How to Oppose War and Other Forms of Violence--to Not Violate

Peaceful Becoming

"Inter-being"
from Ahimsa: The Path of Harmlessness by Thich Nhat Hanh

[to not violate—literally means “non-harming” or “harmlessness.”

“...first of all we have to practice it within ourselves.

“In each of us, there is a certain amount of violence and a certain amount of nonviolence...Even if we take pride in being vegetarian...we cannot be completely nonviolent, but by being vegetarian, we are going in the direction of non­violence...
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“Anyone can practice some nonviolence, even soldiers. Some army generals, for example, conduct their operations in ways that avoid killing innocent people; this is a kind of nonviolence.

“To help soldiers move in the nonviolent direction, we have to be in touch with them. If we divide reality into two camps-the violent and the nonviolent-and stand in one camp while attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence in ourselves.

“We must work on ourselves and also work with those we condemn if we want to have a real impact.

“It never helps to draw a line and dismiss some people as enemies, even those who act violently. We have to approach them with love in our hearts and do our best to help them move in a direction of nonviolence. If we work for peace out of anger, we will never succeed. Peace is not an end. It can never come about through non-peaceful means.

“When we protest against a war, we may assume that we are a peaceful person, a representative of peace, but this might not be the case...
With this insight, we can see clearly and help our government see clearly. Then we can go to a demonstration and say, "This war is unjust, destructive, and not worthy of our great nation." This is far more effective than angrily condemning others. Anger al­ways accelerates the damage.
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“You may think that the way to change the world is to elect a new President, but a government is only a reflection of society, which is a reflection of our own consciousness. To create fundamental change, we, the members of society, have to transform ourselves. If we want real peace, we have to demonstrate our love and understanding so that those responsible for making decisions can learn from us.
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“When we see social injustice, if we practice non-action, we may cause harm. When people need us to say or do something, if we don't, we can kill by our inaction or our silence.

“To practice ahimsa, we need gentleness, loving kindness, compassion, joy...[to ourselves] and other people.

“Real peace must be based on insight and understanding, and for this we must practice deep reflection-looking deeply into each act and each thought of our daily lives.

“To prevent war, to prevent the next crisis, we must begin right now. When a war or a crisis has begun, it is already too late.

From Love in Action by Thich Nhat Hanh
Read the whole book of powerful insightful articles.
Parallas Press

Hymn for the 81% who voted for Trump

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"In 2016, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump after (among other things) hearing an audio recording of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.

Maya Angelou famously said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

In the years since, even after enacting deliberately cruel policies to rip families apart and put children in cages at the southern border, evangelical support is as fervent as ever.

I was raised in the Evangelical world. It shaped me. I learned to take the words of Jesus seriously - love God, love your neighbor, feed the hungry, fight for justice for the oppressed. I thought that things like love, kindness, gentleness, and self-control MATTERED. I have been so confused and deeply saddened by the unflinching loyalty to a man who so clearly embodies the opposite of these values.

This song is a lament. It's a loving rebuke. It's a plea for the 81%, to come home to the way of Jesus."

Songwriter Daniel Deitrich

A Good Book of Leaves Composts Through Our Winters

BOOKS--the wonder of humankind's written heritage, a treasure (though in some cases a horror).

A good book of leaves composts through our winters.
"decayed organic material (as of leaves and grass) used to improve soil especially for growing crops."
"to convert (a material, such as plant debris) to compost...
a mixture that consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing"
"We compost leaves in our backyard."
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary

"...of Latin compositus, past participle of componere "to put together,"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/compost
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Literature is a record of how humans come to terms with our own mortality and the meaning of time itself.
Alfred Kazan

To push back the darkness a little bit at a time, in the same flighty manner as lightening bugs.
David Thornbrugh

Writing [and reading and chewing on] a book is like taking a journey. You know where you want to go but you don’t always know who you might meet or what you might experience along the way.
Road Dahl

Reading a book often takes one far from one's own shores and locality.

Where has a great or good book taken you?

Has its leaves of meaning, story, characters and themes composted through difficult times in your life?

Book Reflections:

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.
Ursula Le Guin

[Reading is a way to be part of the family of humanity] Costa Ricans felt compassion for Kosovo refugees because they had read The Diary of Anne Frank.
Robert Probst

Literature is a journey, not something to finish.
Robert Probst

[What about rereading stories and books?]
Do we say we don’t plan to ‘do summer’ this year since we’ve done it before?
Robert Probst

A book helps me make sense of my experience.
Robert Probst

Characters in the plot connect us with the vastness of our secret life, which is endlessly explorable.
Eudora Welty

"Jesus was brought down by law and order allied with religion--always a deadly mix."