Principles of Non-Violence

Militarism – war, imperialism, domestic violence, rape, terrorism, human trafficking, media violence, drugs, child abuse, violent crime…

 “A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war- ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This way of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

from  Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Boston: Beacon Press, 1967

I had a post planned about my wonderful weekend. I took a boat from Ventura to one of the Channel Islands. I took some amazing photos of wildlife -- whales and dolphins, birds and sea lions. I walked uphill for miles and looked down on the Pacific. I had a magical encounter with a friend and an Island Fox. Honestly, it was one of the most beautiful days I've ever had. I promise to post some of those photos and do some writing about it soon.

But then there's Orlando. I posted a provocative thing on Facebook in an inane attempt to weed out my "friends" -- namely anyone who espouses the use of guns as protection or a "right." I'm sick of the fuckery of gun violence and the same old gobbledy-gook about liberty and one's "right" to protect oneself and one's children from harm. I am not afraid and refuse to believe that owning a gun -- any kind of gun -- in order to protect myself or my children is my right. I have absolutely no desire or feel any fear or need to do so. I took the post down mainly because one of my relatives let loose and spewed a whole lot of hatred and racism, and it just about made me sick that I might have provoked it.

In any case, I'm hunkering down and re-familiarizing myself with the principles of non-violence because I believe the contemplation and practice of them might be the only way to live. I'm not talking about breath here, but life. Living. Loving. I do understand that MLK had quite backward views of homosexuality, and those backward views do disturb me. I can only hope that he might have come to a more enlightened and educated view had he lived longer. His principles for dealing with conflict are sound, though, and they are dynamic and ongoing.

I've copied and pasted the following from The King Center website.  I send all my love to those affected by the violence in Orlando, particularly to those in the LGBTQ community who suffer at the hands of violent people in thought and deed every single day.

SIX PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE

Fundamental tenets of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence described in his first book, Stride Toward Freedom. The six principles include:

1. PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
   It is active nonviolent resistance to evil. 
   It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.  
2. PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
   The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. 
   The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.                                                                                                        
3. PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.
   Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people. 
   The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people.
4. PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.
   Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation. 
   Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.    
5. PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
   Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.           
   Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative.  
6. PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
   The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win. 
   Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice.    

___________________ 

We've got a hell of a lot to do.  Here is some guidance:

SIX STEPS OF NONVIOLENT SOCIAL CHANGE

The Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change are based on Dr. King's nonviolent campaigns and teachings that emphasize love in action. Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence, as reviewed in the Six Principles of Nonviolence, guide these steps for social and interpersonal change.

1. INFORMATION GATHERING:To understand and articulate an issue, problem or injustice facing a person, community, or institution you must do research. You must investigate and gather all vital information from all sides of the argument or issue so as to increase your understanding of the problem. You must become an expert on your opponent's position. 
2. EDUCATION:It is essential to inform others, including your opposition, about your issue. This minimizes misunderstandings and gains you support and sympathy. 
3. PERSONAL COMMITMENT:Daily check and affirm your faith in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. Eliminate hidden motives and prepare yourself to accept suffering, if necessary, in your work for justice.
4. DISCUSSION/NEGOTIATION:Using grace, humor and intelligence, confront the other party with a list of injustices and a plan for addressing and resolving these injustices. Look for what is positive in every action and statement the opposition makes. Do not seek to humiliate the opponent but to call forth the good in the opponent. 
5. DIRECT ACTION: These are actions taken when the opponent is unwilling to enter into, or remain in, discussion/negotiation. These actions impose a "creative tension" into the conflict, supplying moral pressure on your opponent to work with you in resolving the injustice. 
6. RECONCILIATION:Nonviolence seeks friendship and understanding with the opponent. Nonviolence does not seek to defeat the opponent. Nonviolence is directed against evil systems, forces, oppressive policies, unjust acts, but not against persons. Through reasoned compromise, both sides resolve the injustice with a plan of action. Each act of reconciliation is one step close to the 'Beloved Community.' 

Based on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in Why We Can't Wait, Penguin Books, 1963.

