Children in Gaza. Photo courtesy of Nora Barrows-Friedman

Dear friends, the following sections are from an email from Kathy Kelly, Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, January 19, 2009:

Dr. Atallah Tarazi, a General Surgeon at Gaza City’s Shifaa Hospital, invited us to meet him in his home, in Gaza City, just a few blocks away from the Shifaa Hospital.

“One of the worst aspects of this war,” says Dr. Tarazi, “is the lack of respect for the UN.  Three United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools were bombed.  In Jabaliyah, more than 45 people were killed at a UN school; F16s bombed UNRWA supplies and stores.”

“In Shifaa Hospital, we saw plumes of smoke for day and night. All Gaza, every day, was covered with smoke and chemicals.  We don’t know how it affects the health.”

“Yes, ‘rockets’ did go out,” says Dr. Tarazi, referring to Hamas rockets fired into Israeli towns, “and we felt sympathy for any Israelis hurt by the rockets.  But, if someone hurts you with a pin, you don’t cut off his head.  You ask WHY the person tried to prick you with a pin. Consider that people here are trapped in a prison and there is a shortage of everything.  No one can repair anything. People wanted borders opened so that goods could come and go.  After six months of closed borders, people are frustrated.  Now, one side declares a cease fire, they say nothing about opening the borders, nothing about withdrawal, and yet they want NATO to help tighten the siege.”

“I hope President Obama will be much better than George Bush concerning these things,” said Dr. Tarazi.  “Human beings that have such a strong army should be civilized and not behave like a terrorist group.  Fanatics can be expected to use terror, but a democratic state shouldn’t use fallacious statements as an excuse for massive killing. A state which does this should be brought before an International Court of Justice.”

“And yet,” he said, “we must experiment with ways of love. We are trying, with Jewish people…by feelings and actions.  We need to succeed.  We need to live together.  We are trying to be in good relations with all the partners, all the views.”

“The strongest weapon all over the world is love,” says Dr. Tarazi, adding that he has always believed this and has said this to his colleagues, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, throughout his career.  He recalled declaring this same belief at the Eretz border crossing, shortly after the Israelis launched “Operation Cast Lead.” He had been among the 200 Christians who were chosen (800 had applied) to cross the border and celebrate the Orthodox Christmas holiday with family members in the West Bank. When the attacks began, he ended his holiday and hurried to the border, knowing he must return to his work
and his family.  At the border crossing, he greeted soldiers, “Merry Christmas.”  Soldiers answered, “Do you have weapons?”  “Yes,” Dr. Tarazi replied, “I have the strongest weapon of all, the weapon of love.“

Krishnammal Jagannathan, known as  “Amma” (“Mom”) spent some days with Gandhi and sang songs at his independence protests. After marriage, she joined Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement to walk tens of thousands of miles for the landless. In 1959, she hosted a visiting Martin Luther King, Jr.  In 2008, for holding the beacon of Gandhian legacy into the 21st century, 82-year-old Krishnammal received the Opus Prize and the Right Livelihood Award and she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On November 11th 2008, we hosted Amma for lunch at the Metta Center, and then she joined Michael and Joanna Macy ⎯author of the term “The Great Turning”⎯ for a stimulating panel discussion (footage from which will be used in Metta’s upcoming feature film Weapon of the Brave).

Amma’s presence was invaluable itself, and perhaps it is her stories that will continue to nourish and inspire us for decades to come. She recounted one of four occasions where she stared death right in the face and did not flinch: the mob supporting some landowners surrounded Amma, threatening immolation with cans of gasoline. Amma calmly responded by requesting to sit and meditate first. Her would-be assailants jeered and continued to threaten her, but they would not harm her. Soon a crowd of villagers had gathered. Amma summed up the event with one of her unforgettable quotes:

“I was not afraid to die, but they were afraid to kill me.”

Being in the presence of this extraordinary human being, awoke in us a stronger sense of service and power. Following the teachings of Vinoba Bhave, she explained to us how she helped the landless people in many villages sometimes without knowing their language.  As she told us,

“You don’t need to learn their language, because we all speak the language of the heart.”

Amma’s visit was a true blessing, and will be a source of inspiration for a long time to come.

Article published in the Mexican Newspaper La Jornada (August 2007)

Many of the pioneers of the Scientific Method like Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin were interested in Astronomy, Biology, Physics, Optics, Theology, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sociology, Chemistry… in fact, they did not call themselves “scientists”, but “Natural Philosophers”, because they studied Nature in an integral way, which gave them a privileged perspective to make great contributions to the human knowledge. Albert Einstein and his group of philosophers are another example of what our species is capable of doing when we try to resolve the mysteries of Nature with a holistic approach.

Today, the majority of scientists are specialized in a small part of the natural world and we often miss the big picture and the magnificence of the interaction among the parts that make up the whole. Without understanding the interconnectedness of life, we don’t know how we are affecting the connections and no community can exist without a unifying story. The problem is not specialization but isolation. Fortunately, in the last years, a “new field” of study has emerged: Astrobiology ⎯the modern name for Natural Philosophy.

Astrobiology is the study of life as we know it (and as we don’t know it), how it originated, how it has evolved and how it has been distributed in the Universe. We have many pieces of the puzzle of life and its origins on our planet. That is why, since 1995 ⎯the blink of an eye in the cosmic scale⎯ the detection of planets orbiting other stars has been so important.

