourselves and the outside world. Yes, the Movement was very much based on creating a balance of inner spiritual development and work that would involve a moral, non-violent opposition to colonial rule.
All in all, I find this exchange heartening. Finding another kindred spirit is very reassuring.
Also encouraging is the continued good work of the Seasons Fund For Social Transformation, which makes grants to support opportunities for reflection and training aimed at fostering personal transformation, building leadership skills, promoting organizational development, forging effective coalitions, and cultivating new ways of envisioning our society, as well as efforts to evaluate the impact of contemplative practices on social change initiatives.
A seven-minute video of their first Transformative Leadership Awards event can be found here.
Staff at the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) have selected the following excerpts from their 2010 report, Out of the Spiritual Closet: Organizers Transforming the Practice of Social Justice www.movementstrategy.org/resources
This summary reads as follows:
Movement Strategy Center uses the term transformative movement building as an umbrella to describe the diverse efforts of groups and individuals to fundamentally change our political, material, social and spiritual reality. Transformative movement building (TMB) links the process of individual transformation to group and social transformation. In this framework, inner change and outer change are deeply connected. Transformative movement builders seek to synthesize wisdom and practice from spiritual traditions (often focused on deep inner transformation) with social change traditions of the Left (generally focused on social analysis and systems change). Transformative movement builders share a deep commitment to holistic individual, group and social change, driven by a connection to something larger than themselves.
Transformative practices allow us to tap into deep wells of insight and innovation. They include:
· Spiritual practices
· Creative practices
· Cultural practices
MSC intentionally focuses on TMB in grassroots, frontline organizations. Frontline organizations are groups based in the needs and leadership of communities most impacted by social injustice. These communities and organizations are called "frontline" because they experience disproportionate impacts around issues such as education cuts, climate change, or welfare reform. These communities are most often communities of color and low income. While many of these groups have faith-based counterparts, the groups we focus on are secular. Frontline organizations have a major stake in questions of social, political and spiritual transformation, but they have often been excluded from the formal dialogue on spiritual or transformative organizing.
Stages of Change
MSC has identified five steps in this process of cultural change:
* Individual change
* Leads to change in the organizational community
* Leads to change in the organizing model and practice
* Leads to greater social impact and systems change
* Culminating in deep cultural change
Where are we stuck?
1. Operating from a Sense of Urgency - Crisis Mode
"Everything is critical, nothing can wait," explained Jen Soriano, formerly with The Center for Media Justice. "There is a sense of urgency and anxiety about missed opportunities. This makes everything much more high stakes."
"People wear themselves out by just reacting, writing papers, attending meetings. They do a lot without making much occur, except to create outcomes for foundations," says Norma Wong of The Institute for Zen Studies.
2. Embodying the Dominant Culture
"We all hate on each other at some level." - Jermaine Ashley, Oakland Kids First
3. Recycling Trauma
"We need to rehumanize each other," said Ettinger. "This requires a value shift on the Left."
Many of us come into this work because we, or the people we love, have experienced deep injustice. However, if our wounds have not healed, trauma can severely limit our ability to be present with each other. Without awareness, we recycle trauma and create new wounds within the movement.
4. Attachment to Anger and Struggle
Our movement culture uses struggle as a word to define itself. We are always struggling against something. The term itself connotes hardship and extreme exertion. While this definitely describes a portion of our work in this movement, it is not and should not be the entirety of it.
5. Maintaining an Exclusive - and Narrow - Movement
"In the end, people want to feel safe, loved and part of something," said Ai-jen Poo. "But right now we lack the ability to make people feel the movement encompasses them."
6. Ambivalence with Power
In our movement work we rarely imagine ourselves as the power holders. This ambivalence is rooted in and reinforced by our movement self-image as "the underdogs" of society. It is also reflected in our relationships with targets, where we have created a rigid dichotomy of good versus evil. To be on the side of justice and good we position ourselves as watchdogs rather than decision makers. While watchdogs are important, their role is to react not to lead or govern.
