It continued as an overt aspect through the next day, and remained as an integrated presence throughout. It helped us build trust in each other, and in the extent of our shared feelings and experience. Here we could invoke the energies of our planet, its peoples, what has gone before, and what is yet to be. We could, and did, send energy to people and places in need. Over the course of the workshop, these rituals deepened in their presence and power.
Every person has a right to their spiritual beliefs.
Many people on our planet today are caught by materialism, and have no spiritual beliefs. In teaching others, and particularly in introductory workshops, the extent of spiritual sharing and exploration must be matched to participants' needs and willingness. However we all agreed spirituality is an essential component of bringing a nonviolent future into being. We spent considerable time looking at four 'areas' of nonviolence - Power, Conflict, Conceptions of nonviolence, Strategy and tactics. We looked at these in detail, both to improve our own understanding, and to explore and practise ways of teaching.