CONTENTS:
Why I Affirm the Three-Fold Path
Readers' Comments
Why I Affirm the Three-Fold Path
By Wade Lee Hudson
An edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring…. Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being…. It is a plant of slow growth, growing imperceptibly, but surely.I first heard about the “three-fold path” last year during a presentation by Chris Moore-Backman at a workshop on the “Radical King” convened by David Hartsough at the Quaker Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Chris credited the nonviolence guru Gene Sharp for having coined the term as a summary of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy. I believe the expression captures Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s thinking as well.
Mahatma Gandhi
The phrase immediately rang a bell for me. It summed up more clearly than I ever had the worldview that I had embraced for 45 years.
Rooted in what Gandhi described as “evolutionary revolution,” the three-fold path integrates the personal, the social, and the political in order to advance the fundamental transformation of our society into a compassionate community dedicated to the common good of all humanity. By simultaneously engaging with like-minded others in personal development, growing community, and civic action, we can reinforce each effort in a holistic synergy.
As I see it, all we need as a starting point is to cherish life, deeply love others as we love ourselves, observe the Golden Rule, avoid both self-sacrifice and selfishness, and remember that if one of us is not free, no one is free. Those simple values rooted in compassion can provide our common ground.
With that foundation, each individual can identify her or his own specific goals for moving forward. Trying to dictate how others should practice the three-fold path would be a counterproductive contradiction.
Nevertheless, each individual can share her or his ideas about the kind of personal, social, and political change that our society needs at this time. Through deliberating on these reflections, each community can develop a consensus about how they want to manifest a shared commitment to compassion. The following are my thoughts along that line.
Transforming the System
Being compassionate involves a desire to relieve suffering, reduce oppression, and correct injustice. Since public policies cause suffering, changing those policies is essential.
But our dilemma is even deeper, for our entire social system is a major underlying problem. As Paul Hawken wrote in Blessed Unrest, we are confronted with a social system “of which we are all a part, and any finger-pointing is inevitably directed back to ourselves.”
To transform that system, we must transform our institutions, our communities, our families, our cultures, and ourselves – all at the same time. The three-fold path can contribute to that transformation. Alone and with others, we can work to be the change we seek.
There are no blueprints. Ongoing trial-and-error experimentation to see what works best is necessary. Social transformation is a never-ending process. As conditions change, so do solutions. Compassion involves profound humility and respect.
Collaborative Leadership
In today’s world, many decisions must be made quickly. Everyone needs to be a leader by speaking up, influencing others from time to time, and frequently taking initiative on their own. We must learn to trust the wisdom of crowds, deliberative democracy, collaboration, collective problem solving, and teamwork. No leader has all the answers.
The loose, freewheeling, flexible flow of energy that happens when each individual has an equal voice in a mutual, reciprocal relationship and is willing to compromise can be hard enough with two people. It’s even more difficult with teams, groups, and organizations. Temporarily assigning roles as geese take turns leading a migration can work. But locking one person into the role of “leader” can be deadly.
Until recently, the modern world defined leadership as the ability to mobilize others to do what the leader wanted them to do. We learn to accept as a given that someone must always “be in charge.” Whether on the dance floor or anywhere else, to make progress we believe someone must take the lead. We either dominate or we submit.
These days, when activists attempt to rally others to do what they want, they are likely to encounter silence, no matter how articulate they are or how desperate the situation. Younger people are reluctant to “follow,” especially if the activist offers an ideological approach that attacks one “enemy” or another.
Ideologies are becoming out-dated. As documented in the book Millennial Generation, the good-against-evil stance of the Sixties Generation is out of date. Unfortunately many activists don’t realize it. They believe “the problem” is external, whether they target Wall Street, capitalism, the American Empire, or whatever. They ignore the fact that the system is also internalized within each of us.
And they believe they have the solution and all is needed is to somehow wake up the sleeping masses and inspire them to rise up and implement their solution.
Holistic Growth
To move beyond ideology and practice new forms of leadership, we need to be honestly self-critical, acknowledge our mistakes, resolve to avoid them in the future, and talk about it with trusted colleagues. We can make progress on our own and with support from one or two close associates. But even greater benefit can come from addressing these issues with a small group of trusted friends.
In our hyper-specialized modern world, most people who work on their personal or spiritual growth avoid civic engagement. And most “alternative communities” that are building valuable new structures for meeting human needs also tend to be apolitical. Holistic communities that integrate the personal, the social, and the political are rare. An intentional commitment to the three-fold-path can help overcome this fragmentation.
Religious institutions are a natural location for the holistic three-fold path. But legal limits on political activity constrain how explicit they can be about it, which undermines their effectiveness.
It is not sufficient to rely on activists to develop supportive, caring friendships naturally, or spontaneously. As philosopher-activist Cornell West powerfully articulates in Democracy Matters, we are deeply conditioned to merely treat each other as “instruments.” For most of us, strengthening the ability to relate to others as human beings requires conscious effort and mutual support.
For many years, the True North Groups Institute has conducted hundreds of open-ended support groups that have proved very successful, mostly with businesses. They believe “there is a unique role for personal, intimate groups that differs from the multitude of groups formed for specific purposes. By providing a safe place for deep, intimate discussions about life's most challenging questions, [such groups] enable us to become fully human and more truly alive, awakening to the enormous possibilities within each of us."
Unlike most leadership development efforts, True North groups are open-ended and peer-based. Rather than having “teachers” train “students” in particular, pre-defined skills, each participant determines their own focus.
It is sad that many in the corporate world have embraced this approach, while few progressive-mind activists have. But if we want to grow strong leaders, efforts of this sort could be very helpful.
