Southwest Sierra #127 – A Visit to the Hope Essays and the Philosophy of Peaceful Revolution

There is the well-known saying that: “You can’t please all the people all the time.” Some of my readers prefer the stories of my youth or local history, and others prefer the philosophical writings. This week, in honor of Martin Luther King Day, I’m touching on the Philosophy of Peaceful Revolution or Active Yielding. I recently came across the following description that I wrote in 1995: “The philosophy of ‘Peaceful Revolution’ is akin to the philosophy of self-defense methods of the Orient: Active Yielding. Yielding to the force of those you oppose in such a way as to turn their own energy against them. Often, when we directly challenge things, our challenge validates the existence of whatever we are opposing. Challenge causes the thing we oppose to fight back. “Active Yielding” goes beyond challenge, and the focus shifts from fighting that which we oppose to creating what we desire.” [Building what we want.]

I have a memory of riding home from an EMT training in Downieville with a fellow fire department volunteer sometime after 9/11. We were heading up Stud Horse Grade when we got on the topic of the attack. I remember telling him that I thought the best way to “fight” the extremism of the Middle East was by exposure to our culture. He looked at me like I was absolutely crazy, which is probably the only reason that I remember the moment. Ten years later, the “Arab Spring” started, and I wanted to say, “This is what I was talking about,” but he probably would not have remembered the conversation anyway. Exposure to ideas is an example of “Active Yielding”.

Another example of Active Yielding that has been used for many years and in many different settings is the boycott. Boycotts are an effective way to encourage change without direct confrontation. The money that you spend supports various industries and individuals. YOU have the power to decide what to buy. Finding ways to withdraw support from the things that we oppose is the flip side of building what we want. The two go hand in hand in the river of peaceful revolution.