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Nonviolence Festival (2)
What a fun day. How odd it is, that having just concluded I was probably an introvert, in a conversation in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frankie_ecap's journal, that I had such an energizing day being unabashedly extroverted.
The best part for me was the unexpected ease of connecting with people. Lots of people were curious about the mechanics of how Quakers operated; and I found that LJ conversations with you smart lot were very helpful at putting my responses into useful language. You know how sometimes, you're teaching something and you can see exactly where the other person is at by the questions they're asking? It only happened a few times, but they were verra cool.
Now, I have huge problems withprostel prosthetiz prostheletizing. (...see?) Ultimately I think that word describes a form of violence on another person's psyche, based on manipulation... and patriarchalist religious assumptions.
I have to do some thinking about what doesn't bug me in the realm of talking about religion with strangers. (Maybe it's the fact that at this festival we had a huge whack of common ground at the outset of the conversations, and a fair motivation to learn.) Yeah. I'll keep thinking about it.
The festival's setup was: a bandshell at the bottom of the hill in the local park. In a straightish line up the hill, a double column of tables, each for an organization or vendor. The groups included the local Humanists (who organized and funded the event), Falun Dafa and the Bahai (the only two other explicitly religious groups besides the Quakers!), one anti-domestic-violence group, a housing co-op raising money for Amnesty, the Green Party (on my one side), Community Money (on my other side), andpnijjar's Fair Vote Ontario across the way from our table. It seemed to me that there were fewer hemp and craft vendors than I remember from last year, which was fine by me.
There was bright sun all day, and it was brutal. I'm glad for the sunscreen I put on, for the tree that provided partial shade, and for the sun umbrella we could move around for better shade. I went through 3 litres of water, probably a day's record for me. Plus another 500ml over dinner.
The organized program started around noon. They alternated bands and speakers at the bandshell. The sound setup was bad: the bands were audible all the way up the hill, but the speakers were only audible to the lower 1/3 of the tables. Which meant the majority of people at the festival couldn't hear the speakers. I asked one of the organizers about this; he asked the sound guy, and the sound guy said that was as good as he could do. I hope this can be fixed for next year.
I was the first presenter. I was preceded by a band, who played fairly good electronica. 20 people in the audience when I got there, and maybe 10 when I finished; and 5 of those were other Quakers. But, near the beginning when I looked up, there were a few dozen people standing a way up the hill, around the tables, listening.
The only other speakers I heard werepnijjar, who did a fine job explaining the Ontario Voter Referendum on proportional representation in just ten minutes, something I could never have done. I also heard a speech by a (30s-ish) woman begging everyone to reach out to teenagers, to look past the violent media they consume and try and guide them to better options, and don't write them off because they look scary. She seemed more passionate than many of the people I saw. I really would've preferred being able to hear more of the speakers.
At the Quaker table, we had anywhere from 3 to 5 people around at any time; a total of 9 of us over the day. I was surprised at how much difference that made, just for myself, compared with last year when I was alone for at least half of the day. Only off-and-on visitors to the booth. But we seemed to hit a critical mass of visitors a few times, when conversations would draw in other visitors. That was neat. I believe I saw the same happening across the way, at the Fair Vote Ontario table. I didn't see it happen at the Green Party tent.
My favourite moment was mid-afternoon, when I saw a guy with a Perl tee-shirt walk past. So I jumped up and accosted him. It turns out he's a friend of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
elbie_at_trig and thingo. He came over and we had a wonderful wide-ranging conversation for about half an hour (and I really need to learn more about Martin Buber's I and Thou, which he compared to Quakerism's "answering that of God in each other". Also I need to email his girlfriend some information about google labs and public-transit..) Elbie came by once or twice for a chat and eventually dragged him away. ;)
I suppose I could have more to say about the festival but I feel done for this post.
frankie_ecap's journal, that I had such an energizing day being unabashedly extroverted. The best part for me was the unexpected ease of connecting with people. Lots of people were curious about the mechanics of how Quakers operated; and I found that LJ conversations with you smart lot were very helpful at putting my responses into useful language. You know how sometimes, you're teaching something and you can see exactly where the other person is at by the questions they're asking? It only happened a few times, but they were verra cool.
Now, I have huge problems with
I have to do some thinking about what doesn't bug me in the realm of talking about religion with strangers. (Maybe it's the fact that at this festival we had a huge whack of common ground at the outset of the conversations, and a fair motivation to learn.) Yeah. I'll keep thinking about it.
The festival's setup was: a bandshell at the bottom of the hill in the local park. In a straightish line up the hill, a double column of tables, each for an organization or vendor. The groups included the local Humanists (who organized and funded the event), Falun Dafa and the Bahai (the only two other explicitly religious groups besides the Quakers!), one anti-domestic-violence group, a housing co-op raising money for Amnesty, the Green Party (on my one side), Community Money (on my other side), and
pnijjar's Fair Vote Ontario across the way from our table. It seemed to me that there were fewer hemp and craft vendors than I remember from last year, which was fine by me.There was bright sun all day, and it was brutal. I'm glad for the sunscreen I put on, for the tree that provided partial shade, and for the sun umbrella we could move around for better shade. I went through 3 litres of water, probably a day's record for me. Plus another 500ml over dinner.