The Gandhi-King Strategy
Other key elements in the Gandhi-King approach are key. We need to tap deep feelings of love rather than rely primarily on anger to motivate one another. We need to affirm positive goals rather than merely struggle against injustice. We need to focus on concrete, achievable short-term reforms that move toward longer-term transformation, rather than merely engage in symbolic acts of moral witness to educate others. And while being willing to engage in direct action when necessary, we need to constantly seek reconciliation with our opponents through negotiation rather than demonize and seek to defeat them as “enemies.”
In these ways, we can attract others with contagious positive energy and collaborative problem solving. If enough progressive-mined activists embraced the holistic three-fold path, we could move closer to our goal, a just and more humane society.
Not only is the three-fold path a great tool for future-oriented objectives. It’s also inherently true for the here and now. As such, it can appeal to those who want to “do the right thing” as well as be effective. The three-fold path will never be a panacea, but it’s well worth a whole-hearted effort to fully implement.
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Readers' Comments
Worth the time to read. Good piece…. well done.
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Re: Sex
Susan:
Wade, you're courageous to post this chapter, and I hope no one rejects you because of your candid honesty. Shame on them, if they do. We all have these kind of stories about our own sexuality, especially those of us who have been on this planet for several decades. But our culture has so many ways of punishing people for their sexuality, and punishing them for even talking about it; it's no wonder most of us struggle to figure this stuff out, all the while beating ourselves up for our "weirdness". Kudos to you for being willing to share your history.
By the way, have you read "Sex at Dawn"? Hands down, the best book on sexuality I've ever read!
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Marcella:
As I read your last paragraph, I flashed on something I have read this week when you talked about your chapter (or parts of it) as "confessing your sins." Dr. Eban Alexander in his new book called "Proof of Heaven" says that when he came back from his 7 day coma he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the most real Truth behind our existence was 3 things: "You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever." "You have nothing to fear." and "There is nothing you can do wrong." He believes this conveys the LOVE that is the foundation that permeates the All. Wouldn't it be wonderful if after living all our lives we could look back and perceive it as only "living, experiencing, exploring, and growing" rather than judging it good or bad? I imagine that by writing the truth about your life, you will discover that many experiences will be seen in a different light after examining them and sharing them. Thank you for your truth-sharing about your experiences.
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Dan Brook:
I'm not disowning you! ;)
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Richard K.:
Very honest and brave...thanks for sharing,
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Bridget:
I liked your chapter below. Bravo for you for putting it out there.
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Barry R.:
Brave!
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Jan:
I want to thank you for including me in your life story chapters - your openness and honesty makes the writing really strong. I encourage you to keep working on the memoir - it must serve as a form of therapy as well, just getting the story down on paper and sharing it.
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Anonymous:
Just wanted to let you know I've now read all the autobio excerpts you've posted on FB. I enjoyed everything I read, and am glad you wrote it...I have also had many struggles with sexuality and a (very) difficult father - - and actually, I think that's quite a common theme for writers (if not everyone)...I've written a lot about these issues, and perhaps they are the reason I began writing in the first place...So, I think there are many universal themes in your writing, which readers of it would relate to/learn from.
It's interesting you mentioned Allen Ginsberg in one of your pieces, cuz the confessional nature of some of your writing brought to mind his poem, "Howl."
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Re: College
Dan Brook:
This is, as usual, very good and interesting. However, I feel like it lacks depth and I also feel that you're personality is not really coming through. Don't be an objective storyteller; be the therapist AND patient AND voyeur.
What about the Jewish jokes were new? Were you learning something about Jews, Judaism, anti-Semitism, religious diversity? Why does that matter? How does it connect to anything/everything else about you?
You say you felt adrift and then left Berkeley. Talk about feeling adrift. What was the nature of it? What did it feel like? How did it feel to be leaving Berkeley and then to have left? What did Berkeley mean to you? North Beach? Did you ever think you'd be back? How did it affect your studies. thoughts, whatever at SMU? Why did you return to Berkeley?
What about Camus, Buber, Tillich, et al. inspired you then and continue to inspire you now? Two mentions of Allen Ginsburg without really saying anything? Quelle horreur!
You say you were heavily involved in the civil rights movement, but only mention it in passing. What did you do, who did you do it with, how did it feel, why were you doing it, what did it do for you? Did you do any civil rights work back home? What was similar, what was different? What about the free speech movement?
"Have you ever really been touched?" What was inspiring about the course? How so? What were its implications for you? If your college days were mostly "fog", discuss the fog and make it a character. Show your humanity, warts and all.
Thanks for sharing this. I enjoy the times and places and that I know who's telling it, But it could be a lot deeper, more personal, more compelling, and therefore more worthwhile. Great conclusion!
That said, do whatever you want with it because you're the writer and the audience is much larger than me.
Peace,
Dan
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Dave Robbins:
Thanks for passing on your writings, which we can talk about. In general, the friend who critiqued your texts simply set out the standard guidelines used in writing workshops. Your purposes don't seem to me the same. You have a sweep and momentum of reference, moving through many adventures of disparate kinds, that would be completely blocked by the scene setting, slowed-down narratives your friend seems to have in mind.
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Don McClaren:
I enjoy your autobio/memoir pieces on growing up in TX and going to UC Berkeley (where I am an alumnus too)...There have been several libraries of books written on UC Berkely in the '60s...but I've yet to read one from a personal perspective, as yours is...Good luck with it.
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Tom Ferguson:
hey Wade; as usual, enjoyed yr memoir post
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Mike Larsen:
Good stuff.
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