May there be harmony…
March 31, 2020
Emergencies can be times of emergence…
I’ve been thinking, writing, and consulting with individuals and movements about the power of nonviolence for many decades, and I’ve never seen a time when it was more needed. Why do I say this? Because times of chaos and confusion are also times of fierce caring and connection. Emergencies can be times of emergence. As I argued in my recent article in Waging Nonviolence, times of upheaval are when nonviolence can express its full force; often, if we are prepared, the real mirror of our human nature appears (and it’s not violence!).
I want to challenge all of us to consider this: we can’t go back to business as usual. Business as usual—and that includes the usual culture we’ve all endured—is what got us here in the first place. Our only choice is to move boldly into the future with our highest values at the helm, with a newfound appreciation for what human unity and human security really mean.
We’ve been working on these questions at the Metta Center for Nonviolence for a long time, and today is the very day when my latest book that deals with this very challenge has appeared! The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature is the result of many years’ reflection, experimenting, and discussion amongst us, and now we’d like to share with you the oh-so-timely fruit of that exploration.
We invite you to join us in this exploration by getting a copy of the book, for yourself, your family, your friends, your students, your entire college, your workforce, your politicians, everyone. And then come back to the Metta Center for more: we want to talk with you about your ideas and inspired actions and action-plans. (In fact, we’re hosting a weekly online Hope Tank on Fridays for just these kinds of conversations!). The Third Harmony is the first of the four “legs” of the Third Harmony Project to appear, so the possibilities are endless.
Our publisher, Berrett-Koehler, assures us that at least for them it is business as usual (B-corp that they are), but with even better options in their already generous discount schedule for bulk orders in any format: print, digital, or audio. They will discount bulk orders of 10 or more books when an order is placed directly with them.
And our promotion pundits have been telling us all along that writing a review on Amazon, which you can do if you buy it there, helps get it out there. Still, and especially at this time, please support your local bookstore—if you still have one! (I’ll be doing a book reading online in collaboration with my local bookstore, Many Rivers Books, on April 16 and will share the details soon.)
The book includes a discussion guide crafted by the Metta Center’s team, making it a resource for online education settings as well as book clubs and study circles. Think creatively about how you can bring people together to read this book as a team.
May there be harmony in the world.
May there be harmony with nature.
May there be harmony within and among us.
Love, Michael
