Strengthening Relationships/Healing Divisions
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
A child dies in detention. A young, unarmed black man is killed by a white police officer, another is racially profiled and comes dangerously close to serious harm.
A woman is sexually assaulted. And another. Many more suffer the indignity of disrespect.
Do the perpetrators know what they do? Do average community members fully understand the extent of the harm when someone is killed or raped or beaten? Do WE understand the full extent of the damage when many die in an instant in a mass shooting or missile strike? Or the grief of separated families or of the mother who’s family is slowly starving to death?
That the answer is a clear NO is obvious when we consider that many victims are not alive to tell their stories. Many more are simply not being heard—not fully, not even close. And herein lies one key to transforming ourselves and society.
Restorative, Transformational Justice
A direct path to healing–to the union of peace and justice–has been laid out by restorative justice. Here we have principles and practices that allow, as a first step, the full extent of the harm to be expressed and understood, with those who caused the harm and community representatives in the room. It’s an exquisitely impactful place to start!
Picture it. Victims and the people needed to support them, perpetrators willing to hear the full extent of the harm, and people who will speak to the impacts to the broader community, all coming together to first, express and hear the harm. Speaking from their own experience. No finger pointing. No blame.
In an atmosphere of respect, perpetrators hear for the first time the full extent of the harm—all the ripple effects, all the damaged relationships and the long-term effects. They look the people they’ve harmed in the eyes and hear their truth.
Now the perpetrators know what they have done. Now that the “other” wears a human face, they are far less likely to repeat the behavior. It’s been proven over and over.
It may go no further, but just this much is transformational.
Active Peace Circles and Community Peacemaking
If the harm can be fully aired and heard, if responsibility is taken—really taken in a meaningful, authentic way—if there’s a willingness by those who caused the harm to be fully accountable, then the process can move on to repair and healing. Root causes can be addressed. Systems can be changed.
Active Peace Circles go beyond restorative justice to empower communities with the core principles of nonviolence and restorative justice so that we can heal what otherwise won’t be healed. This is community peacemaking and the evolution of activism. Not a quick fix but a way of being that prioritizes respect and relationships and transforms all it touches.
Read about the Basic Stages and the Principles.
Watch sampler videos below, and enjoy!
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Although I had hoped this time of my life would be an opportunity to focus on savoring rather “saving the world,” my undeniable recognition of social injustice and planetary harm demands that I engage in active healing. Nonetheless I find that taking stands AGAINST is depleting and often leads to despair. Participating in Scott’s vision of Active Peace and the community of those who also resonate with this heart-based alternative offers a personally restorative path toward a larger social revitalization. And, yes, that requires – as previous commenters have articulated – our “open broken hearts,” “deepening roots,” and the capacity to hold all perspectives without attachment. What a relief to discover that there is a way, so thoughtfully and lovingly presented by Scott, to experience an embrace rather than separation.
Thank you Deborah! I sure do love it when the wisdom of the circle comes forth and it’s always great to have you be a part of that!
“This is the Active Peace Circle vision. Empowering communities with the core principles of nonviolence and restorative justice so that we can heal what otherwise won’t be healed. This is community peacemaking. Not a quick fix but a way of being that prioritizes respect and relationships and transforms all it touches.”
I am thinking of the general idea of what makes a community. I am thinking that the general idea is of something that is more like a shared location in a municipality and its various functions and responsibilities. I am reminded of how little I know of the responsibilities civic leaders must take on in maintaining the life of the community, including disaster preparedness and response. And I am thinking of how things are prioritized against competing demands for prioritization and how some stakeholders are not always given due consideration.
If our general understanding is weak in that respect, then we have not really come to understand how to go about creating a self-sustaining community on the deepest personal level in a rather transient society where people so frequently come and go. Perhaps the root here is our roots do not really go deep, that we are in much need for a shared sense of place and belonging.
I am one who does not know where I will be in, say, ten years. But I still long for a deeper, at least spiritual, kind of sense of place within myself where my roots go deep; and that what makes them go deep is found in our community relationships that universalize an understanding of shared community wherever we may go; so that wherever we do go, we take this capacity for contributing to deep community to other places. Perhaps our beginnings as the Active Peace Community Project is also very much about learning to build deep relational community; much more than just creating the experience of it, as wonderful as that is.
These are poignant observations Ken! It seems to me you are highlighting that we are in the territory of Foundations here and how relevant our core values of respect, relationship and responsibility are. I continue to be amazed at how consistently and seamlessly these values come up!
A bold and inspirational vision! One I share deeply in my soul and am happy to be contributing to. May we move forward courageously with our open broken hearts! May we manifest peace and healing that we all and the planet so desperately need and deserve at this pivotal moment in time. Thank you Scott for calling us to action in the name of Humanity and the Planet. Namaste.
So happy to be walking the path of joyful transformation with you Serenity! May the ripples be felt far and wide!
These massive conflicts are caused by people desperately exerting power over others less powerful than themselves.Power comes from God, and at the same time, my ego constantly wants to exert power, to have its way.
There is a war going on inside me between what I see as evil or wrongheaded behavior and what I would like to persuade other people to believe is right or just or fair. In desiring that people should “come over to my side” I am identifying with one side of a dispute or conflict, instead of becoming the witness and letting the inner battle of opponents fight it out. I pray for the power to hold onto harmony, accord, peace, fellowship, cooperation, understanding, rapport, in the midst of constant battle of opposing forces within me. This is my work. I pray for the grace to carry on without identifying with one side or another. In this way I affect the collective consciousness of the world. This is proper exercise of power.
Thanks for bringing prayer, and grace and such radical honesty into the conversation David! Yes–love plus the right use of power!