Meditation and Nonviolence Affinity Group

That peace starts within is widely recognized today. How to establish, or strengthen inner peace is then a key to peacemaking, but it is not widely recognized in the West that there are time-honored techniques for doing so. Gandhi, for example, would insist that the way to do it was through “prayer;” but we believe that for him the state of prayer was what we mean by meditation. The way he was able to ‘shake the world gently’ without disturbing his inner peace was daily meditation.

A classic definition of meditation in ancient India was ‘stilling thought waves in the mind.’ Some of those thought waves are anger, fear, and greed 𑁋 the causes of violence, eliminating which brings out our native capacities for love and wisdom. The tools of the peacemaker.

There is thus no contradiction between theory and action; at the Metta Center for Nonviolence we sometimes define nonviolence as the bridge between spiritual practice and peacemaking actions. In another classical formula, meditation is like breathing in, selfless action is like breathing out. Both are necessary!

We welcome anyone who has a daily practice of meditation (as defined above) and would like to share ideas, inspiration, and support.

Schedule: Virtual meetings the first Wednesday of each month, starting July, 2023.

Conveners: Michael Nagler and Stephanie Van Hook

This affinity group is a collaboration with Campaign Nonviolence.