In the wake of Osama Bin-Laden’s killing a very active discussion emerged on the email forum used by the community of trainers certified with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. One thread of this conversation has been about responses to the particular event, and especially how to relate to the people …
Tag Archives: Nonviolence
Understanding Everyone: Empathic Reflections about Osama Bin-Laden’s Killing
I have had a dream for many years now to be able to provide an empathic response to the news, whatever they are, so that everyone is seen as fully human. I see this situation as just the right time to explore this approach. There are so many ways in …
Dialogue and Nonviolence
I have often reminded others (and myself in the process) that our commitment to nonviolence is only tested when people do things we don’t like. How are we going to respond when we see an individual, a leader, a group, or even a nation, acting in ways that are not …
Why Would I Want to Understand?
I recently wrote an article linking NVC to the legacy of Gandhi in which I identified seven principles that are common to both. I consider the third principle – seeing others’ humanity – as core to the practice of nonviolence, and at the same time as profoundly demanding. It is …
Tests of Courage Part 3 – Our Role in Maintaining the Status Quo
On Saturday I attended the first annual “Love Warriors’ Convocation” – an event that was put together by Seminary of the Street, one of my favorite local organizations in Oakland.
For the last few years I have had the good fortune of having regular walks with Nichola Torbett. I accompanied …
Perspectives on Egypt
I have been asked to write about what’s been happening in Egypt, and all this time I have felt completely ill-equipped to do so.
Now I am happy to say that I have some links to other responses to the events that I found meaningful and hope you will, too. …
Nonviolence, Consciousness Transformation, and Community
A little over a year ago I had a pretty significant crisis of faith, what some might call a dark night of the soul. This happened after 14 years of being on two parallel and mutually transforming paths: my personal dedication to living undefendely and working my way through fear, …
Tests of Courage
Until I read Michael Nagler’s The Search for a Nonviolent Future, I had no idea that some efforts to respond to Hitler nonviolently did take place, let alone that by and large such efforts were successful. The most notable of them is partially known to many: the successful effort on …
From a Jew on Christmas Eve
At the last Tikkun gathering that I attended back in February one of the speakers talked about how Jews and Christians are united in their discomfort about the fact that Jesus was Jewish. So I laughed with everyone else, and have shared this insight with many others since, and still …
Personal Growth and Social Change (Part 2)
Part 1 of this topic was posted on Aug 8. NVC in Support of Social Change Most often I almost forget that NVC is an acronym that contains the word “communication.” Instead I tend to think of NVC as a set of principles and practices to integrate the consciousness of …
