A Rationale and Guide for Nonviolence

".... life, from its beginning more than three billion years ago, did not take over the planet by combat but by networking."....Fritjof Capra /

http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/new-facts-life

Revolutions and wars are exceptions to the rule, coup d'etats are perversions of the rule....And the rule seems to be evolution embedded in creativity/emergence, whose existence becomes apparent in due time and space to initiate a fundamental change..... That is, I presume, the Kernel of human experience in history .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocultural_evolution

What is the inter-relation between social structure and collective consciousness ?

What is the role of structure and collective consciousness in our future human development...?

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Following is an aspect which I think is very relevant in our context and helpful for our community's political dead-lock:

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Chapter Twenty-Two

A rationale and guide for nonviolence
as a basis for conscious evolutionary activism.

Hier reproduced in summary in accordance with the permission of the author:

http://evolutionaryactivism.com/wagn/Copying

In any situation or system, seek ways

to replace force with consciousness.

...

Force, in this context, refers to the use of coercion or

overwhelming strength or power to dominate, control, or otherwise

get one's way, often against resistance. The power used

can be physical, economic, social, intellectual, emotional, military,

psychological, technological, etc. The more force used,

the less we take into account the nature or needs of the Other.

The more we take the Other into account, the less force and

resources we need to accomplish mutual ends.

Consciousness, the capacity to be aware, in this context,

includes all the interior dimensions and capacities of life that

can—among other things—help us deal successfully with

our changing world by sensing, understanding and creatively,

collaboratively relating to the conditions in us and the entities,

interactions, and contexts around us.

This evolutionary moment challenges us to bring the power

of consciousness to bear on the process of self-reflective evolution

itself to replace the creative violence of supernovas, lifeand-

death struggles, and wars with highly aware intelligence,

wisdom, and care.

So as evolutionary activists, we seek to replace force everywhere,

• in every entity (every individual, group and

system);

• in every interaction (every conversation, exchange,

conflict, and engagement with nature);

• in every context (every situation, culture, gathering,

community and urban design); and

• in every form of consciousness (in all sensing,

learning, visioning, morality, and all other forms

of thinking, feeling and experience).

.....

...

Our consciousness then evolves

towards true collaboration, where we—

you and I, us and our adversaries,

humankind and nature—help each

other get what we each need and want—in cooperatives,

family conversations, in deliberative democracy, in Nonviolent

Communication, in permaculture.

...

This shift from force to consciousness is the fulcrum of

human evolution at this critical time—at individual, collective,

and systemic scales.

As we reach our planetary limits, the downsides of force,

violence, and control become increasingly obvious. Our

technological and social capacities to generate harm through

our efforts to force, impact, and control people and life—no

matter how well intended—threaten our extinction.

...

The more fully we understand, the less force or energy

we need or want to use. The less energy we use to serve any

given need, the more efficient and elegant our systems and

behaviors become, making them favored by natural selection

and the general directionality of evolution.

..

Guidance concerning evolutionary means:

..

• A addresses the role of conversation.

• B talks about creative use of diversity.

• C explores how to handle dissonance.

• D discusses deep, inclusive simplicity.

...

..

Guidance concerning realms of evolutionary action:

...

..

• 1 deals with the health of the systems themselves.

• 2 deals with contexts and systemic awareness of them.

• 3 deals with the systemic capacity to effectively respond

to complex, changing circumstances.

...

1. Cultivate healthy self-organization.

..

• Cultivate healthy behavior

• Cultivate healthy power

• Cultivate healthy flow

2. Cultivate healthy systemic contexts.

..

• Healthy social context.

• Healthy contexts that govern meaning

• Healthy physical contexts

• Healthy natural contexts

3. Cultivate healthy systemic responsiveness and collective

evolvability.

..

• Cultivate collective intelligence, learning, and

memory -

• Cultivate collective self-awareness, integrity,

and humility -

• Cultivate the collective capacity to generate and

pursue shared intentions -

• Cultivate systems that embody collective compassion

and mutuality -

• Cultivate the collective ability to make wise,

creative decisions -

• Cultivate collective co-creativity and evolutionary

sensibilities -

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This is a section/chapter from Tom Atlee's " book :

"Reflections on Evolutionary Activism"....

(Tom Atlee & friends : ....These are....interesting intellectual and activist circles of our generation...with a lot of new insights and ideas)

http://evolutionaryactivism.com/wagn/Get_involved

More: See if you like:

http://nonzero.org/reviews.htm
http://nonzero.org/index.htm

http://socio.ch/evo/index_evo.htm