A framework for movement, a landscape to explore
Starting a journey requires a single step. Easy enough to say.
In thinking about this course I wanted to start with a way of framing our conversations over the next three months. Not theories. Sorry, but no one lives theoretically. Instead, I wanted to frame those conversations around a body of practice that is about bodies practicing in the world and creating worlds through that practice.
Two immediately present themselves, proving once again you can't take the boy out of the 60's but you can't take the 60's out of the boy. Indeed, as I approach my second 60's -- the age related one -- this becomes more and more forceful.
So the framework I will be working with combines certain ideas and practices from Buddhism -- in the form, here, of what are called the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path as well as Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings -- and from Hinduism -- in the of form of Gandhi's practice of ahimsa - literally, to avoid harm.
The links here -- on the our framework flyout -- offer brief explorations of these basic Buddhist principles, and a description of Gandhi's nine steps for non-violent conflict resolution.
Each week as part of our time together, I will address one of these ideas, offering suggestions for how they can serve as the basis for understanding peace, co-operation, and non-violence.