The New Way
1. Integrating Individual and Group Transformation
"The nature of transformation is that is does not happen in the absence of absolute change. It includes you." - Norma Wong, Institute for Zen Studies
2. Big Visioning and Reclaiming Values
When we vision what we really want our communities and movements to look like, we tap into a sense of imagination, creativity and hope. What is most important about visioning a new way is that the answers we unearth can inform our present-day work. Furthermore, understanding our interconnectedness means including all living things in our vision for liberation. We cannot be free unless we are all free.
3. Centralizing and Investing in Relationships and Community
"If we are going to create any meaningful change, we must model new relationships to ourselves and the world around us." - Ai-jen Poo, Domestic Workers United
Movements are about moving people. The need to be connected and belong is a basic part of our shared and evolutionary history. As organizers we need to understand and work with this truth of human nature.
4. Evolving Our Understanding of Power
"The system creates enemies, opposition and social conflict, of course, but we can't be prescriptive about it. We have to complicate the picture instead of oversimplifying it. The power mapping we do is just not complex enough." - Jason Negrón-Gonzales, Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project
5. Expanding Our Idea of Useful Work
We need all types of work in our movement to make it successful. We need organizers, strategists, teachers, artists, farmers, nurses, engineers, scientists and politicians. Our goal is not to make everyone into a professional organizer, but to create a movement that is relevant, attractive and accessible to all kinds of people.
6. Building Alignment and Synergy
You can recognize alignment within groups by the ease with which decisions are made and communication occurs. It is easy to feel when it is present, and equally easy to feel in its absence.
7. Cultivating Patience and Reflection
The enormity of the task at hand requires us to reflect - Why am I doing this? What kind of change do I expect to bring about in this world? What do I need to do to make this change occur?
8. Creating Space to Heal and Transform Ourselves
Acknowledging the world as an oppressive place means also acknowledging its negative impact on our minds, bodies and spirits. Healing from this oppression is an important task for activists and organizers. It is essential if we want to successfully change systemic conditions.
9. Expanding Awareness and Agility to Act
Through practice we can develop an expanded awareness of our surroundings, the present moment and our power to make change.
Comments concerning last week’s “Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy”:
Nedi Safa: Well said. Be the change.
Chris Price: A beautiful statement and reminder for all of us who work in groups, with groups for a goal, however we identify ourselves, including the groups called “citizens” or “family”. Thank you.
Marcella Womack: Wade - you've developed a template for consciousness-raising ourselves into new human beings. Good job!
Patricia Bulls: This says it all so perfectly I can hardly think of a way to respond. I know as I read this it reverberated through my whole being as "yes that's it, that's a way of being with myself and all others with whom I meet day by day on this journey".Thanks for sharing this deep wisdom. It is apparent that it comes from great experience. I am enjoying sharing it with others.
--Jo Sanzgiri on Nonviolence
--Seasons Fund For Social Transformation
--“Transformative Movement Building:”
--Reader’s Comments
Jo Sanzgiri on Nonviolence
On January 9 at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, Dr. Jyotsna Sanzgiri and Imam Khaled Hamoui served on a panel that responded to Kathleen Barry’s opening talk concerning her new book, Unmaking War, Remaking Men: How Empathy Can Reshape Our Politics, Our Soldiers and Ourselves. Sanzgiri’s comments struck me as particularly telling.
With deep roots in the Indian independence movement led through the involvement of her parents and currently serving on the faculty at the Unitarian Starr King School for the Ministry, Sanzgiri said:
Our focus [prior to independence] was not on the British but on building a nation….
It's harder to deal with the enemy within.... including the degradation that comes from passivity.
[We need] the reclamation of the soul... [which requires] daily practice, standing up and talking about our actions...debriefing....
We have lost our humanity in the way we are treating each other, and other countries. We need to develop more compassionate means of communicating.
