Make participation your lifestyle and the whole existence becomes such a joy.” —Osho At the bystander training session I attended last month, the facilitator reminded us more than once, “Your first intervention will not work.” And so she offered more than nine tactics for deescalating violence, not just one or two. When you don’t expect […]
The ways we participate
One of my favorite extended analogies in the Christian scriptures is Church as Body. It’s an analogy that represents a collective as a dynamic organism rather than as a mechanical device. It assumes that there are many roles to play, not just one for all, and that each role well-played advances the well-being of the whole. […]
Just do something
International tragedies come to popular consciousness so often now, we know what to expect: a wave of public thoughts and prayers, followed by criticism of those thoughts and prayers, and criticism of the criticism until attention dissipates or there’s another international tragedy to move toward. One of the most pointed critiques of the cycle came […]
Beyond the Vote: Political Meta-narratives & Asking the People What They Think
In this talk, Eric X. Li offers a provocative discussion of political meta-narratives—the stories we tell ourselves about our political systems—based on his study of the People’s Republic of China. At 15:08, Li makes some bold predictions about China’s future in comparison to the US and peer nations within the next decade. I hope someone checks […]