The organized program started around noon. They alternated bands and speakers at the bandshell. The sound setup was bad: the bands were audible all the way up the hill, but the speakers were only audible to the lower 1/3 of the tables. Which meant the majority of people at the festival couldn't hear the speakers. I asked one of the organizers about this; he asked the sound guy, and the sound guy said that was as good as he could do. I hope this can be fixed for next year.
I was the first presenter. I was preceded by a band, who played fairly good electronica. 20 people in the audience when I got there, and maybe 10 when I finished; and 5 of those were other Quakers. But, near the beginning when I looked up, there were a few dozen people standing a way up the hill, around the tables, listening.
The only other speakers I heard were
pnijjar, who did a fine job explaining the Ontario Voter Referendum on proportional representation in just ten minutes, something I could never have done. I also heard a speech by a (30s-ish) woman begging everyone to reach out to teenagers, to look past the violent media they consume and try and guide them to better options, and don't write them off because they look scary. She seemed more passionate than many of the people I saw. I really would've preferred being able to hear more of the speakers.At the Quaker table, we had anywhere from 3 to 5 people around at any time; a total of 9 of us over the day. I was surprised at how much difference that made, just for myself, compared with last year when I was alone for at least half of the day. Only off-and-on visitors to the booth. But we seemed to hit a critical mass of visitors a few times, when conversations would draw in other visitors. That was neat. I believe I saw the same happening across the way, at the Fair Vote Ontario table. I didn't see it happen at the Green Party tent.
My favourite moment was mid-afternoon, when I saw a guy with a Perl tee-shirt walk past. So I jumped up and accosted him. It turns out he's a friend of
elbie_at_trig and thingo. He came over and we had a wonderful wide-ranging conversation for about half an hour (and I really need to learn more about Martin Buber's I and Thou, which he compared to Quakerism's "answering that of God in each other". Also I need to email his girlfriend some information about google labs and public-transit..) Elbie came by once or twice for a chat and eventually dragged him away. ;)I suppose I could have more to say about the festival but I feel done for this post.
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Sorry I didn't stop by to say hello, by the way. I think I saw you a couple of times (in the booth for the housing co-op?), but I was trying to juggle my kids in the stroller, Elbie and J. near the bandshell, and another friend with his kid at the play structure. It worked out fine, though -- all of the above ended up coming over for a feast that evening.
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Oh, didn't realize you were, like, right *there* and stuff. All told, I might've gone over myself to play.
Though, I was having a lot of fun talking with clvrmnky. Is that the sign of being a grownup, that you'd rather talk than play?
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And I totally agree about proselytization sometimes being a form of violence. It's a tricky problem to think about where the ethical boundaries are.
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Maybe in my case it's mental laziness and boredom. :)
Here's Frankie's conversation in case you feel like it.
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It's a fine club, though. Good company. :)
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Did you like the movie overall?
I've read up on it, and it looked too heavy-handed for my tastes.
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The Quaker comment comes after he's given away all the illegal weapons he's transporting just in time for the government agents eager to arrest him to not find any evidence. That way his actions APPEAR innocent, like a plane load of Quakers.
My LJ post today has more details.
The line about evil prevailing is SO true! He's got a lot of other good lines. The main point of the movie is to show how far the chain of death and blood-on-one's-hands goes. Even after his brother is murdered in front of him trying to prevent civilians from being slaughtered, Cage's character still continues his weapons deals.
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I'm often guilty of mumbling, so the title is I and Thou by Martin Buber
The notions of "practicing living dialogue" and "religion as presence" in his philosophy really came to mind while we were chatting. Amazon also has a pile of criticism and review of Buber. Heady stuff. I admit I have no looked closely at most of this in years.
Right now I'm reading a T. H. Huxley essay on the anthropology of theism, specifically by looking at old testament books as fossilized remains. What a joker!
-- clvrmnky
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...Just now I googled "buber quakerism" and came across a marvelour resource of pamphlets published by a Quaker press and put onto the web, including one by Buber, "The Way Of Man According To The Teachings Of Hasidism".
The foreward is incredibly rich, and I will be printing out the pamphlet to read. I know far too little about Hasidism, but there are some surprising similarities here with the Quaker style of mysticism.
This, particularly, spoke to me:
For Hasidism, as for Buber’s philosophy of
dialogue, one cannot love God unless one loves his fellow man, and for this love to be real it must be love of each particular man in his created uniqueness and it must take place for its own sake and not for the sake of any reward, even the salvation or perfection of one’s soul.
Hasidism is a mysticism which hallows community
and everyday life rather than withdraws from it, rejecting
asceticism and the denial of the life of the senses in favor of the joy that can transform and re-direct the “alien
thoughts,” or fantasies, that distract man from the love of
God. Despair, to Hasidism, is worse even than sin, for it
leads one to believe oneself in the power of sin and hence to give in to it. One must overcome the pride that leads one to compare himself with others, but he must not forget that in himself, as in all men, is a unique value which must be realized if the world is to be brought to perfection.