In January 2010, I traveled from Orlando to Michigan for a graduate school residency and ended up having an encounter with a little book that led me to create this online space.
The flight from Orlando to Michigan was delayed by something like an hour. During that window of time, I finished reading one of the required texts for the residency and pulled out the next one: Tribes, by Seth Godin.
In it, Seth Godin talks about the need for leaders willing to step out in front and engage others with an idea. He talks about the power of following the trail of an idea that has gripped us with a passion. And he talks about how change can happen in the world when a tribe of people devoted to a singular idea have a place to gather and communicate about it.
I’d been pondering the idea of a dedicated online space to explore nonviolence and my own journey deeper into it for a little while before reading this book. But it wasn’t until Seth Godin framed it in the language of a tribe that something really clicked for me about it.
I wrote in the margins of that book while I was reading:
How can I invite others into their own nonviolent journey, and to share what they’re doing with the rest of the tribe?
Then I put down the book, picked up my pen, and let it fly across the pages of my journal with the following:
What does it take to create a tribe around the journey toward nonviolence?
I think this 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?
I sat for a moment and thought about those questions. What would this tribe be about, if it existed? What do people traveling the journey toward nonviolence believe? More pointedly, what had I, in my own journey along this path, come to embrace as the bedrock foundation of my beliefs?
I tapped my pen against my lips for a few moments and stared at the page. Then I wrote, very deliberately, a list of core beliefs I had come to hold as a result of my studies and personal journey deeper into the ethic of nonviolence.
Not long after that moment of inspiration on the plane, I created this online space and shared the story of the plane ride and my list of core beliefs with the tribe that had begun to gather here. I asked for their feedback on the initial list of beliefs I had formed and whether they would add anything more to the list.
Together, we created a manifesto that asserts the following . . .
THE JTN TRIBE IS ABOUT:
- The precious dignity of every human person
- Looking out at the world with and through eyes of love
- Forgiveness and reconciliation
- Compassionate listening that heals, empowers, and ultimately creates a more loving human family
- Examining the violence in our own hearts and lives in a commitment to confess and repent of our contribution to the world’s destruction and devastation
- An unwavering belief in the unique power of love to overcome and transform violence
- Responding to violence with curiosity, rather than anger or judgment
- Offering creative, life-giving love in response to any degree of violence or hatred
- Learning with each other and from each other
- Celebrating acts of love and nonviolence within this community and around the world
- Finding specific situations and places to actively choose and practice nonviolence
- Forgiving ourselves and each other when we fail to live this journey well
While we don’t promise to embody these ideals perfectly, these are the ideals toward which we, as a tribe, direct our days. (And personally, if I were to add anything extra to this list, I think it would include something about the need for divine assistance to accomplish any of it!)
By following each the links in the above list, you can learn more about what these commitments mean to us and the dialogue we shared about each one. As you read, feel free to interact in the comments sections by sharing your own thoughts with us!
And, as a final treat, click here to read the original vision I imagined for this community as I dreamed aloud in my journal on that fateful plane ride in January 2010!
