C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for January 18, 2009
"Spirit in Action: You Can’t Cross the Sea by Staring at the Water"
By Ian Lawton

Namaste. Action hero in me greets action hero in you. I honor the instinct in you to seize the moment with passion and conviction. I honor the courage in you to act decisively without fully knowing the personal cost. I honor the wise knowledge in you that can tell the difference between what can and should be changed NOW, and what is best left alone, at least for the time being. When you act with the purest of motives and broadest of compassion, your actions merge with the flow of life. The game plays the player, music composes the composer, the poem writes the poet, you can’t tell the dance and dancer apart, the dream and the dreamer become one, subject and object merge, and all of life gains a natural flow. Action becomes easier, less anxious, more joyful. Your actions open doors you never imagined. You bear fruit that you never thought possible. Action becomes an antidote to despair. Actions make your life long dreams a present reality.

Anais Nin said, “Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions, stem the dreams again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.”

Speaking of dreams, I HAD a dream. I mean I really had a dream. I’m not just exploiting the connection to Martin Luther King Day. I had a dream last week that I was riding a train and Barack Obama was four seats in front of me on the train. He turned around and asked me to join him. When I sat down next to him, he smiled and said he needed a light break from all the intense policy discussion. “Great”, I thought, “I have a private audience with the most powerful person in the world, and he wants me to tell a joke. Maybe he is going to offer me a job as the White House Jester.” That was all I remember.

I don’t know what the meaning of the dream was, although I have a few guesses. Maybe with the inauguration this week, and all the hopeful energy in the air, it was a reminder to keep my feet on the ground. Maybe it was a reminder for progressives, as the Obama train rides into DC with progressive ideals becoming more prominent, to keep perspective. There is more to learn. There are mistakes to be made. No one, including progressives, has a monopoly on absolute truth.

Can you still be an activist without absolute truth? Can you act decisively with any degree of certainty in life? How do you gain perspective without becoming paralyzed and inactive? How do you balance being and doing? These are some of the questions I want to explore.

I’m sure you spend a good amount of time in thought and introspection. Rightly so. But there comes a time when to use the words of William Shakespeare, we must be “as good in act as we have been in thought.” The point being that your thoughts and your actions need to be in harmony. Action without thought is like shooting without aim. Thought without action is like staring at the sea and wondering why you’re not crossing it.

Balancing Thoughts and Actions/ Faith and Works

I wonder if this is what the Bible is talking about when it says that faith without works is dead. In fact, most of the world religions have different ways of posing the same challenge. That’s why I call action a universal law. Islam uses the same language as Christianity; that of faith and works. There is a Sufi tale that shows the need for balance.

There was once a man who was on his way home with his camel after a successful day at market. He decided to stop at a mosque along the road and offer prayers. He left his camel outside and went in with his prayer mat and spent several hours praising Allah, praying and promising that he’d be a good Muslim in the future, help the poor and be an upstanding pillar of his community. When he emerged it was already dark and lo and behold – his camel was gone! He immediately flew into a violent rage and shook his fist at the sky, yelling: “You traitor, Allah! How could you do this to me? I put all my trust in you and then you go and stab me in the back like this!”

A passing Sufi dervish heard the man yelling and chuckled.

“Listen,” he said, “Trust God but also tie your camel.”

Trust, innocence and faith are part of what drives vision and human compassion, but there is no reason for them to compromise common sense. If you leave the jar of honey open, by morning it will be full of ants. If you leave the milk out of the fridge, it’s going to be off in the morning. (except of course in Michigan, when it will probably be frozen in the morning). No amount of faith is going to change the basic facts of living in this world. No amount of thought is going to get anything useful done in the world if it doesn’t translate into action.

Trust God, but also tie your camel. Or if that language doesn’t work for you, trust life, but also take responsibility for your actions. Bring your thoughts and actions into harmony.

Trust your gut, but verify your assumptions. Act with common sense.

So the first point is to find a balance between thought and action. This balance will create effective action in your life, and make a difference in the world.