During the discussion period, I remarked to Sanzgiri, “If we translate your comments to our current situation in this country, it seems that our focus should be not on the war machine but on growing compassionate communities, transforming our nation into a compassionate community.”
I also said to Sanzgiri, “I assume that when you referred to the enemy within, you weren’t just talking about within this country but also within ourselves and our need to engage in ongoing introspection and self-improvement in order to acknowledge our mistakes and correct them.” She confirmed my understanding on this point.
I then argued that we need support groups for activists, so we can listen to each other report on our self-improvement efforts. Merely listening can be very supportive. Many activists have told me they like this idea, but no one has implemented it. Most activists are so focused on their outer work they have little time for inner work.
In response, Sanzgiri supported my comments and Barry said that in Santa Rosa she’s proposing the development of small groups dedicated to nurturing both empathy and action, similar to the consciousness-raising groups in the women’s movement.
The next day, I emailed Sanzgiri to confirm the accuracy of my notes and asked her to send me or refer me to any of her work, or the work of others, that elaborates on these themes. She replied:
I have not published papers in this area specifically, but the following two books outline a lot of what my philosophy is based on: MK Gandhi, My Autobiography; Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian. They describe the roots of the philosophy through which Indians eventually returned to a spiritual base in their activist work.
Upon further reflection, seeking to clarify the basic point, I asked her:
Would you agree that what we need is a balance between inner and outer work, and between confronting established policies and growing alternative institutions -- rather than a primary or exclusive focus on one or the other? Was this the case with the Independence movement?
She replied:
I could not agree more that a balance is what works the best, especially between inner and outer work. Once we take the time to get those primary balances in focus, we take on increasingly complex work, within ourselves and the outside world. Yes, the Movement was very much based on creating a balance of inner spiritual development and work that would involve a moral, non-violent opposition to colonial rule.
All in all, I find this exchange heartening. Finding another kindred spirit is very reassuring.
+++++
Seasons Fund For Social Transformation
Also encouraging is the continued good work of the Seasons Fund For Social Transformation, which makes grants to support opportunities for reflection and training aimed at fostering personal transformation, building leadership skills, promoting organizational development, forging effective coalitions, and cultivating new ways of envisioning our society, as well as efforts to evaluate the impact of contemplative practices on social change initiatives.
A seven-minute video of their first Transformative Leadership Awards event can be found here.
+++++
Transformative Movement Building:
MSC's Framework for Social Change
Staff at the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) have selected the following excerpts from their 2010 report, Out of the Spiritual Closet: Organizers Transforming the Practice of Social Justice www.movementstrategy.org/resources
This summary reads as follows:
Movement Strategy Center uses the term transformative movement building as an umbrella to describe the diverse efforts of groups and individuals to fundamentally change our political, material, social and spiritual reality. Transformative movement building (TMB) links the process of individual transformation to group and social transformation. In this framework, inner change and outer change are deeply connected. Transformative movement builders seek to synthesize wisdom and practice from spiritual traditions (often focused on deep inner transformation) with social change traditions of the Left (generally focused on social analysis and systems change). Transformative movement builders share a deep commitment to holistic individual, group and social change, driven by a connection to something larger than themselves.
Transformative practices allow us to tap into deep wells of insight and innovation. They include:
· Spiritual practices
· Creative practices
· Cultural practices
MSC intentionally focuses on TMB in grassroots, frontline organizations. Frontline organizations are groups based in the needs and leadership of communities most impacted by social injustice. These communities and organizations are called "frontline" because they experience disproportionate impacts around issues such as education cuts, climate change, or welfare reform. These communities are most often communities of color and low income. While many of these groups have faith-based counterparts, the groups we focus on are secular. Frontline organizations have a major stake in questions of social, political and spiritual transformation, but they have often been excluded from the formal dialogue on spiritual or transformative organizing.
