Humainologie creative dialogue on Nonviolence next Wednesday May 5

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

“Toxic conversations stall our ability to think collectively and solve the many dangerous problems that are stalking everyone on earth.” - James Hoggan

The topic for our creative dialogue next Wednesday May 5 is Nonviolence. Shinobu is arranging for us to watch a 44-minute documentary film on nonviolence, “The Third Harmony.” She has provided an orientation with a trailer for the film, which I have appended below. Be sure to watch the trailer!

In April, our theme for the month was amor fati. After we have watched the documentary film provided by Shinobu, let’s choose a theme for May. One possibility that occurs to me is Active Listening – however, the documentary film may give us even better ideas for our theme in May.

Assuming that our goal is to change the course of history toward a healthy global community, how do we do that? The journey of a thousand miles…. Well, you know how. Martin Luther King Jr. suggested a couple of options we have: We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools. I prefer option A.

Assuming that is also your preference, let’s take a few steps next Wednesday. Marshall Rosenberg’s work on nonviolent communication is the basis for one of the online resources for learning the skills https://www.cnvc.org/online-learning/nvc-instruction-guide/nvc-instruction-guide and that website includes simple exercises. We can use our group genius to come up with our own ideas, which might be even better.

So here’s a “macro” question, and then a “micro” question for you.

· Macro question (with background): (Assume that high levels of social capital are associated with lower levels of violence. For example, compare the frequency of mass killings in Canada – higher social capital - with the frequency in the United States – lower social capital.) How do we accelerate our learning (right here in Calgary) to live together as brothers? In other words, how do we actively build social capital in Calgary each and every day?

· Micro question (with background): James Hoggan (who grew up in a rough part of Calgary and was bullied as a youngster), in his book I’m Right and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up, emphasizes that deep listening and respect for the other are essential. “People need to feel respected and supported, not criticized.” Create a nonviolence exercise for us, based on a hypothetical everyday scenario, in which most people might miss the opportunity for building social capital, and in which our challenge in that hypothetical situation is to use our imagination to come up with a brilliant response that would build social capital on the spot right here in Calgary.

Carpe diem,

Arthur

The Third Harmony tells the story of nonviolence, humanity’s greatest and most overlooked) resource.

Watch the trailer at https://vimeo.com/453487010

“To be nonviolent is to be an artist of your humanity,” says Palestinian nonviolence leader and founder of the Taygheer Movement, Ali Abu Awwad, in a new documentary about the power of nonviolence and a new vision of human nature. Drawing on interviews with veteran activists like Civil Rights leader Bernard Lafayette, scientists like behaviorist Frans de Waal and neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, political scientist Erica Chenoweth, futurist Elisabet Sahtouris, and others, this 44-minute documentary will help the general public, often at a loss to understand the protests occurring in many cities, to better grasp just what nonviolence is and how it works. The film also delves into the important role that nonviolence plays in the wider struggle to develop a new theory of human nature, how every one of us can add to our personal growth and fulfillment while benefitting society through the use of this time-tested power.

Directed and produced by the respected nonviolence scholar and author, Michael Nagler, co-founder of the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at U.C. Berkeley, the viewer is given the deep awareness that nonviolence is a serious field of study, or in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Nonviolence is not the inanity people have taken it for.” This is echoed by Tiffany Easthom, Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce in the film, when discussing the power of unarmed civilian protection as a tool in the nonviolent toolkit: this is not about being “peace activists who hope that unicorns and rainbows will rule the world one day. This is hard work.” Changing the story that makes violence of all kinds seem practical in our world is hard work. But it’s certainly time for this change to happen. The Third Harmony contributes to that important effort.

Several of the more successful films on the “new story,” the emerging narrative about human meaning and purpose, have touched on nonviolence, but this is the first to explain in depth the interdependence of these two defining trends of human civilization in our time, which drew documentary industry leader Steve Michelson of the Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows into the project as Executive Producer along with Thomas Eddington, Ryah Alohalei Ki, and Lou Zweier as well as Sarah Gorsline who edited 35 hours of interview to make this film possible. The presentation is supported by animations throughout and original music by composer Jim Schuyler. As Minister Kristin Stoneking, former Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, U.S., said, “I just want to watch it over and over.” The film was accepted among 600 applicants to the United Nations Association film festival in October, 2020.

The film’s impact will be enhanced by the already-released book, The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature (Berrett-Koehler, 2020) and a board game, Cosmic Peaceforce: Mission Harmony Three, all available at the Metta Center for Nonviolence.

Metta is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Petaluma, CA. It has been working since 1982 to “help people practice nonviolence more safely and more effectively” and has special consultative status at the United Nations.

https://thirdharmony.org/#content