As readers may have noticed, I am including in Reckonings some remarks relating to a group here at The Redwoods exploring the tradition of Celtic spirituality. Here is my most current letter to participants:
Our meeting this coming Tuesday presents an intriguing challenge. In my view, in this singular chapter of John Philip Newell's The Rebirthing of God (Chapter 6: "Reconnecting With Nonviolence"), I find him off his feed. That is, he pays very little real attention to his subject. I have nary a passage worth quoting to you.
If I am even partially right, we nonetheless have at least one fine reason to spend a good hour together on Tuesday afternoon:
Whether or not John Philip makes a case for reconnecting with nonviolence as an important domain of spiritual development or rebirthing, do you do so?
What role has nonviolence played in your own spiritual development? Have you been committed to nonviolence in your life? If so, what role has that commitment played in strengthening your spiritual development? If not, or if less than consistently, when and why has that been so?
It is probably true that we are all generally committed to peace and averse to war: in our reconciliation of the dimensions of ourselves, in our relations with those with whom we have lived and loved, in our relations with our friends and with those we dislike, and in the attitudes with which we have responded to our nation's (and other nations') pursuit of war.
I also would bet a lot more than a plugged nickel that there is not a single one of us who has observed that commitment and that aversion without exception or qualification. We could even ask, did Jesus? See Matthew 21:12–17, Mark 11:15–19, Luke 19:45–48, and John 2:13–16. (Jesus and the moneychangers.)
What is violence, anyway? When is it justified, if at all? And if nonviolence is worthier, why some of the time but not all of the time? In self-defense and defense of those we love? To avoid a greater evil than would be served by nonviolence? For the sake of drama?
On Tuesday, come with examples you have known in heart, mind and action? If John Philip was, as I suggest, off his feed in this chapter, as he so seldom is, let's give him some help.
As ever, I look forward to our hour together.