Stages of Change
MSC has identified five steps in this process of cultural change:
* Individual change
* Leads to change in the organizational community
* Leads to change in the organizing model and practice
* Leads to greater social impact and systems change
* Culminating in deep cultural change
Where are we stuck?
1. Operating from a Sense of Urgency - Crisis Mode
"Everything is critical, nothing can wait," explained Jen Soriano, formerly with The Center for Media Justice. "There is a sense of urgency and anxiety about missed opportunities. This makes everything much more high stakes."
"People wear themselves out by just reacting, writing papers, attending meetings. They do a lot without making much occur, except to create outcomes for foundations," says Norma Wong of The Institute for Zen Studies.
2. Embodying the Dominant Culture
"We all hate on each other at some level." - Jermaine Ashley, Oakland Kids First
3. Recycling Trauma
"We need to rehumanize each other," said Ettinger. "This requires a value shift on the Left."
Many of us come into this work because we, or the people we love, have experienced deep injustice. However, if our wounds have not healed, trauma can severely limit our ability to be present with each other. Without awareness, we recycle trauma and create new wounds within the movement.
4. Attachment to Anger and Struggle
Our movement culture uses struggle as a word to define itself. We are always struggling against something. The term itself connotes hardship and extreme exertion. While this definitely describes a portion of our work in this movement, it is not and should not be the entirety of it.
5. Maintaining an Exclusive - and Narrow - Movement
"In the end, people want to feel safe, loved and part of something," said Ai-jen Poo. "But right now we lack the ability to make people feel the movement encompasses them."
6. Ambivalence with Power
In our movement work we rarely imagine ourselves as the power holders. This ambivalence is rooted in and reinforced by our movement self-image as "the underdogs" of society. It is also reflected in our relationships with targets, where we have created a rigid dichotomy of good versus evil. To be on the side of justice and good we position ourselves as watchdogs rather than decision makers. While watchdogs are important, their role is to react not to lead or govern.
The New Way
1. Integrating Individual and Group Transformation
"The nature of transformation is that is does not happen in the absence of absolute change. It includes you." - Norma Wong, Institute for Zen Studies
2. Big Visioning and Reclaiming Values
When we vision what we really want our communities and movements to look like, we tap into a sense of imagination, creativity and hope. What is most important about visioning a new way is that the answers we unearth can inform our present-day work. Furthermore, understanding our interconnectedness means including all living things in our vision for liberation. We cannot be free unless we are all free.
3. Centralizing and Investing in Relationships and Community
"If we are going to create any meaningful change, we must model new relationships to ourselves and the world around us." - Ai-jen Poo, Domestic Workers United
Movements are about moving people. The need to be connected and belong is a basic part of our shared and evolutionary history. As organizers we need to understand and work with this truth of human nature.
4. Evolving Our Understanding of Power
"The system creates enemies, opposition and social conflict, of course, but we can't be prescriptive about it. We have to complicate the picture instead of oversimplifying it. The power mapping we do is just not complex enough." - Jason Negrón-Gonzales, Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project
5. Expanding Our Idea of Useful Work
We need all types of work in our movement to make it successful. We need organizers, strategists, teachers, artists, farmers, nurses, engineers, scientists and politicians. Our goal is not to make everyone into a professional organizer, but to create a movement that is relevant, attractive and accessible to all kinds of people.
6. Building Alignment and Synergy
You can recognize alignment within groups by the ease with which decisions are made and communication occurs. It is easy to feel when it is present, and equally easy to feel in its absence.
7. Cultivating Patience and Reflection
The enormity of the task at hand requires us to reflect - Why am I doing this? What kind of change do I expect to bring about in this world? What do I need to do to make this change occur?
8. Creating Space to Heal and Transform Ourselves
Acknowledging the world as an oppressive place means also acknowledging its negative impact on our minds, bodies and spirits. Healing from this oppression is an important task for activists and organizers. It is essential if we want to successfully change systemic conditions.