Just 12 years ago we discovered, as species, the first exoplanet, the first planet outside the Solar System (I write in the first person plural in order to stress Collective Intelligence, to bring to the attention of the evolved reader who probably is thinking that intellectual property is proto-intelligence which begins to be a matter of the past). This discovery marked the start of a new age in the study of the origin of life, because finding worlds around other stars is giving context to the Solar System, and also the existence of our home: the Earth and its magnificent biodiversity.

Currently, we have found 240 exoplanets [close to ~300, November 2008] and the list of planets outside the Solar System keeps increasing with each month. However, these extrasolar planets are “gas giants”: a few are like Uranus or Neptune; the grand majority are like Saturn or Jupiter or even bigger. It is very likely that all these places would be impossible to be inhabit for what we today call “living organisms”. We are still looking for the first Earth-like planet orbiting another sun.

We are getting closer. A few months ago [April 2007], human knowledge made another jump: we discovered the first Super Earth ⎯a terrestrial planet approximately 4 times the mass of the Earth⎯ and it wasn’t around a Sun-like star, rather it was found orbiting a red dwarf star (75 out of 100 stars in our Galaxy are red dwarfs!). When we humans start to take into account the great diversity of the Cosmos, for example, when we look for planets not only around stars like the Sun but around all stars ⎯of course, including the most numerous⎯ we are rewarded.

The Universe tells us again and again that to cling to the anthropocentric principle is useless. When Galileo discovered the fascinating worlds of Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io orbiting Jupiter, the perspective of Humanity changed forever. In the West, this discovery of the Galilean moons proved that the Earth and humans were not the center of the Universe—the insight and reasoning of Copernicus were correct—it called into question the oppressive-obscurantist system of the Inquisition and thus opened the road to the Renaissance.

Likewise, today we are living in through the New Renaissance of Humanity. We are building a catalogue of Earth-like planets and Super Earths and we human beings start to understand that it does not matter what country, religion or sexual orientation you are but what matters is being a responsible citizen of the World. We are beginning to demonstrate that the Earth is but one country and the Humankind its citizens. We are a grand majority forming the Earth Community.

The message is still very clear, as Gandhi said: “The Earth has enough to satisfy everyone’s needs but not everyone’s greed.” There are enough resources for everyone but to cling to neoliberal policies, to the oppressive-imperial system, to the totalitarianism of corporate capitalism is useless. The time is coming  when I could be writing these lines by my biological family, and I will not have to have my scholarship paid for by the sweat and suffering of the migrant siblings who support the economy of Mexico; the time is coming when “scientific development” won’t be the development of atomic bombs (as some elites at the University of California assume today), that puts the survival of the human species at risk; the time is coming of the expansion of permaculture; the time is coming of the diffusion not of retributive justice, but restorative justice; the time is coming of the propagation not of threat power but integrative power; the time is coming … we have to be ready. In the end, I might be learning and teaching Astrobiology in the First Indigenous University.

It seems that red stars are giving us the answers to some of the oldest and most complex conundrums Humanity has ever had.

In solidarity,
If you want to be a rebel, be kind. Human-kind, be both.
Francisco “Pancho” Ramos-Stierle

Berkeley, California, August 2007.

CharityFocus is a radical inspiring organization which is challenging the current prevailing paradigm of “having more”. Its conception was started by this idea: “Let’s serve without any strings attached, just for the sake of giving.” When they started in 1999, their work was to empower nonprofits with web-based technological solutions but that work soon expanded into effectively organizing and motivating hundreds of inspired volunteers. By 2003, they were also providing web-services ranging from a portal to create your own fundraising website to a banner-ad service that promotes inspiring messages to a viral acts-of-kindness game. In 2006, they launched a gift-economy print magazine. Today, the work of CharityFocus regularly touches thousands of lives in a myriad of different ways. From its very inception, though, the focus of CharityFocus has been on the inner change that comes when people take the opportunity to act selflessly. No matter how many non-profits are served and how much excellent work is performed, their emphasis will always be on the volunteer experience. CharityFocus strives to be an incubator of compassionate action by enabling everyday heroes — people just like you and us — with the opportunity to serve. Visit the revolutionary website of CharityFocus here.

Collective intelligence refers to the capability of a group to collaborate in order to achieve goals that an individual — even the most gifted in a given group — would not be able to solve alone.

On a strictly behavioral level (excluding the symbolic layer of culture), collective intelligence communities are not exclusively a human prerogative.  They are observed within many social animal species, from the ant-hill to the wolf pack and the fish shoal, when the emerging level is manifestly “smarter” than its individual components. From the point of view of nonviolence in particular, it is important that groups can collectively solve problems creatively without a leader (for example, to evacuate patients from a hospital after Katrina).  Just as mob violence can be encoded in cultural forms, leading to scapegoating and war (see the work of René Girard), the human collective capacity for good could be developed and encoded to bring about a peaceful society and world.

For a review of the concept, see Collective Intelligence: The Invisible Revolution.

