Gene knudsen hoffman biography of mahatma

I met Gene Knudsen Hoffman, the originator of Compassionate Listening, in 1995.

During her long and active life, Gene was a Quaker, writer, poet, actress and

international peace-maker.

Gene became my mentor for the last years of her active

life. One of the first quotes that I recall being moved by and challenged by is this

one:

“For most of my forty years with the peace movement, I felt that something was

missing, something was out of harmony.

Somehow, we peace people, who wanted

no enemy, always seemed to have one.”

Gene tells of an experience she had in 1980 in London at a Quaker conference.

Gene knudsen hoffman biography of mahatma gandhi

She

saw a notice posted that read, “1:00 worship for the tortured and the torturer.”

Previously she had only thought about the oppressed – never the oppressor. Now

she began to explore the idea that the oppressor in any given situation was

wounded and was worthy of and in need of compassion.

Ge