A nonviolent world is coming into being.

This statement may seem naïvely idealistic or willfully blind to the reality of innumerable forms of cruel and catastrophic violence.

Whatever can this assertion mean, one might justifiably ask, in the face of the relentless tidal wave of unjust pain and suffering experienced by all of us at one time or another in our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our societies, our relationships with other nations and cultures, and our often tortuous relationship with the earth?

What can this mean in the midst of the violence of enormous systemic domination, including the structures and policies that favor some over others through relentless coercive power and implacable double standards?

In the face of the epidemic of violence – which can be thought of as any personal, interpersonal, or social-structural behavior that diminishes, devalues, dehumanizes, depersonalizes or destroys ourselves or others – how can we see such an assertion as anything but a childish and impossible dream?

And yet I again dare to say: A nonviolent world is coming into being.

In this ongoing nonviolence journal, I will explore how this assertion of the coming nonviolent world, rather than being a beautiful but empty vision, is a realistic conviction based on accumulating evidence; on world-wide historical trends; on deeply rooted human potentialites for connection, creativity, and compassion that can, under the right circumstances, trump our undeniable capacities for hate, fear, and greed; and on a growing desire of many people in many contexts for profound change.

This coming reality is not based on utopian hallucinations but on a vast, interwoven set of practicalities that is slowly exhausting an old order based on violence and helping to bring to birth a new set of arrangements. A Nonviolence Revolution is emerging, and it is rooted in the facts of this world and not in earnest fantasies about the next one.

In this blog, we will meditate on this profound historical inclination and how each of us is called – if we have ears to hear — to collaborate in bringing this new set of cultural, social, interpersonal and intra-personal relationships into increasing transparency and effectiveness.

We will explore how each of us is invited to make a fundamental option for this emerging world and can collaborate in the challenging, difficult, poignant and utterly beautiful process of bringing it more fully into being.
And we will reflect on how this nonviolent way can help us lead more meaningful, creative, and joyful lives even as it helps us to transform the world.