This concept, sometimes written today non-violence, refers to the kind of commitment that regards nonviolence as a strategy, to be adopted merely because it is thought to be more likely to “work” than violence (see "work" vs. work) or because violence is not a practical possibility.  Those adopting nonviolence in this way often reserve the right to go back to violence if they do not meet with success, and some theorists believe this limits their effectiveness.   Strategic nonviolence is usually a better choice and often requires more courage than violence.  It can cause problems, however, if people think that this is the only form of nonviolence.  Then if it does not ‘work’ they are left with no recourse but violence (or submission), whereas principled nonviolence is not only more effective in the short term but can move humanity toward a new paradigm as it involves an other order of belief regarding human nature and human relationships.

Strategic nonviolence, for example, still presupposes that the ends can justify the means, whereas for Gandhi, “Means are ends in the making:”

Principled nonviolence is the nonviolence of those who feel that it is a calling, as opposed to strategic nonviolence. In this view nonviolence is not merely a strategy nor the recourse of the weak, it is a positive force that does not manifest its full potential until it is adopted on principle. Often such practitioners feel that it expresses something fundamental about human nature, about whom they wish to become as individuals or as a people.

To adopt principled nonviolence is not a quick and easy decision one can make through logic but a slow, perhaps lifetime endeavor. Nonetheless, we focus on that kind of nonviolence because we think it has the potential for creating permanent, long-term change, ultimately for rebuilding many of our institutions on a more humane and sustainable foundation. In the long run nonviolence is, as Gandhi said, an “experiment with truth.” We have all to try that experiment in the way that seems best to us, and in the end the world will need all our experiences to arrive at a new order that we all desire.

Probably the most important lesson we have learned since – and from – Gandhi is that nonviolence is a positive force. It is a way to alter violent situations and influence others by persuasion rather than coercion, a way to resolve differences so that all parties grow in the process as human beings – and become more open rather than more closed to each other

Almost everyone today is familiar with the principle that “the ends don’t justify the means.” It is this recognition that differentiates a principled nonviolence-based effort, which is a mutual learning process for change, from a power struggle. “Means are ends in the making,” Gandhi explained, meaning that the kind of means we use – violent or nonviolent, with secrecy or transparency, democratic or authoritarian, deceivable or truthful – are already building the foundations of the society we want to live in.  While some would say means are just means to an end, to the principled nonviolent actor they are, he said, “everything.” In the case of a revolutionary struggle, for example, he held that “violent revolution will bring violent swaraj [independence].” Nobel Prize-winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel was just as emphatic: “Nonviolent action implants, by anticipation within the very process of change itself, the values to which it will ultimately lead … it does not sow peace by means of war.”

See Also:
Strategic Nonviolence
Ahimsa
Nonviolence

The charkha, or (spinning) wheel, was the physical embodiment and symbol of Gandhi’s constructive program. It represents localism (swadeshi), self-sufficiency (but at the same time interdependence, as the wheel only had meaning in the center of a vast network of cotton growers, carders, weavers, distributors, and users), the dignity of labor, equality and unity (as all volunteers were pretty much required to spin each day), and finally independence, as British control of India was rooted in control of her indigenous industries. Nehru called homespun cloth for this reason “the livery of our freedom.”

The Metta Center logo is derived from the charkha and we now have a real operating spinning wheel adorning our redecorated office. Stop by and visit the Durant House behind the First Congregational Church of Berkeley.

A Love Beyond Supreme: A Tribute to METTA

by Thien Huu Nguyen.

Since I started walking the Buddhist path, the practice of metta (loving-kindness) has become more and more an important part of my life. If there were one practice that I would say is the most far-reaching practice for me, it would have to be the meditation on loving-kindness. The benefits of this practice become clearer the more you deepen your understanding and practice of it. Metta has become a small but powerful revolution for me. Metta gives me another option, another way to respond, to people, situations, events, myself. It is something practical that I can develop and mobilize for the war within my mind. Too often our minds are flooded by impatience, frustration, and judgment, or even worse, sadness, anger, ill will, hatred, rage. Metta is often the only protection against these roots of suffering, and it is so much more: A haven of hope, good medicine, a reminder to be lovingly mindful, and a blessing.

But to alleviate suffering and nourish happiness is not only a blessing, it is the actual lived experience of liberation. Because metta gives us another way of think, it therefore gives us another way to act and live, both individually and collectively. This way is immensely positive, loving, and hopeful. Metta then can be a source of joy and a contribution to personal and social justice. It is such a contrast to a way of life and a human world that is often dominated by the negative, hateful, and hopeless, not to mention the brutal. In the midst of this situation, metta is the concrete act of training our minds to be more loving and expressing this loving-kindness. The positive benefits of this simple act I believe are boundless and immeasurable.

So what exactly is metta? Metta is defined as is the strong wish for the happiness, welfare, and liberation of all living beings, starting first and foremost with yourself, and the capacity to act on this wish. The wish for your own happiness and welfare is not only the foundation for the practice of metta, and the Buddha’s path, it is the basis for your happiness and all positive actions you do for the world. At the heart of the practice is the strong wish for the happiness and welfare of others AND the concrete act of promoting their happiness and welfare. Metta is thus very different from our conventional Hollywood understanding of love, which is typically bound up in lust, desire, possessiveness, conditionality, and self-interest. And unlike “respect”, which is so conditional and relative, it is both unconditional and constant. Metta is in fact radically different from anything most of us are used to. It is a love that is boundless and not based on relationships, identity, or conditions. You don’t radiate metta only to people of a particular gender, race, class, personality, or life situation; you radiate it to ALL living beings without distinction. It can be described as a universal unconditional love since it seeks the happiness of literally all living beings throughout the universe without seeking anything in return and without limit.