9. Expanding Awareness and Agility to Act
Through practice we can develop an expanded awareness of our surroundings, the present moment and our power to make change.
+++++
Reader’s Comments
Comments concerning last week’s “Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy”:
Nedi Safa: Well said. Be the change.
Chris Price: A beautiful statement and reminder for all of us who work in groups, with groups for a goal, however we identify ourselves, including the groups called “citizens” or “family”. Thank you.
Marcella Womack: Wade - you've developed a template for consciousness-raising ourselves into new human beings. Good job!
Patricia Bulls: This says it all so perfectly I can hardly think of a way to respond. I know as I read this it reverberated through my whole being as "yes that's it, that's a way of being with myself and all others with whom I meet day by day on this journey".Thanks for sharing this deep wisdom. It is apparent that it comes from great experience. I am enjoying sharing it with others.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy
Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy
by Wade Hudson
In recent decades Americans have become increasingly ego-centered, task-oriented, impersonal, materialistic, fearful, angry, dogmatic, and undemocratic. Unsurprisingly, progressive organizations and progressive-minded individuals, embedded in the dominant culture as we are, often reflect those same characteristics. Fortunately, efforts are underway to undo that conditioning.
We become ego-centered when we care more about building our own organization than we do about the larger society. We fail to temporarily set aside our own issues in order to support the timely activism of other organizations.
We become excessively task-oriented when we concentrate on product and ignore process. We sometimes use noble ends to justify dehumanizing means. How we operate becomes secondary. Winning is everything. We fail to be present in the here and now.
We become impersonal when we reduce others to tools. These days more people have fewer close friends with whom they can discuss personal problems.
We become materialistic when we neglect the inner world of feelings and spirit.
We become fearful when we dwell on future risks and try to mobilize others by feeding their anxieties. The politics of fear leads to burnout.
We become stuck in anger when we scapegoat enemies and relentlessly try to defeat them, thereby reinforcing divisions and evading our own responsibility.
We become dogmatic when we refuse to compromise and live in an abstract world of ideas. In our lack of realism, we are escapist.
We become undemocratic when we assume that the most pressing task is to mobilize others to do what we want them to do.
For many people, these methods work fine. They care about one issue, want to help in the limited time they have available, and don’t mind being a cog in a political machine. Then they return to other priorities in their lives.
On the other hand, some of us seek ways that are more meaningful and productive. Even within tight time constraints and low budgets, we aim to grow caring, activist communities that infuse person-to-person and small-group relationships with contagious joy and compassionate attention to one another’s needs.
Eventually, nationally prominent representatives may provide us with more visibility. But personal outreach to friends and family members will likely remain the most important way to build our movement.
While working steadily to impact public policy, including (most importantly) national policy, we nurture loving communities of individuals who really listen to each other, enjoy each other’s company, and support each other in conscious efforts to become better human beings and more effective activists.
We make a clear commitment to ongoing self-development, which often involves reversing negative social conditioning. We admit mistakes and try not to repeat them.
Building our own organization is not the be-all and end-all. We cooperate with others in alliances and coalitions as much as possible.
We work hard but still take time to smell the roses, commune with Mother Nature, and enjoy a wide range of human experience. We relax, set realistic goals, and accept our limits.
We pay attention to the humanity of our fellow activists, treat each other with respect and affection, practice compassionate listening and nonviolent communication, and strive to know and understand each other more fully.
We acknowledge our feelings and discuss them freely. Though we have different ways of discussing our spirituality, we recognize that the material world is filled with mystery that cannot be measured. The self is boundless.
We face our fears without allowing them to control us, so we can proceed to do what is before us while leaving the future to the future.
We acknowledge our anger, express it constructively if we need to, and let it go, so we can focus proactively on positive solutions.
We realize that all words are approximations that merely point to reality. By avoiding ideological rigidity, we face life honestly and concentrate on changing what we can change.
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