What am I doing?

I have been posting rather infrequently of late and what I have posted has been pretty devoid of either political or social issues. I have done this with specific intent - that intent being to keep myself in a more healthy frame of mind. I'm not sure if other people have this same issue but I tend to invest myself emotionally in many of these issues (i.e. like governmental abuses, deliberate deception, coporate greed, and the rest of the endless list) and they become extremely personal for me.

In case you didn't already know - that's not a healthy way to live. I've also been doing a great deal of thinking about the direction of my studies. I just picked up (again) Marianne Williamson's "Healing the Soul of America" and she's articulated exactly what I've been feeling - that there's more to the idea of nonviolence than simply its use as a strategy of war.

One of the problems I've had with some of the information I've read/heard is the lack of attention paid to the necessity for personal spiritual growth and love in the entire process of nonviolence as a change agent. Although nonviolence as practical policy has proven effective, I question its continued effectiveness without adding back in the element of love (for both self and other). Marianne speaks to this point directly and uses writings from both King and Gandhi to point to the fact that love is not an expendable item when it comes to nonviolence.

Gandhi and King both speak of a practice of personal spirituality (or perfection) as absolutely necessary for the success of any nonviolent practice. My take on this is that they mean an ongoing practice, not just a mental ramp-up to a nonviolent action. But how does this play out in real life? I guess that's my question. And how can I bring this idea into an educational setting? Another good question.

According to to Marianne, nonviolence is the natural manifestation of a person's movement towards their authentic, loving self. Once we have learned to truly love ourselves and stop behaving violently internally, it is natural that we would reflect that behavior externally.

I've got quite a bit more thinking and studying to do around this topic but it feels like I'm going in the right direction again.