Just ask yourself when was the last time you even considered the happiness and welfare of not just your family, friends, partner, but ALL living beings? Metta is this all-encompassing loving thought cultivated and repeated over and over again; it is the continuous training of our minds and the expansion of its capacity to be more loving and kind. Consider just how powerful of an act this can be. More and more, the importance of deeply expressing a positive and loving attitude in all that we do and all times and at all places, is becoming clearer to me. The practice of metta meditation must be a continuous expression and force if you really want to benefit all living beings, or at least the ones around you. At the most fundamental level, sometimes the most positive thing you can do is to cultivate an attitude of warmth, friendliness, and loving-kindness and radiate this all around you, and to practice metta at every available opportunity. And during those times when it is most challenging and most difficult to practice it, for example, when we are in the midst of anger, frustration, fear, these are the times in which we need to practice it the most.

In our lives moment-by-moment, we have a choice to either be a living expression of our negativity and suffering, or an expression of our positivity, joy, and loving-kindness. I wish I could begin to describe just how liberating this practice can be, and why I have so much faith and confidence in it as a means to transform our lives. I strongly believe that by flooding our minds with loving-kindness, we can flood the world with loving-kindness, for the benefit of ourselves, our loved ones, and all living beings.

May you and all beings everywhere know happiness, freedom and peace.

October 22, 2007.

by Francisco “Pancho” Ramos Stierle and Adam Wight

“Imagination is more important than knowledge;
knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the World.”
-Albert Einstein

Berkeley, CA, January 6th, 2008. When the ruling oligarchy of a leading University shows lack of imagination to resolve a problem (i.e. respect an urban forest and construct a new gym for our age-long-forgotten-oppressed-woman athletes), we, the Earth Community, have creative-nonviolent ways to protest and to suggest alternatives. What about 400 days of civil resistance/disobedience living in the tops of redwood and oak trees to save them from destruction? What about students jumping the fences to clean the site and give provisions to our courageous siblings? What about an army of brave grandmas bringing food and water on Thanksgiving? ¹ Even better, we think outside of the bomb: let’s imagine old redwoods and new sports centers coexisting; let’s imagine the UC hiring a construction company other than war profiteers; let’s imagine the UC not manufacturing new atomic bombs and not supporting the proliferation of nuclear weapons; let’s imagine the UC and its affiliated laboratories completely dedicated to constructive scientific research and an understanding of the social implications of their work.

The Committee on Grounds and Buildings of the University of California met on December 5th, 2006 to approve the design of the controversial Student Athlete High Performance Center on the Berkeley campus. The minutes of the meeting reveal that, “a private project management consultant, URS of San Francisco, will manage the project.” Students, faculty and community members came together with many interests, to form the Phoenix Coalition with the shared goal to “Free the UC,” and to express their concerns about this corrupt deal: URS Corp. is a war contractor. In March 2002, Richard C. Blum (married to United States Sen. Dianne Feinstein) was appointed (not elected) by Gov. Gray Davis to a 12-year term as a regent of the University of California. For the next three years, both URS Corp. and Perini (another mercenary company making money in Iraq) benefited from construction contracts awarded by the Regents. Feinstein got Blum war contracts during her role as chairperson of the Senate’s Military Construction subcommittee, MILCON.

Blum, who first invested in URS Corp. in 1975 and who was a majority owner of both URS and Perini from 1997 through the end of 2005, is the current Chair or the Board of the UC Regents. To many UC students, Blum’s former stake in the URS and Perini corporations is clearly a conflict of interest. On May 26, 2005, fifty UC Berkeley students interrupted a meeting of the Regents to protest the Blum-URS- Los Alamos corruption. In November 2005, Blum resigned from the board of directors of URS and also divested his investment firm of about $220 million in URS stock. In April 2006, the Feinstein-Blum family made a $15 million “gift” to UC Berkeley. The Haas school of business will expand to house the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies, with the dubious aim of encouraging students to study the effects of global poverty upon political radicalism.²

It is time to neutralize the power of the kleptocracy by exposing their lies, hypocrisy, methods, and imperial agendas. It is not merely the plutocracy’s corruption and lies that are offensive. The revenues it brings to the war profiteers is not the only cost to the Earth Community. In parallel, and more important, we can share our food sovereignty, permaculture and other constructive programs. We can spread every direct action combined with constructive work. Let our siblings of the planet know that we are different: our means are our ends.

The administration of the UC, in all of its structural violence, is embracing the veil of proto-intelligence that precludes seeing a Universal law: order that is imposed by brute force can only be ephemeral. Sleep deprivation; wasting energy in the era of global warming; constructing triple fences to starve protesters; stealing libraries and art supplies; harassing ARTivists and other free souls; arresting students for “trespassing” on UC property; sending students to prison for giving food; arresting faculty for providing water; converting a recreational/inspiring place into a jail; investing resources to promote relationships of oppression; prosecuting students with charges of “disrupting the peace” while they were meditating will be seen (by our generation and the future ones) as an act of gross ignorance.

