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Permalink Reply by Jitendra Darling on November 7, 2011 at 8:43pm

Deep gratitude, Michael, for the insight and wisdom you brought to our conversation today on non-violence.  I have a particular appreciation for your demonstration of keeping your head above the clouds, feet firmly on the earth and heart shining brightly.

I felt particularly attuned when you described how Gandhi called off protests and demonstration when he felt tensions were too high.  I think this is a particularly important point of wisdom to which our #Occupy family might bend toward with open eyes, ears and hearts.

Because we, as a culture, are just now embracing our adolescence and beginning to entertain the notion of adulthood, we are at a place to which people who have suffered the frustration of disempowered naturally gravitate.  It feels incredible to suddenly feel the power of standing up, and we don't want to sit down or go home.  Going home would feel like a failure and sitting down going backwards.

People don't want to give up an inch of the hard fought ground for which they've put themselves on the line.  It can be hard to see that backing off at the right time to regroup, gain coherence, plan effective pathways of action or relieve the pressure fueling potential [and/or actualized] violence is an appropriate, even powerful action.

As you highlighted, Michael, the most important realization is that of one's own value, one's dignity.  Without being in touch with one's inherent dignity, we easily become insatiable consumers.

But we can also be an insatiable occupier.

We can lose sight of the true mission of the occupation as a demonstration.  Is our mission to exacerbate the differences outside us, which ultimately are reflections of our own internal differences and unrest?  Or is our mission a socially just and sustainable world that works for all?

Without dignity, we can't take over enough parks and buildings, or even create enough jobs, to fill a void of security and respect to which only we each hold the key.

The #Occupy movement is a global scale awakening of human value and dignity.  People are standing shoulder to shoulder around the world saying, "No" to injustice which, is what loss of value and dignityx.   People are demanding justice, saying, "Yes" to justice, as Cornel West has exclaimed, what Love looks like in public.

On a global scale, we are experiencing a reclamation of our home.  First our own bodies, then the land on which our community stands and then the Earth which, we all share and which sustains all communities, all life.  We are saying yes to ourselves, each other and the great mother that nourishes and nurtures us all.

When an argument with someone you truly love escalates, we sometimes remember to consciously breathe, step back,  let the pressure go, let the color come back into your knuckles, find your self and your heart...then come back together to try for peace again. 

We keep saying Love not War...are we ready to believe it and live it.

This looks like an opportunity to prove it true.

Peace

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Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on November 10, 2011 at 11:42am

Jitendra: You comments about "our own bodies" reminds me of this piece from The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/article/164217/body-acoustic

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