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Reflection for October
2002
"Nonviolence is a concept that is easily misunderstood. Many
people associate it with being soft, passive or submissive. In fact,
non-violence is an active, vibrant commitment to respect life in all that we
do. It is a commitment to life-enhancing rather that life-depleting
behavior. Violence is about force, hurting, and demeaning.
Nonviolence is about respect, loving, and supporting.
Nonviolence can be understood along a wide
continuum. At one end is the individual desire to avoid harming others
in body, mind and spirit. At the other is a life-long commitment to
nonviolent action for peace and justice for all the peoples of the
world. To build a culture of peace, we must align ourselves somewhere
on that continuum for nothing destroys the fabric of peace faster that
violence in any form."
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Monthly Practice:
 | Practice
"fair fighting." Nonviolence doesn't mean to avoid
conflicts. It simply means to move through them in a clean way,
without verbal or physical attacks, to find a peaceful and empowering
resolution. The rules of a "fair fight" are:
1. Each party has a right to dignity and respect.
2. The process will be a win-win effect so that each party gets their
basic needs and interests satisfied.
3. The outcome will leave people feeling better about themselves and
each other.
--(Page 122- Louise Diamond's The Peace Book)
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| Conflict is
a call to creative problem-solving.
Where we are conflict avoidant is where we lose our courage and
creativity and often move to appeasement, apathy, and avoidance rather
than to actively participate in conflict transformation and
resolution.
1. Practice bringing forward at least three creative solutions
in those conflictual areas of your life. Stay present and
respectful to the conflict - be an creative force that does not rescue
or fix, but works to create opening for resolution and win-win
efforts.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men
and women to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke
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