Gentle Action

The origin of the Pari Centers concern with ethics dates back to 1989 when David Peat was invited to give the keynote address to the Royal Society of Canada. This led to their report The Cost of Inaction. Peat’s 1989 address explored implications inherent in chaos theory for public policy. This was followed by study papers by Peat for the Foresight Group of the Science Council of Canada.

The concept of Gentle Action was born as a result of these reports, plus discussions with policy makers, diplomats, business leaders, economists, aid workers and business consultants and led to the exploration of a number of examples. In turn, this research activity gave rise to a robust network of individuals and organizations who are responding in a highly positive way to the notion of Gentle Action.

Before Gentle Action can take place a period of ‘creative suspension,’ is necessary; a dissolution of the fixed responses and structures of the organization that allows essential human creativity to emerge. A‘creative and watchful’ suspension acts to expose and dissolve inherent mechanistic responses and allows a faster, subtler, more creative organism to unfold.

In 2008 David Peat published Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World in which he asks: How can we build a better world for our families, our businesses, our institutions, society and ourselves? He goes on to provide clear answers: Rather then treating situations as external to ourselves, the keys to the issues we face today demand solutions from within. He shows how we can exercise more effective, creative and non-invasive action in everything from the local to the international level.