Welcome to a new year that promises to be filled with rich opportunities for peacemakers the world over. And we sure do need the peacemakers now! I want to share a model for coming together that we’re using in Boulder, CO in case it might inspire you to do something similar in your community.

A year ago I hosted the first in a monthly series of “Peacemaker Gatherings.” I was curious who would show up and I wanted to test out the foundations for peace and nonviolent activism I wrote about in my book Active Peace. Throughout 2016, we came together around the themes of the belief in separateness as the root cause of violence, and the spiritual and healing contexts of activism. We got acquainted and felt the nourishment that coming together provided. We engaged in experiential exercises designed to increase our capacities as peacemakers and we prioritized “being” over “doing.”

Now we are continuing the momentum and evolution. Silence and stillness will always be the place out of which wise action arises and we’ll come back to that as often as we can. We’ll also come back experiential practices on a regular basis, as well as remembering our spiritual essence so we can hold the big picture.

We are taking the next step into activism, to engaged citizenship, to doing what’s ours to do to create the world we want—all in a new and restorative way, without a savior complex, without attachment to outcome, and without an “us versus them” attitude.

I’m inspired by Gandhi’s “constructive program,” which included many different proactive, culture-shifting initiatives, and which was, in his view, ultimately more important than the civil disobedience.

Our gatherings will continue to be a place where we support each other in our growth and stay focused on healing the belief in separateness. We offer a place where the activist silo walls can soften (at least for awhile). We also offer a holding environment for people who are relatively new to activism but freshly inspired to get engaged.

By bridging contemplation and activism we help remedy the situation where many people who prioritize contemplation and the “inner work” don’t tend to move out into the outer work of activism in meaningful ways. Clearly, creating a nonviolent world requires both and, as the saying goes, if not now, when?

A quote from Active Peace may help bring the above into perspective and give a taste for the meetings:

It is our spiritual essence and love of life that ultimately gives us the ability to stand up courageously to injustice. Connected to our wholeness we move in a grounded and resilient way. We can hold people accountable for their actions and the harm they cause without shaming and blaming….We can be with anger in honest and open ways that allow it to be transformed into healing energy. The path of active peace is a process, a practice imbued with awareness and love that ripples out to create more happiness and joy, and a more just and peaceful world (p. 196).

Feel free to get in touch if you want to discuss starting your own peacemaker gathering grounded in the tenets of Active Peace.