Culture

Debating Social Activism In the Age of Tweeting, Blogging, and Facebook-ing

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“[Social media] makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact.” This provocative assertion was made by Malcolm Gladwell in his New Yorker piece, “Small Change,” published earlier this month. To sum it up quickly, Gladwell’s article is centered around what kind of activism social-media outlets are really motivating. Specifically, he talks about Twitter and Facebook, and omits -though it is public knowledge- that he doesn’t use and doesn’t like Twitter. But we’ll let that slide.

Culture

The Use and Misuse of Names

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I intuitively feel that these experiences, mystical but also sensual and embodied, are the core of spirituality and the foundation that religions build their vast tottering edifices upon: these experiences that work for us, that we then work hard to name and explicate in full logical or fantastically elaborated detail. Naming is not only important but unavoidable … but once the naming develops into major exclusionary truth claims, … and once these get identified with the worldly power involved in religious organization then all the power of the experience gets harnessed to the groupthink and the powerplays (exclusions, repressions and crusades) and we have the worst of religion. Dave Belden in response to How I Became a Pagan

Reading Dave’s comment, I was reminded of Deepak Chopra’s saying “God gave humans the truth, and the devil came and he said, ‘Let’s give it a name and call it religion.'” There is an inescapable tension between experience and the words we use to describe that experience, which cannot help but remove us from the experience itself.

Buddhism

America Meditates 2010: 30 Cities Throughout the Continent Meditate for Peace

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The international nongovernmental organization The Art of Living — founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar — held a massive meditation ceremony last Sunday under the motto: “America Meditates — Because Peace Is Contagious.” Joining in for a synchronized meditation session were over thirty cities throughout the American continent, from Buenos Aires to New York City. Last year, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s event gathered over 20,000 people:
The aim was to soothe the suffering of people post a period which has seen economic challenges, political turmoil and natural disasters. Comfort, a sense of belonging and responsibility toward the community, and a positive approach were the natural outcomes when thousands of people united in an atmosphere of peace and calm. Some of the experiences of people: “Thank you for coming to my city and share this wonderful experience with us,” and “We need this kind of events in my country.

Culture

Dilemmas of Leadership

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Yesterday I came back from 9 days of teaching in a yearlong NVC leadership program. This was the last intensive of the year, and the 9th year of the program. As is often the case, I came face to face with the limits of my own leadership capacity. Specifically, I was grappling with my aversion to imposing anything on anyone, an ongoing challenge of significant intensity for me. Based on observing myself I am confident that because of this aversion I regularly involve groups in decisions that reduce efficiency of functioning without adding much empowerment value or meaning.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

The Edges of Confidence

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In my last post on The Fearless Heart I alluded to having discomfort when asked by a group of people on a conference call to share my own vision. I said I was planning to write a post about the incongruity of that discomfort. Now, sitting down to write about it, I am feeling it. I chose to write about this for a variety of reasons. Primary among them is the desire to make my humanity, fallibility, and limitations known to you who read this blog, so as to increase the possibility that you would trust yourself to take on more visibility.

art

Fairytales: One Antidote to Bullying

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I can’t help but wonder if lives have actually been saved because of stories, the lasting solace and courage people find in them. And I can’t help wondering if lives are being lost because people have no stories or are in the wrong story.

Culture

Tikkunista

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Dear TDB readers,
I wondered if this description of my online magazine, Tikkunista, was inappropriately self-serving for a post on Tikkun Daily so I asked Dave if he thought it was worth posting. He asked that I share his answer, which follows. I think this post would help a lot of people understand the appeal to the writer of online writing and blogging. We are looking for more people like you who want to do this on Tikkun Daily. We especially want people, whether they are generalists or not, who are able to take a “beat” that fits with our spiritual progressive mission.

Culture

How NVC Can Help Progressive Politics

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This is a response response to Michael Lerner’s comment about NVC (Nonviolent Communications) and progressive politics, which he posted here. Dear Michael,
I have been sitting for a couple of days now with the comment you posted on Sunday, reflecting deeply on how I want to respond. I am glad, first of all, that you and I have had sufficient connection and trust between us to continue this conversation personally if we wanted to. This is not the first time these topics come up, and I imagine we will continue to engage on them in the months and years to come, hoping that we are both well enough for long enough to do so. For now, I am writing this publicly because I want the readers to have the opportunity to understand how I see the issues you are raising.

Culture

How We Criticize, Hear and Are Empathic With Each Other: a Clash of Cultures Evident on Tikkun Daily

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The controversy over Be Scofield’s post on perceived racism in the mainstream, chiefly white, yoga world seems to me to reflect a clash of at least three American cultures. All three are made up of decent people trying their best to survive, thrive and help this suffering world. Be straddles these cultures. In his post he talks in the voice of one of them to his friends in another of them, and is getting very angry responses from some of those friends, partly perhaps because of the influence of a third culture that is rising today and that a lot of us are trying to learn from. These three I am calling white liberal culture, the critical writings of the oppressed, and nonviolent speech and action.