We assist an administration most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. A proto-intelligent administration never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it would mean partaking of the wickedness. Paraphrasing Gandhi: “One of the lessons a planetary community yearning for Collective Intelligence needs to learn is to shed the fears of losing their title, wealthy position, the fear of imprisonment, of bodily injury and finally, death”. We are the Great Generation catalyzing the evolution of our species: the Grand Human Family. Our tools are respect and love; we have witnessed how hatred dissolves in the presence of love.

As Zachary RunningWolf, a Native American elder of the Blackfoot Nation and one of the two bold souls who started the tree-sit 400 days ago, says: “Everybody is welcome to Indian land, you just have to follow the book of Respect. Start by respecting the place where my ancestors are buried.”³ When, for decades, this “book of Respect” is read with contempt (or ignored), it is easy to understand why, last Christmas, the Lakotah people withdrew from all agreements and treaties with the US to form the Republic of Lakotah.⁴

Radical nonviolent movements are all over the globe; the entrails of the Last Empire are not the exception. As long as there is a law attacking human rights or violating human dignity or endangering the magnificent biodiversity of our planet, there will be responsible citizens, satyagrahis, willing to break that law again and again to show its incongruence; compassionate critical thinkers will break these laws again and again until such laws disappear, and, why not, will accelerate the arrival of restorative justice. That’s what civil disobedience and nonviolence is all about. It doesn’t matter if it is the Berlin wall, or the Spain-Morocco wall, or the Palestine-Israel wall, or the Mexico-US wall, or the UC Berkeley fence(s), the human spirit will jump those walls because with our astronomical wings of freedom we can fly to places that only can be imagined, conceived, perceived and so lived by citizens of the World.

We are moving towards a scientific-artistic-rational-humanitarian society. We shall hope the young peoples of the Earth Community have the wisdom and strength to withstand every temptation and provocation to violence, an old dying paradigm. Whether our opponents like it or not, the new paradigm of partnership and cooperation is emerging. If you want to be a rebel, be kind. Human-kind, be both.

File as it appeared in the CalDisorientation Guide 2008: The Big Picture of the Tree-sit

REFERENCES :

¹ http://www.saveoaks.com

² “Blum’s Plums” and “Senator Feinstein’s Iraq Conflict” by Peter Byrne
http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/blum.html
http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/index.html

³ For information on the Native American burial ground, “Burials Prompted First Tree-Sitter” by Richard Brenneman. Berkeley Daily Planet, Sept 18, 2007

⁴ http://www.republicoflakotah.com

The Challenge of Education for a New Generation: Converting Swords into Plowshares.
Slow Down, Slow Food, Slow Science.

“Where ignorance is your master,there is no possibility of peace.”

The XIV Dalai Lama.

The scientific contributions of Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman were fundamental for the construction of the atomic bomb. Today, their reflections on the subject are also fundamental for the survival and evolution of our species. Conversations with both scientists after the Manhattan Project indicate that both these great men felt remorse for their involvement. They both wished they had thought through more thoroughly their direct and indirect involvement with the project; and said that if they had known what their work would lead to they might have done differently.

These quotes from Albert Einstein are glimpses of his perspective:

“I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made.”¹ “Had I known, that Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I never would have lifted a finger.”² “The unleashing of power of the atom bomb has changed everything except our mode of thinking…”³ “…Science has brought forth this danger, but the real problem is in the minds and hearts of men.”⁴ “We scientists must consider it our solemn and transcendent duty to do all in our power to prevent these weapons from being used for the brutal purpose for which they were invented.”⁵ “NONCOOPERATION in military matters should be an essential moral principle for all true scientists…”⁶ (my emphasis)

Richard Feynman joined the Manhattan Project as an enthusiastic and energetic 24 year-old. Later in his life—after recovering from a severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, similar to what soldiers experience after returning home “safely” from war—he said:

“One should reconsider perpetually one’s reasons for doing something, because it may be that the circumstances have changed… I don’t guarantee you as to what conclusion I would have come to if I had thought about it, but nevertheless the fact that I did not think about it was, of course, wrong.” ⁷

What I hear when I translate the spiritual languages of these two geniuses into my perspective is: we were going too fast. We are still going too fast. When we rush, we make decisions that lack information, lack proper reflection, and ultimately make the problems of humanity worse. In my opinion, the problem lies not in the contribution to human knowledge of talented minds like Einstein and Feynman, but the uses to which those contributions were put.

Now is the time to slow down, to take a pause, to rethink the purpose of science and education and to cultivate our critical thinking—and our critical feeling. It is time to combine science with the soul: science as the sustainable, collective and critical development of knowledge; soul as the individual (and collective) capacity to make wise use of that knowledge; ultimately, the ability to rejoice in the welfare of all living beings. Bertrand Russell echoed this postulation when he wrote: “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” ⁸

As a scientist, I am not against science. I am against the unethical applications of science. I represent a new generation that rescues the best of previous generations. Formed by millions of citizens of the World, this generation wants to be part of the mass that weighs on the positive side of the balance of the survival of our species. It’s a generation that cares about our planet; a generation that cares about the future of humankind; a generation that sees the big picture and the interconnectedness of our magnificent cultural and biological diversity.

