Theme Four: “Networked individualism” can be a catalyst for change
“Inner peace usually comes from being heard,” says Len Traubman. “Listening is one of the great acts of love.”
And the catalyst for connectedness.
“Once we feel like someone’s heard us, it resonates, and we feel like a bigger part of something, and we feel encouraged,” says Dinwoodie. Rambam calls it Generation Peace’s “networked individualism: little networks pumping a big global youth brain.”
Connectedness can be the antidote to despair because it promotes “doing.” Koth finds that the optimism of college students flourishes when they are involved in something one-on-one, but fades to hopelessness when faced with larger, systemic issues they feel they can only observe. And yet college freshmen increasingly rank the attainment of inner harmony as vitally important to them, according to a survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute. How to reconcile hopelessness with harmony?
Koth encourages students to be activists. “I work with them to understand the role they can play, whether through political involvement or involvement in other forms,” he says. “By weaving the personal and the political together, our individual path to peace can become a collaborative highway for change.”
As listening is the catalyst for connectedness, so is connectedness the catalyst for change on a systemic level. Because of the electronic universe that Generation Peace is not only living in but defining, this generation can engage in what Len Traubman calls the “citizen-driven models of change.” These models initially work outside of established political structures but are what ultimately rebuild these structures.
For Generation Peace, it is grassroots on a global level, thanks to the ability to share first steps and small successes — citizen-driven models of change — with the worldwide community. The Web becomes the ultimate empowerment tool. On the Internet, small things resonate and radiate quickly, and a community of like-minded individuals can give momentum to a movement that can make a difference.
“Individual survival is an illusion — all life is totally interdependent,” says Len Traubman.
Embedded in community — both the word and the idea — is unity. Ultimately this interdependence and connectedness comes full circle: back to the beginning, back to one.
“Start with self first,” says Grey. “That’s the beginning of real world peace.”
|
