by Dave Randle
 

Shortly after the Sept. 11 tragedy, I received a note from my friend Tom Crum (author of Magic of Conflict) who wrote:

'We have been shaken to the core.  And yet...and yet ... if we have the
courage to be still, to feel and to listen within, we will discover that,
underneath the rubble, the core remains vital.  It is to this core, this
place beyond our tears, our anger, and our fears, that we now must go."

The journey to our center, or our core, is often one of life's greatest challenges.  There are many ways to approach the journey to the center in various spiritual disciplines.  One path for one person may not be the best path for another.

One art that I have studied that provides a model for journey to the center is the art of Tai Chi Chuan.  The art of Tai Chi requires that one learn to move from ones center while following three key principles.

The principles are yield, adhere, and discharge.

To Yield means to not resist natural forces but to listen to ways to flow with them.  In a political and conflict sense, it often means simply to listen.

I wonder how well we as a nation have listened to the cries of hunger, poverty, and injustice.  I wonder how well we really listen to the real conditions of others in the world.

In my recent trip to Africa, I wondered if we really listen as people shared that the average per capita income for their nation was only $360 a year and how committed they were to ending poverty and disease in their country.

I wonder if we have really listened to the Hospice Chaplain who shared with me that 17% of all people under thirty in his nation were HIV infected and how committed Hospice was to caring for these people.

I wonder if we have really heard the pain when people from twenty African nations offered workshops with titles such as:

- Women and Youth Experiences in Armed Conflict

- Democratic Republic of Congo Scenario - Listening from Friends in the Armed Conflict Situation.

- HIV/AIDS - Opportunity and Hazard to Peace Building and Interfaith Dialogue

These are not the standard titles for workshops that most of us in North America would expect at one of our conferences.

To Yield also means to not be so stuck in a rigid position that we can not understand the energy from which another is coming from.  In fact Tai Chi teaches that whenever we take a rigid rather than fluid position, we literally become pushovers to others and much more vulnerable to attack ourselves.

In the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan there is, no attack.  This means that the first step is always to yield at whatever energy is coming your way in order to assess the situation and to position oneself in the event that an evasive move or counter attack is warranted.

Learning to listen deeply to where another is coming from is a prerequisite for any later action.

The Second Principle is to Adhere.  To Adhere means not only to yield, but to yield in a way that you can really stay connected to another person, their intentions, and their energy.

To adhere means to really find a way to connect ourselves with the life force of another, to get deeper than just the words and initial understanding, to really learn not only where another is coming from but where they want to go.

To adhere is to learn to be with and flow with another in a way that creates new insight for possible ways to harmonize and blend that we may not have seen at first.

In the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan, to adhere means to not totally withdraw when one yields which would leave one very vulnerable to injury.  At the same time it means not to resist as to make one a pushover or vulnerable from taking action to quickly.

To adhere at its heart means to get connected with the flow of another's intention, to allow ourselves to see/experience the world from their perspective, and to search for a way to blend with that energy so that we might bring harmony out of discord.

The Third Principal is Discharge.  This is to take action once we are in the flow of the situation.

Once one has truly yielded and adhered to the situation one can then find the appropriate way to take action or to discharge ones energy.

The discharge or appropriate action comes only after the first two principals are carefully acted out so that the action can be most effective with minimal conflict, injury, or damage.

All of the principals of Tai Chi have one thing in common, that all movements, whether, they are from the yielding, adhering or discharge modes, that they are all movements from ones center.

For me Tai Chi has given me a context to work with the interfaith movement for the past five years through the United Religions Initiative (URI) whose purpose is to create daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence, and to build cultures of peace, justice, and the healing of the Earth.

Hans Kung has stated that:

No peace among the nations without peace among the religions.
No peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.
No dialogue among the religions without a consensus on shared ethical values, a global ethic.
No new world order without a global ethic.

So the principals of Yield, Adhere, and Discharge are one model that I have found useful to move toward a global ethic.

If we are able to yield enough off our positions we can begin the dialogue among religions.  If we can adhere to the process we can begin to find a consensus on shared ethical values.  If we can find some consensus we can discharge or act in our world from the place of a new global ethic.

9/11 has given all of us a fresh opportunity to participate in interfaith dialogue.

In some ways it has thrown us off our position that we could be isolated from the rest of the world in our nation.

It has challenged us to adhere more to what is going on in the world that continues to create, poverty, oppression, war, racism, hunger, etc.

Most of all ft has called us to go beyond our safe theological reflections and discussions to risk some real action in cooperation with others who we may not know that much about.

Just this week many in our Utah URI Cooperation Circle risked coming together to participate in a celebration of Peace, Justice, and the Healing of the Earth.

The Buddhists, Hindu's, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Unitarians, Unity Fellowship, Bahai's, the Mormons, and others were all willing to yield a little so that this event could even happen.

They were all willing to adhere to a process of sharing the best of their tradition while at the same time honoring and respecting the tradition of others.

Finally they were able to act together to dedicate 168 Olympic Truce Peace Poles on the Martin Luther King holiday and send a message to our community and the international community that we are about to host at these 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

And the message was this, that ft the intention of the faith communities to provide hospitality, to promote, peace, to work for justice, and the healing of the Earth.

This amazing celebration was allowed to happen through a unique structure of cooperation circles that are at the core of the United Religions Initiative (URI).

The United Religions Initiative has further empowered its Cooperation Circles through its charter and principles for interfaith dialogue and cooperation to be more effective (see http://www.unitedreligions.org).

We can work together to build cultures of peace, justice, and the healing of the Earth if we will allow ourselves to get into a new flow of life.  A flow not dictated by one dogma or one tradition but a flow that honors and respects the traditions of others.

This AAPC Annual Meeting we will all have the opportunity to learn first hand about the United Religions Initiative from its founder the Rt. Rev. William Swing, Episcopal Bishop of the California Diocese.

Let us hope and pray that we in IPCNSR particularly can find ways to work with this new international organization whose is seeking to create daily interfaith cooperation, end religiously motivated violence, and to build cultures of peace, justice, and the healing of the Earth.

For me 9/11 has shown me that groups like IPCNSR must find new ways to yield, adhere, and discharge.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it this way.

"The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community.  The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption.  The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation.  The aftermath of violence are, emptiness and bitterness."

The thing that I am concerned about: Let us fight passionately and unrelentingly for the goals of justice and peace.  But let's be sure that our hands are clean in this struggle.

The Beloved Community - Nonviolence or Nonexistence.
Remember!  Celebrate!  Act!

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