We, the new generation, believe that the purpose of education is to help students to become more fully developed human beings, to help students discover meaning and passion in life, to develop critical minds and sensitive hearts, and to become knowledgeable about the peoples, inherited wisdoms, and subject matters that will help them find their path in the creation of a more peaceful, just, sustainable, and diverse World.

For us, then, universities must be not centers of military recruitment, nor corporate indoctrination, nor obedience to totalitarianism and support of the (dis)order of the non-egalitarian status quo, but they must be epicenters of critical thinking, inspiration, creativity, imagination, justice, freedom and true democracy. The support of the development of weapons is an example of the contradiction between the purpose of education and the decisions some of the regents of the University of California (UC) have made in the history of this institution: since the Los Alamos Laboratory opened its doors in 1943, every single nuclear weapon built for the United States arsenal was designed at a UC managed weapons laboratory.⁹ It has lead us to ask, why is it that people can elect school board members but the regents of the University of California—persons who are taking dramatic decisions regarding the direction of higher education—are not elected but appointed?

A Nonviolent Generation With Many Perspectives
Paraphrasing Gandhi: to overcome the greatest destructive weapon humans have invented, one needs the greatest power humankind has been endowed with: nonviolence.¹⁰ Just as peace is more than the absence of war, nonviolence is more than the absence of violence. Nonviolence is a way of life: the thoughts we have, the things we say, the food we eat, the cloths we wear, the things we do. The members of this new generation are pragmatic idealists who try to “walk their talk.” Their means are their ends. They are trying to body forth what Martin Luther King Jr. called “love in action.” ¹¹

This young generation is formed by conservatives, liberals, moderates, anarchists, religious people, secular people… we all are catalysts who honor all perspectives to be closer to the truth. I am a progressive, a conservative, a liberal, an anarchist, in short: a perspectivist. In other words, our generation is formed by citizens of the World who promote dialogue, tolerance and rooted values. In most respects, I continue to align with what I grew up believing to be conservative values. Yet I find I have nothing in common with extremists of the far right who advance an agenda of class warfare, fiscal irresponsibility, government intrusions on personal liberty, and reckless international military adventurism as conservative causes. At the same time, I have nothing to approve of in extremists of the far left who advocate violence and a new way of totalitarianism which keeps attacking the human spirit. At the same time too, I’m not an anarchist as defined in the encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. written by the hierarchies and their corporate media, I’m engaged and in love with the voluptuous authority of collective intelligence; with her hugs of education, respect and peace; and with her kisses of justice, true democracy and freedom.

One of my little contributions to be consistent with this new generation—I see it as a droplet of water in the ocean of our possibilities—is that I did not want to receive a title from an irresponsible institution that is putting at risk the survival of our species. Hence, this semester, after almost 4 years of interacting with the amazing and beautiful people of the Astronomy department as a graduate student and instructor—after 7 years of following the fascinating path of Astrobiology—I withdrew from the University of California at Berkeley and will have nothing to do with that institution until it stops being involved in the research, production and manufacture of nuclear weapons.

In evolutionary time scales, I believe that violence and science are mutually exclusive; the two cannot coexist in the long run. Vinoba Bhave was quite aware of this: “Violence must be done away with if science is to survive. If both are sought to be retained, mankind, along with its science also, would be destroyed.” This disastrous combination inhibits the development of critical inquiry, Vinoba explains: “our thinking becomes narrow and circumscribed if we are associated with any organization which will not be fully conductive for the quest of nonviolence.” ¹²

If we want to stop the proliferation of atomic bombs, it would be a good idea to stop producing them ourselves. If the government of the United States justifies nuclear weapons for its national security, why wouldn’t other countries construct atomic bombs for their own national security? This is not about “national security” but Global Security—reconciliation and mutual respect between the peoples of the Earth is what really makes for peace and security in the long run, each country can be secure only when all are secure: the Earth is but one country and the humankind its citizens. ¹³ The political and intellectual prestige of the UC can be used not for justifying annihilatory purposes but for creating an artistic-scientific-spiritual-rational and humanitarian society. Just because we are students studying art, economics, engineering, peace and conflict studies, landscape architecture or astrophysics that doesn’t mean that we have to be part of an institution that develops new “safer weapons of mass destruction”. What if, rooted in the purpose of education as true seekers, the citizens of the World decide to noncooperate, according to their capabilities, with the UC until this institution stops being involved in the research, production and manufacture of nuclear weapons?

by Francisco “Pancho” Ramos Stierle

Globalization, if done properly and with understanding, would not be one cultural group imposing their lifestyle on all others, but instead we might learn how to share space and resources with each other, in the midst of the magnificent biodiversity in which we live. Globalization has nothing to do with a repressive empire, but hope lies in the global conscience of the Earth Community. For this reason, I find it difficult to convince myself of any absolute truths, I find hard to believe in fundamentalisms of any kind (the careful reader might forgive my “fundamentalism” in “antifundamentalism” matters).

During the awakening of Humanity, each one of us is a catalyst who impels all perspectives. The result is that we are getting closer to the truth. As seekers of truth, Ahimsa people (from Sanskrit ahimsa is “absence of the intention, or desire to harm”) can in this way avoid the fundamentalism-antifundamentalism paradox. A community is emerging on our Planet. We are becoming aware of the diversity of thought, on the one hand, and on the other hand, unity of heart. These are the ideas that rule the hearts and minds of perspectivists.