Appropriate Action

The world around you is inviting your highest offering, your best actions. Life is offering you all sorts of clues as to what action is appropriate, and when action is appropriate. This is what Buddhism calls “right action.” Jesus described it as “righteousness” or “right behaviors”. Jesus taught about right behaviors by using everyday, nature parables. He spoke of right behavior as a house with a firm foundation that is built on rock. Right action is lasting and durable. The Sufi tradition offers its own parable about following nature’s clues to right action.

There was a very pious man who prayed continually to succeed in life. Then one night he dreamed of going into the woods where he gained understanding. The next morning he went into the woods and wandered for several hours looking for some sign that would provide answers. When he finally stopped to rest, he saw a fox with no legs lying between two rocks. Curious as to how a legless fox could survive, he waited until sunset when he observed a lion come and lay meat before the fox. "Ah, I understand," the man thought. "The secret to success in life is to trust that God will take care of all my needs. I don't need to provide for myself. All I have to do is totally surrender to God." Two weeks later, weakened and starving, the man had another dream. In it he heard a voice say, "Fool. Be like the lion, not like the fox."

Build your foundation on rock. Be like the lion; be self responsible and decisive. Train yourself to be active. Then, when you are in the habit of being active, create a practice of right action in your life. How do you know if an action is right and has a firm foundation? If it’s done with awareness. If it feels true to who you are. If you know you are doing your best in that moment. If it creates the greatest good for the greatest number. Let your right actions serve the good of the world. As MLK said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Of course, the cynical interpretation of the story is that the lion was plumping up the fox, ready for his own feast. But let’s assume that the lion had good intentions.

Effortless Action

Maybe you have heard the expression, “Don’t just do something. Stand there.” Doesn’t that sound bass ackwards? Is it pointing to the value of non action? Is it suggesting that being slow to act can sometimes be valuable? Or is it pointing to the quality with which you act?

I suggest it’s hinting at the ancient Chinese philosophy called “wu wei”. You do it your way, and as Frank Sinatra sang “I do it Wu Wei.” Wu Wei is a phrase that translates as effortless action. The Hindu scriptures, the Vedanta, describe this as “playful action.”

Remember the Bible story about Jesus with Mary and Martha. Martha was in a flap, and Mary was kicking back, chatting with Jesus. Jesus said to Martha, “Don’t just do something. Sit here like Mary. Practice a little wu wei.” I don’t imagine he meant that Martha should do nothing. It’s just that she didn’t have to do everything.

How can you tell if you are acting with too much effort? You look and feel miserable. Its pure ego. Your body language says, “Look at me doing so much and I’m so unappreciated.” Wu wei is action that is pure joy to perform. It’s the sort of action you get thanked for, and you hadn’t realized you’d done anything.

This story out of the Taoist tradition captures wu wei- a woman accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for her life. Miraculously, she came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked her how she managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

In the Tao Te Ching, a Taoist text it says,

“The Master can act without doing anything and teach without saying a word. Things come her way and she does not stop them; things leave and she lets them go.  She has without possessing, and acts without any expectations.  When her work is done, she takes no credit.  That is why it will last forever...   For those who practice effortless action, everything will fall into place.”

We saw a beautiful example of effortless action this week with the amazing crash landing of the plane on the Hudson River. Captain Sullenberger, “Sully”, successfully brought down a plane with 150 people on board. Apparently, the secret to his action was flying in so low to the water that the plane created its own cushion of air (a cushion of protection). He was able to glide the plane to a safe landing on the water. It was almost as if the plane had become one with the water by the time it came to a stop. Sully offered a supreme example of wu wei, effortless action.

You know what I’m talking about. You have wu wei moments in your life, when it doesn’t even feel like action. Very satisfying. Do not try to change the world. You will surely fail. Just love the world, and the world will be changed forever. Do not try to help people. You will surely fail. Just love people, act authentically, and people will be helped immeasurably.

Taking the First Step

Lao Tzu said that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” You are on an incredible journey through a gray zone. Many of you have left behind the religious certainties of the past, with a definite destination and absolute morality. You journey in mystery and wonder.

Today, I invite you to take a step. You don’t have to solve all the problems of the world. You don’t even to have get close to it. Just take a step. You don’t have to take action in every area of your life. Just take a step in one area of your life, and do it today to start the habit of being active. Action is easy. Sometimes the only thing stopping action is that you get in your own way. Get out of your own way, and get active. Take a single step.