February 19th, 2010
To be in the world nonviolently means learning to hold the tension of opposites, trusting that the tension itself will pull our hearts and minds to a third way of thinking and acting. In particular, we must learn to hold the tension between the reality of the moment and the possibility that something better might emerge. The insight at the heart of nonviolence is that we live in a tragic gap…a gap between the way things are and the way we know they might be. It is a gap that never has been and never will be closed. If we want to live nonviolent lives, we must learn to stand in the tragic gap, faithfully holding the tension between reality and possibility.
-Parker Palmer
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