Perspectivism has been accelerating exponentially with time:

-Just a century ago, we invented Satyagraha (from Sanskrit “clinging to truth”), the vast inner strength required to perform nonviolent acts, an invention that is recognized as a positive and spiritually based form of resistance that starts in the heart of the resister and inevitably produces creative action.

-Just over 6 decades ago, we created the United Nations, which, for all its imperfections, made it possible for the first time for representatives of all the World’s nations and peoples to meet in a neutral space to resolve their differences through dialogue rather than the force of arms.

-Less than 8 lustrums ago, our species ventured into space to look back and see ourselves as one people sharing a common destiny on a living spaceship, the Earth.

-A little more than 10 years ago, our communications technologies gave us the ability, should we choose to use it, to link every human on the planet into a seamless web of nearly costless communication and cooperation.

-A couple of months ago, our curiosity drove us to discover the first Super-Earth (a terrestrial planet about 5 times as massive as the Earth) orbiting around a red dwarf star in the habitable zone (region where water is possible to be in liquid state). The iconic view of our living Spaceship, taken by the astronauts of the Apollo program, is reinforcing the idea that the Earth is but one country and the humankind its citizens.

-This article is about another constructive story (one for David Korten’s or Michael Nagler’s nonviolence collection), which happened about 30 days ago.

Silent Walk (sixth action), first experiment OraWorldMandala
The full Moon of last May 31st of 2007, watched over the sixth action —a silent walk in the practice of Ahimsa— of the international project OraWorldMandala.

The project originated from an ARTivism research work based on the concept of the Mandala: Ora, from Latin “prayer”; World, our planet with its human continent; and Mandala, from Sanskrit “wholeness”, which can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself, that has taken shape from the visions of many ancient civilizations and traditions where external reality is perceived as a reflection of human consciousness. The Mandala represents the resonance that arises when elements and forces are in equilibrium. The mission of OraWorldMandala project is to tell the story of a social transformation through eight experiments, inspired by the eight areas of action of the United Nations Manifesto for a Culture of Peace, namely: The spirit of oneness is the ultimate goal.

India and Mexico are located on opposite points of the planet. The fourth action of the first experiment of OraWorldMandala, was the union of soils from India and Mexico. The fusion marked the cultural alliance between two ancient civilizations, on opposite sides of the globe, that have been united in the common cause of Ahimsa.

The intention of the sixth action was to create a space of reconciliation in the minds and hearts of the participants, generating a resonance of Ahimsa within one’s self, with each other and with Mother Earth. As a result of a process of individual and collective consciousness, people of different cultures will connect to represent a world of creation instead of destruction. On the other side of the World from India’s Sabarmati Ashram (Mahatma Gandhi’s home and center of operations for many years), we find the place for the sixth action: el Cerro del Quemado (Hill of the Burned).

El Cerro del Quemado, an important center of Wirikuta natural and cultural reserve, is located in the mountains of Sierra de Catorce in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The Wirikuta reserve is the first protected area in Mexico created specifically to conserve spaces sacred to humans in addition to its biodiversity. The Chihuahua desert, of which Wirikuta is a part, is one of the three most biologically rich semi-deserts on the planet. The reserve includes the traditional route of the native Huicholes or Wixárika (as they call themselves in Huichol language), culminating at el Cerro del Quemado. The respect shown to this sacred ground by the native Wixárika is a microcosm of what we would like to express on a planetary level.

In accordance with the Huichol tradition, el Cerro del Quemado is a vision of devotion to the Sun guided by the eagle. For the first time in history, the Wixárika people considered one of the most authentic and preserved cultures of the ancient American continent (due to longtime deliberate isolation and resistance to evangelism they have retained much of their original culture), opened the sacred doors of el Cerro del Quemado to a large group of people belonging to different visions and backgrounds. This gesture of love and tolerance suggests a new approach to the process of social inclusion that is going on in all the country and the World.

The 2006 Mexico’s electoral fraud, led to the imposition of a fascist-like government, which supports the totalitarianism of the corporate capitalism. The Huichol advanced perspective, however, is echoed in one of the hearts of Mexico, Mexico City, by a strong, growing, peaceful, bold, creative resistance movement which has surpassed the barriers of political parties. The other perspectivist intense heartbeats, of course, come from the Zapatista communities in Chiapas: the Caracoles (some sort of Mexican Ashram). The civil society is getting organized and Ahimsa is starting to become not only a word but also a way of life.

Narrating the Voice of Silence
“When one comes to think of it one cannot help feeling that nearly half the misery of the World would disappear if we, fretting mortals, knew the virtue of silence. Before modern civilization came upon us, at least six to eight hours of silence out of twenty-four were vouchsafed to us. Modern civilization has taught us to convert night into day and golden silence into brazen din and noise. What a great thing it would be if we in our busy lives could retire into ourselves each day for at least a couple of hours and prepare our minds to listen in to the Voice of the Great Silence. The Divine Radio is always singing if we could only make ourselves ready to listen to It, but it’s impossible to listen without silence.” M.K. GANDHI – Harijan, 24/9/1938, p.267

The sixth action of the first experiment of the OraWorldMandala project was a silent walk in the practice of Ahimsa. Indeed, it is Ahimsa, Gandhiji’s message of love for all life through active nonviolence, which threads through the fabric of our actions, experiments, and lives.

