On that day in early January when I sat on a plane and dreamed aloud in my journal about the creation of this nonviolence tribe, I wrote:
What does it take to create a tribe around the journey toward nonviolence?
I think it begins with deciding to go. To do it.
The next step is declaring the vision.
What is this tribe about, and what do we believe can happen? What are we about, and what do we want to see happen in the world?
As you now well know, a careful brainstorm followed the asking of those questions. I set down a list of all the truths that a tribe devoted to the nonviolent path would consistently uphold.
And then I sat and thought about the vision.
What do we believe can happen?
What do we want to see happen?
I settled into the small crook of my airline seat and leaned my head against the window. I tapped my pen against my lip.
Thinking.
Dreaming.
Daring to believe.
And then I tried to capture in words the images slowly forming inside my mind.
This is what I wrote:
I see pulsating hubs all over the geography of this planet.
Each hub represents a JTN tribemember who is impacting his or her community by consistently contributing an energy of love to each encounter of his or her life.
This injected love begins to infect other people so that lives and events within that hub become transformed into even greater forces for love.
Eventually, hubs grow in magnitude and strength.
Individuals within each hub assemble to effect even greater change concerning specific areas of need in their localized communities.
In this way, the world is taken in by the beauty of love and transformed into a loving family of peace.
It is somewhat grand, I know.
But aren’t visions worth dreaming meant to be?
.
The central focus of this vision, for me, are the pulsating hubs.
These hubs represent you. They represent me.
Right now.
.
Day by day . . . one by one . . . we begin to infuse love into the pulsating hubs we represent on the geography of this planet. As we grow in love (which is the work we will accomplish here), we bring even greater love to each moment that we meet.
And slowly, we watch things change.
We change.
Others change.
Situations change.
All because of love.
.
And then one day, these hubs begin to grow.
We lock arms with other pulsating hubs of love around us — others whose hearts have also been infused and transformed by love — and we bring life, through these growing communities, to the forces of death surrounding us.
And change on a grander scale begins to happen.
All because of love.
Do you believe this can happen? Is there anything you’d like to add to this vision for our tribe?
“All because of love” – I love it!
And yes, vision worth dreaming should be grand! If anything it causes us to become even more dependent on the Power of God’s Spirit and Love to help us accomplish the mission.
Paul, so glad you’re here!
Amen to depending on the Spirit of God to accomplish great things. Anything I can accomplish in only my own strength is far too puny, not to mention incredibly flawed.
Ruminating and chewing… I will have something more to say some time I suppose. Deep thoughts and Mondays are not so condusive in my world.
Have you read the book Us and Them by David Berreby(sp)? Sub titled as “understanding your tribal mind” I read it awhile back and dont remember a lot of it. However, at that same store I was watching the clerk get berated (see previous post) I saw a copy of the book soft copy and way, way, way cheap. I think you are getting another book.
Merry birthday, x-mas, easter, hannukah, chockidah and whatever else you can think of.
Something tells me it has some value to add to the whole “tribe” end of the spectrum.
Carl, I’ve not read it, nor have I heard of it. Sounds intriguing. And you’re sweet, again, to think of gifting it to me. If you send it, I will read it and report! :)
I believe this can happen, and I believe it needs to begin within our own families. And I say that with an awareness that this particular beginning is truly diving into the deep end (or at least that has been my experience!) But I am learning that if I am not able to act with the utmost compassion in that circle then I will always fall short of living the life I truly want to live. That doesn’t necessarily mean we are all best friends – or even “close” – but at the very least there can be kindness and acceptance.
Such a great point, Swirly, about starting where it’s closest to us … and, consequently, where it’s often hardest.
What you’re sharing here reminds me of a comment from one of our other tribemembers, Chadwick, on an earlier post when I was asking what sorts of things people wanted to explore on this site. He brought up the interesting disparity between people who aspire to great things (such as John Lennon, with his “All You Need Is Love” and “Imagine” dreams) while living poorly in the dailiness of life (such as the same John Lennon not having a relationship with his son).
I’m not a music history guru, so I might be off on some of those details … but that was the gist. Why preach the grand things if we can’t live the small things yet? We have to grow outward from where we are, and if we aim higher than our capacity can hold, we will fall flat altogether, I think.