MLK

HATE IS TOO HEAVY

A BURDEN TO BEAR.

Congressman John Lewis, in The Art and Discipline of Nonviolence

I was entirely moved and humbled by this interview with John Lewis, the Congressman from Georgia who marched with Martin Luther King in Selma and who has devoted his life to the priniciples of nonviolence and, above all, Love. I don't know of any better philosophy or way to live your life.

You can listen to it here.

Musings on Martin Luther King Day

That's a photo of people lined up to leave Los Angeles for a civil rights march in Alabama. It was 1965, and they were going to join Dr. King for a "Negro vote" march. I look at these photos and think of myself in 1965, a little white two-year old girl. I wonder whether I might have climbed onto that bus were I an adult. I hope so.

My awe of the man and what he did and what he said and what he accomplished never lessens.

When people claim that violence is sometimes necessary to achieve some goal or another, I think not really. Not at all. Martin Luther King is testament to that.

The Greatest American Moment in American History

I'm a firmly middle-aged white woman living in southern California, born fifty years and one day ago, the one day, today, that the great Martin Luther King stood up in front of the Lincoln Memorial and let loose one of, if not the most, amazing speeches in the history of my country. I listened to the speech today while I folded clothes warm from the laundry. The hair on my white arms rose, tears pricked at my eyes, I wondered again at the preternatural magic that man possessed, how he wove history, the present and the future into words -- that glorious cadence of his oratory. As sabers rattle and metal machines lie in wait to drop bombs, yet again, in desolate places across the globe, I wonder, too, whether the words he spoke of, that dream, will ever be realized fully, whether the principles of nonviolence will ever take utterly and completely. I know better. They will not. But I know that I will take those principles into my own heart and teach them to my children and hope that by so doing we will be that many more added to the peacemakers.

Here's the speech:




And here's an excellent article for those of you, like me, who struggle with so-called patriotism and honoring soldiers and killing and dying for liberty. 

It's also for those of you who don't understand people like me.

No, thanks: Stop saying "support the troops."

The Big O's I Have a Dream Speech

Yosemite, 2012

He's achingly sweet and scythe-sharp and gets from one to the other with breath-taking speed. He was assigned an I Have a Dream speech as part of the celebration of King's life, and while there was a whole lot of grumbling and agony, this is what came out (I should add, here, for new readers, that Oliver despises school and is moderately dyslexic, so he has to work very, very hard, and even then, feeling successful is very elusive):

I Have a Dream

I have a dream never to come back to school. I have a dream never to do my math homework again. I have a dream never to write any DBQ or mini-Q again. I have a dream never to open my orange science book. I have a dream never to fill out my P.E. log.

But I know that this dream will probably not come true.

I have a dream instead to wake up and build a big farm with animals and a river going through it for kids with disabilities and kids that are in wheelchairs and kids that need help. I have a dream that I’ll be the director of this farm so that everything runs smoothly and only kind, thoughtful and hard-working people will work for me at this farm.

And I know this dream will come true.

This is my MLK post

I, too, have a dream.

I have a grand dream about persons with disabilities, persons like my daughter Sophie and the many children and adults that I have met here and in person, being fully accepted and included in all aspects of our culture, with all the rights and dignities accorded to all humans from birth until death.

That's my simple dream.

My more complicated dream is that my daughter Sophie will stop having seizures and live a long and happy life.



video via my friend LP

True Words

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

As I think about what's going on in Wisconsin (particularly the cuts to the disabled which you might not know about given all the hoopla and which you can read about here), as I read an article about Newt Gingrich's new-found Catholicism and platform of morality -- well -- it's difficult not to hate. 

But I know those words above ring true. 


Sigh.

Martin Luther King's Birthday (observed)

Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health 

care is the most shocking and inhumane.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

March, 1966

Christmas Eve**

Christmas Eve, 1968

Oh, my God, Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!

-- Astronaut Frank Borman, the first human, along with Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, to see the Earth from space

As nations and individuals we are interdependent. It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Christmas Eve, 1967

** Thanks to my friend, Bob Cohn, for the inspiration this morning!