Nonviolent Social Change Revisited
By Audri Scott Williams               

The Spirit of Truth Foundation, sponsoring organization for the Quantum Leap Transformational Center, the NOWTIME School for Awakening, the 13 Moon Walk for Peace, the Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk, and a Cooperation Circle of the United Religions Initiative, send forward a clarion call to end the streams of violence affecting communities across our nation and beyond. When war and violence are seen as the means by which we settle conflicts on a national scale, then the mentality of war and conflict seeps into our everyday consciousness and before you know it hate and violence become the means to eradicating anything that is perceived as a threat on every aspect of our lives.

This level of consciousness met with guns and ammunition can be as lethal as a deadly bomb. In our resent past we have painfully witnessed this affect ( everyday on the streets in urban communities across the nation,in the militia movement across the nation, and in recent shootings in Florida,  Colorado, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Chicago) leaving us to mourn the senseless deaths of those who were in the right place at the wrong time. Certainly, as we look at violent crime statistics in our communities across the country, in this time of economic destabilization, we  are met with the challenge to be ever diligent in our pursuit of nonviolent social change, to be effective change agents and bridge builders. In order to do this, we must seek to shift from violence as the answer to our problems, to creating opportunities for, at least:

• dialogues for change, for understanding across religions, race, gender, culture--in fact, all forms of fragmentation and polarization;
•  financial redistribution in support of community based initiatives;
•  jobs for the rising number of unemployed; 
• increased resourses to meet the demand for mental health support;
• support for small business development, not prision development, as an economic development startegy; and
• healing and reconciliation withALL people's of Mother Earth.
  

There are many strategies for effective and compassionate change. They are within us all. Only through consciously engaging together with love and compassion for all, will we be able to carve out a path toward a future of peace and justice for all. Perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was speaking to us, even now, as he said, "The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.   Margaret Mead

Today I listened to an interview I did over a year ago with Andrew Harvey on Peace Talks. Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher.Harvey has published over 20 books including "The Hope a Guide to Sacred Activism" (Hay House) and Heart Yoga the ISA_Logo513 Sacred Marriage of Yoga and Mysticism (North Atlantic Books). Harvey is a Fellow of All Souls College Oxford from (1972-1986) and has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, The California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Creation Spirituality, as well as, various spiritual centers throughout the United States.He was the subject of the 1993 BBC film documentary The Making of a Modern Mystic. He is the Founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism in Oak Park, Illinois, where he lives. His website is www.andrewharvey.net. 

I was really inspired and want to share this interview with you.  CLICK HERE and then click on the link - Audri interviews Andrew Harvey.