I think, too, some of this begins even closer to home than the family. Along the lines of what cropped up in the comments on the previous post, it often begins with our very selves … learning to love and be loved in our own persons so that we even know how to extend love to another.
This whole process of how we begin to experience love in soul-deep ways is most intriguing to me. I expect we will camp out in that subject more often than anything else, as it seems to be the root for everything else.
Thanks for adding your thoughts, Swirly. Now that I’ve written you a tome in response, I hope I haven’t overwhelmed! :)
“Read and report” sounds like I am your teacher or something. I assure you, the roles are reversed guru. ;~)
We teach each other, friend. And of course I was speaking slightly tongue-in-cheek about reporting back all that I learn. But I am interested in thinking more about tribal relationships and how community grows, as that will be helpful to what we’re doing here.
Do I believe it? Yeah. Do I always live it? Heh. What does that mean about what I believe? Yikes. ;)
I hear you, Sarah. It’s a wince-inducing moment to discover those places where our beliefs don’t yet touch our reality, isn’t it?
Oooh, I dig this!! I love the vision and can just see how, as spread apart as we are geographically, impacting the communities around us by living out this vision.
Swirly’s comment about starting with our own families is brilliant and true — the most intimate circle, and perhaps the most difficult in which to engage the reality of non-violence.
This is something I believe in, and with which I am excited about getting on board, and seeing what might be …
Oh, the possibilities!!
Hooray! So glad you’re excited. I’m excited too. :)
This blog reminds me so much of an 80′s coke commercial. I am over here singing it now. I doubt you can remember it.
“I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company
That’s the real thing.”
I guess you could change that coke to love is the real thing and have something going on there. If I am not mistaking that commercial had people from all nations joining hands or something like that.
Imma call you the “coke lady.” Wait……that could seriously get complicated. “The love lady” then.
Tammy, like Carl, I too remember this commercial! And now you have gotten the song reverberating in my brain, too. :)
Tammy, I remember it and I am a young and spry 32.
My parents remember the song from their 60′s hippie days as a “peace and love” song. Make love, not war… all that stuff.
Hi Christianne
Hi Carl
You guys remember that tune huh? :)
“Why preach the grand things if we can’t live the small things yet?”
This is a great question, and it touches upon one of the ways I strive to live my life, which is about having alignment – so that what I say aligns with what I do…what I “preach” aligns with what I practice. This is what integrity means to me.
Dear Christianne,
I am very tired and it is not quiet enough to read and think now. But I want to say again how happy I am to have found your thoughts! I see you have a love for order and structure :-) because this whole site is very well planned and has a perfect structure! And I really like the way you write; it is easy to follow. Pedagogic. Poetic. Well thought through. Much wisdom and truth! THANKYOU for puting up all of this!
My intention is to read every post you have here — when it is quiet inside and outside.
I found you through Swirly Girl.
Love!
Oh, Olga, you are so very sweet! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the site and how it sits with you. I am looking forward to sharing many rich conversations with you here!
I hope you have a lovely weekend and find the peace and quiet — inside and outside — you seek. xoxo
I believe Love is contagious!
I believe we need to keep open ourselves up – alow ourselves to be filled again and again with Gods Love, so that THAT can overflow…
I am home alone now. I think I will take some time now for that — to open up. (I need it so much now.) It is also when I feel I share this love that I am really alive — and life gets exciting!
You ask if I believe in this vision. After some thinking I say YES. I believe you may be starting a movement here. Allthough I feel very “weary, tired and dry” at the moment I feel this is a GOOD thing to be a part of. Please count me in!
Love!
Olga, I think you are on to something very true here when you say that we need to keep being filled with God’s love so that it can overflow out of us. One of our other tribemembers, Carl, has shared something similar about contemplative prayer. When we become still before God, we allow his love to begin to fill us … and it cannot help but then overflow out of us. This is something the ancients have taught us for years, but it is so easy to overlook it in this busy era we live in.
I’m glad you were taking some time for stillness today and to intentionally open yourself up to the love of God.
It makes me smile to think of you transmitting beams of love to your community of people over there in Sweden! Way to represent the European contingent! :-)
So glad you’re joining us here, Olga! xoxo