Over the past many months, Gather Well, as an organization made up of individuals each with our own unique histories and ways of perceiving, experiencing and expressing ourselves, has worked toward collating the diversity of perspectives we hold with regard to the violence taking place in Israel and Palestine. We have found in ourselves a range of feelings: terror, rage, grief, overwhelm, confusion, powerlessness, as well as surges of empowerment through solidarity and mobilization. With this writing and with regard to any issue we face as a collective, we wish to remain true to our values: to respond not react, to be relational and intentional, to remain humble and aware of our blind spots, and to keep our hearts open in the face of pain and difficulty.

We want to be thoughtful in speaking on behalf of the organization whilst each of us as individuals are in our own processes. It is fair to say, however, that as an organization, Gather Well holds a vision of collective healing and peacebuilding, and we acknowledge that genocidal violence and systemic oppression create unacceptable conditions for life to flourish. 

We stand alongside millions in calling for a permanent ceasefire in the region. We call on ourselves as well, those of us who are part of the so-called “United States”, where our organization and stakeholders are mostly located, to name our own long history of genocide and colonial violence, the likes of which we haven’t begun to collectively acknowledge, let alone make earnest attempts at reparations and repair. We view violence at any scale as symptoms of dehumanization and othering, and more deeply, as symptoms of pain and trauma. We see the roots of what is transpiring in Israel and Palestine, as systemic and intergenerational,  stemming from European/Anglo colonization and genocide worldwide. 

The complex history of religious and cultural conflict, statehood, and belonging in this region can’t adequately be addressed here, and especially not on social media, where the comments section by default, promotes exchanges that further perpetuate division and the disembodiment of our deepest feelings, with no capacity to support and work with that level of activation. It is utterly heartbreaking that while there is an immediate and dire situation unfolding, many online spaces further aggravate division and distract from the deeper work that peace and liberation require. 

For this reason, we have chosen so far, with the exception of one post early on, not to bring this topic to social media, where we believe it is impossible to engage in complex, embodied relating. We have tended to use our social media as a tool to engage, and primarily to invite people to join our programs and do work with each other, face-to-face. We feel strongly that it is within the interpersonal, relational field that we can more deeply see and feel each other, and that greater potential emerges for bridging the gaps that separate us. From this place we can start to create the kind of world we know is possible. 

It is also important to name, as many of you are aware, that the horrors taking place in Gaza are not the only wide-scale violence that is worthy of our attention. While the violence taking place in Palestine and Israel is receiving robust and necessary attention, so too should the ongoing atrocities occurring across the globe, including in Myanmar, Tigray, Haiti, Sudan, DR Congo, Ukraine and elsewhere. All of life, human and non-human, is sacred and all of these conflicts are worthy of our critical thought, compassionate action, and the summoning of our energies toward ending violence and oppression in any and all of the ways we are able. 

We believe that in order to achieve greater balance on a global sociocultural and ecological level, we must work toward equilibrium within ourselves, and within our relationships. Our organization’s aim is to get to the roots of disconnected, imbalanced, “othering” beliefs and behaviors. We endeavor to ask questions of ourselves and others that expand our perception and our ability to engage reality from an embodied place. From here, we can learn to stay with discomfort long enough to allow it to disrupt our patterns of complacency, of turning away, numbing out, dissociating, and blaming, to pause long enough for solutions beyond the reactionary to emerge, for a different kind of generative pattern to occur, one of interconnected responsibility, relational reciprocity, solidarity, and so forth. We see the individual is inseparable from the larger whole. We have the opportunity to effect change by transforming our consciousness and therefore our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. Redirecting our projections of what’s wrong with the world towards the shadow aspects of our own hearts is necessary in creating radical change. 

The kinds of questions we encourage ourselves and others to consider:

• How do I participate in perpetuating systems of violence and oppression, even in small ways? Where am I complicit? 
• Where are the seeds of war and division inside of me, in my life, in my relationships? What do I do when confronted with them? 
• In what ways do I “other”, dehumanize, deem someone less valuable than myself, in subtle and overt ways? 
• If I am in a position of power, privilege, or the benefactor of rights and privileges that have been stripped from others, what reparational actions could I take in my relationships, in my own community, on the land where I live?
• Where might I be of service to peacemaking? 
• What do I have, as a unique and feeling person, to offer this moment in time? 
• What kind of world do I yearn to see and contribute to the creation of?

We strive to do this work together, in community. We do this by engaging students in our programs to become agents of change in their own lives, to become compassionate, skilled, and discerning guides with the ability to hold brave, courageous space for others. We are not suggesting that one needs to be “healed” (if there is such a thing) in order for the world to change, but rather we intend for anyone who comes into our system to return to the places where they live with an increased capacity to generate healing in their relationships by way of their particular gifts. 

Gather Well does not have the solution to ending these cycles of brutality. We sincerely hope that the transformative work Gather Well does contributes in some small way to the betterment of humanity.

Finally, we continue to offer our work as a prayer – to those who are displaced, hungry, afraid, whose lives have been shattered; to those lost souls enacting violence, that they may awaken from the delusion of separateness and supremecy; and in gratitude to all who choose not to turn away, who offer your time, care, voices, and action toward ending violence, alleviating suffering, and living in service to peace.