As directed by the harmony of a peace mandala, after 56 hours of lovely interactions in buses with siblings from Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Nuevo Laredo and Matehuala, we (brother Michael Schuck and I) finally arrived to Real de Catorce.

A virtual human axis connecting opposites points of the Earth, aligned at the Tropic of Cancer, became not symbolic but a pragmatic trace. Close to 200 citizens of the World, a rich mix of Gandhians (from Mexico, India, France, US, Germany, Bolivia, Italy, Argentina, England, Barzil…), nonviolent rebels, Buddhist monks, artivists, locals and wise indigenous people were present and ready for the mystical experience. We gathered in the Plaza Hidalgo (named after the priest Miguel Hidalgo, abolitionist of old slavery and father of the independence movement in Mexico) to receive logistic instructions. Little did we know that the transfer of wisdom from the elder shaman, marakame Maurelio, was about to start.

The Huichol tradition says first-time pilgrims are not allowed to look around and see the landscape while going up in the sacred hill, due to their most likely distracted state of mind. The impressive beauty of the place is fully described only after you reach the top of the hill. Hence, first-timers were asked to cover their eyes with a bandana, but many of the eager participants didn’t have such a temporary blinding device. Then, the peaceful wit of the marakame flowed, the shaman said: “You all are love warriors. Many of you have traveled from very distant places to reinforce the spirit. Therefore, no bandana is needed. Close your eyes, go beyond the material world and your will strength is going to be the only cloth you will need.”

As in the fourth action, we walked in silence from Real de Catorce to the sacred el Cerro del Quemado, guided by the Wixárika. After two hours of (almost) silent pilgrimage, the Wixárika “opened” the sacred doors of the hill. A fire ritual started in a ceremonial center to the East of their mystical religious territory, where, according to their ancestral beliefs, “Tatewarí” or Grandfather Fire was born. Here, in the top of the hill, we formed a circle around the fire and different dusk prayers in silence (included some agnostic/secular) filled this venerated space. Later on, the group of Tibetans monks shared their positive energy with their chants.

On the West, the setting Sun in Mexico brought forward the dawn in India. On the East, the rising full Moon provided us with poetic photons. Each person —following his/her tradition, belief, meditation technique or simple perception— was trying to maintain his/her focus in silence. After that, some of us fasted for purifying purposes; some others shared food in silence. At about 3,000mts above the sea level and due to the chilly night wind, we strengthened the bounds of the circle around the fire, listened and danced to the traditional music of the Huichol people. Close to midnight, the natives made an official preparation of the Marakame’s song and they prepared the offerings, while the rest of us observed in silence.

Maurelio started singing the Marakame’s song when the Moon was in her highest point in the Sky. At this moment, in silence, we united in a sincere attempt to understand the significance of our action: silence is an instrument used to increment the resonance of our actions and to create a path from violence to nonviolence; we unite our lands in conscience of the Mandala’s future. Immersed in the Wixárika world, around the Grandfather Fire, we listened to the song, asleep or awake, while Mother Earth was listening in silence.

The mystic moment wasn’t over yet. It was June 1st. With the moonset, the sunrise and candle offering, we made a dawn Sun salutation acknowledging as well the birthday of the Buddha. We maintained silence while listening the energetic chants of our siblings from the Tibet.

Next, we honored the “Eye of Truth”, a work of art created from bamboo and threads of various colors, in the form of a Tsikuli, a sacred tool of the Huicholes. Usually Tsikuli are called “Eyes of God” but looking at Sabarmati Ashram as the engine to spread the values of Mahatma Gandhi, we believe that the Eye of Truth will see the hale of truth circumambulating the globe.

Before returning to the town of Real de Catorce, we performed Safai —it means “cleaning” in Hindi— to leave el Cerro del Quemado clean. Mahatma Gandhi lived his entire life yoked to this discipline. After our descent, in a complete renewed state of mind, we met at the watchman’s house. The silence ended to allow a constructive dialogue and to share the new plan for actions in 2007-2008.

The Earth Community
Humanity has to become a fractal of compassion in order to survive. Nothing is harder than conceiving what has not yet been imagined. Now, let’s perceive it!

Perspectivism, Permaculture, Person Power, People Power, Ahimsa, Satyagraha, Integrative Power, Collective intelligence… nonviolence and thinking from the heart is the emerging paradigm. After this incredible Ahimsa silence experience, Flemming Funch, David Korten and Shakespeare will help me to give an emphatic end:

We have many names, we speak many languages.
We are local, we are global.
We are in all regions of the world, we’re everywhere in the air.
We have no enemies, no boundaries can hold us.
We are the Universe being aware of itself, we are the wave of evolution.
We are in every child’s eyes, we face the unknown with wonder and excitement.
We are messengers from the future, living in the present.
We come from silence, and we speak our truth.
We cannot be quieted, because our voice is within everyone…

TO BE more or to have more? That’s the question.
The choice is ours. The time is now. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

If you want to be a rebel, be kind. Human-kind, be both.
Pancho Ramos Stierle