Introduction to the Peace Circle

"The first premise of a circle like this is that everyone's presence is vital - the ones with whom I disagree, the ones I don't quite trust...even my own. Making a concept like this real is not easy, but what we begin to generate when we do so, when we listen with deep respect, when we speak our riskiest truths, when we discover our common humanity, is a collective energy that cannot help but change the world. It's called, for lack of a better word, love, and it's a force older than violence.

And this is what the term "power with" means: finding the leverage to meet my needs and accomplish my goals in partnership with others, not by dominating or outsmarting them or by beating them to the pot of gold. Cultivating the discipline to do this does not mean, as so many people fear, a subordination or loss of self, but precisely the opposite: the fulfillment of self beyond the wildest dreams we might spawn in our isolation."

"I'm convinced that uncoupling our inclination to dominate others to get our way and embracing "power with" them as our prime approach to life is the fundamental emotional shift necessary for the creation of lasting peace."