Ahimsa

[Jeanne]

Greetings, Peaceful Ones,

Ahimsa is Gandhi's word for nonviolence. CalPoly Pomona has an Ahimsa Center which promotes the study of nonviolence. They are hosting an institute on MLK and Gandhi this July for teachers. I didn't get in, but they have some lectures and workshops that open to the public.

Saturday, July 18, 10:30 AM lecture about King's path to embracing Gandhi's philosophy

Sunday, July 19, 3-7:30 PM workshop on nonviolent resolutions

Saturday, July 25, lecture on forgiveness

There's more info at their website www.csupomona.edu/ahimsacenter

If anyone is interested in attending, let me know.

Jeanne

[Brian]

Jun 22, 2009 21:02:08 GMT -8 Jeanne said:

BRIAN said yesterday:

(Aside to Jeanne: Anni and I are interested in the workshop and dinner on the 19th. I see that we have until July 1 to take advantage of the cheaper early registration. This week, I'll make sure that we're free then post a reply in the Ahimsa thread. Thanks!)

That would be great if you could come, Brian and anni. Maybe we could find a better approach for the flag issue at the corner.

I was thinking the same thing when I read the page for that event last night.

Tonight as well, there is no downloadable registration form -- the only links are to an e-mail address for scholarships and the homepage of Dr. LaFayette's University of Rhode Island site.

www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/workshops/workshop_07-19-09.shtml

[Brian]

Thanks to Jeanne for forwarding this e-mail and alerting me that the Ahimsa Center has updated its website to accept reservations for all three events:

July 18 (Saturday). 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. "King's Journey to Gandhian Nonviolence" by Stanford Professor Dr. Clayborne Carson.
www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/lecture/lecture_7-18-09.shtml

July 19 (Sunday). 2:30-7:30 p.m. "Nonviolence For Solving Problems in the Community." A Workshop by Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr.
www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/workshops/workshop_07-19-09.shtml

July 25 (Saturday) 10:30-Noon. "Nine Steps to Forgiveness" by Stanford Professor Dr. Frederick Luskin.
www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/dialogue/dialogue_7-25-09.shtml

We'll mail our check for the nonviolence workshop this weekend. I see that they lowered the early registration by $10 and extended the deadline until July 3.

[anni]

WhhhhoooooooHHHHHOOOOOOOOwah.

Shall we carpool

[Jeanne]

Carpool for sure. A caring caravan, a conspiratorial convoy, a Pomona Peace Train.

My check is in the mail.

[Brian]

Thanks to Jeanne, we got to spend the better part of an afternoon and early evening in the company of Bernard LaFayette, Jr., a man who made history and is now helping to make the future. He gave us a glimpse of his nonviolence training techniques that have shown remarkable results at 22 centers internationally, even between prisoners and guards.

This webpage at the University of Rhode Island that Anni found is obviously in the process of being torn down when you try the links -- Dr. LaFayette told us he's moving to Emory University in Atlanta -- but it's all he has right now on the Internet:

www.uri.edu/personal/gmu8690u/nonviolence2.htm

The Ahimsa Center's page on Sunday's event is better:

www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/workshops/workshop_07-19-09.shtml

I'm wired and inspired, but mostly I'm tired after a big weekend, so I'll write about his ideas this week.

[Brian]

Having never met -- let alone shared a dinner table -- with a man like Bernard LaFayette Jr., I'd rather write about his experiences and accomplishments. I mean, he was staying in room 206 right below Martin Luther King Jr.'s room 306 in that Memphis motel until Dr. King's last morning, when Dr. LaFayette checked out to go coordinate the Poor People's March, carrying an outline of principles and steps for teaching nonviolence.

I'd love to type the basics here if anyone's interested. Dr. LaFayette condensed his training into a summary and one exercise because we only had three-and-a-half hours, but he gave us enough to understand how and why the program works. It's consciousness raising -- in action.

Along the way, he said that every person should have a motto. For this post, I'll pass along a few ideas and truths from my notes:

• It takes more courage to be nonviolent.
  
• Only nonviolence can change an enemy into a friend.
  
• Nonviolence is the antidote to oppression, not its antithesis.
  
• Unequals cannot negotiate.
  
• People want to be convinced that things indeed can change.
  

[anni]

Just a little add on. While working with and listening to the great Dr. LaFayette, Jr. it occurred to me the first step toward consistent nonviolence, (different from non-violence, the absence of violence) as a way of life, is that I will apologize for being extremely rude to the woman and her brother last Friday who thought we were disgracing the War Memorial by our presence. I do want to apologize...one small step on my life changing way...

[Jeanne]

Thanks, anni, for that brave step. And Brian, for your input. And also for your consultation on some very pressing domestic snake/fear issues. Although I have mixed feelings about your "reassurance" about how gopher snakes love to swim across the surface of pools.

I have had an enriching three day buffet style approach to learning about nonviolence and I will try to summarize here. I have notes scrawled on bits of paper that would warm Proust's heart.

Saturday was a lecture at the Ahimsa Center at Cal Poly Pomona by Clayborne Carson, head of the King Institute at Stanford. Susan joined me for this one. He is overseeing MLK's papers, but does not limit himself to history and petrifying King as an icon of the past. He is driven by the question of how to apply King's work and wisdom to our times and how to use it to give voice and power to oppressed people everywhere. He is involved in a drama project that brings King's story to China and includes Chinese and American actors.

Sunday was the "workshop" with Bernard Lafayette. I was hoping for some practice at conflict resolution,thinking of our stalemate at the corner, but his way was to illustrate with stories and fine stories they were. He is a primary source, having worked with King. I reiterate Brian's reference to the importance of having a goal and a motto that reflects it. Some of his other points:

Nonviolence requires creativity and responsiveness to situations.
Violence is repetitive.
King gathered truth from all sides, not just his, and synthesized it into a higher, more meaningful,powerful, useful truth.
Absence of violence does not equal peace. There must be resolution and reconciliation.
King stepped forward as a leader and spokesperson for people who were already motivated and acting.

Monday night was a dialogue sponsored by the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. One of the speakers was another contemporary of MLK=Rev. Dr. James Lawson. The other was Dr. John Cobb, Jr. who has taught at Claremont School of Theology, (and Paige's seminary in Atlanta.)

They agreed that church has centuries of harm to admit to and turn away from and that f we could focus on Jesus' message instead of "winning" people, we might get back on track. Lawson responded to several questions with the same answer, that problems have to be solved locally, on a grassroots level, inspiring leaders from below, as MLK was inspired in Birmingham.

A lot of the ills in the world come from an us/them dichotomy. If we can keep the "us" part moving and growing, we can work around that.

My synthesis from my buffet? As grassroots, everyday citizens, we are a crucial part of an ongoing process that did not end when King died. Let's carry on, ponder and develop goals, and invite others.