Namaste. Divine passion in me honors divine passion in you. From this space of universal compassion, we are one. All is related. So may it be.

When I first read Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, I was profoundly challenged to live more fully in the moment; to stop lumbering the heavy baggage of the past around with me and to stop projecting my wants and desires for the future into every moment. Live in the stillness of the present. Accept the way things are.

But I was left with an unanswered question from The Power of Now. What about the moments when, like the Duck in Babe watching his friend Roseanna being carved up for Christmas dinner, your only response is “the way things are STINKS”? How do you question injustice without losing the peace of non striving presence? A New Earth answers this question so well.

The answer is self awareness. Seek change by being the change. Grow in an ever deepening awareness of the “I am” who manifests as whatever role or persona is necessary for the moment without ever becoming lost in an over identification with any particular role or persona.

Easy? Far from it. Let unpack a spiritual approach to social activism, step by step.

What Causes Fill You With Passion?

First, what issues or causes fill you with a burning desire to affect change? What causes take you out of your comfort zone in order to make a significant difference? What issues get a bodily reaction from you?

Is it environmentalism? Poverty? Racism? Education? Homophobia? War and conflict?

Notice what gets the strongest reactions from you, and ask yourself why. Do certain issues or causes touch some pain in your own life? Have you seen first hand the devastating effects of poverty or racism? Have people close to you been hurt by fear and hatred? Without judging your motivation as right or wrong, simply become aware of where your passion comes from. No doubt, this awareness will put your motivation into a much broader context.

The ego, or small self, hates that sort of awareness. The ego thrives on mindless rants and raves, even when the cause is justifiable. The ego loves to keep passion on a primal level. Injustice is wrong, and so I am justified in seeking change.

A spiritual approach to social activism will seek to avoid the pitfalls of the ego, and instead attempt to operate out of the largest Self possible. The large Self is nothing less than a manifestation of what Tolle calls the new earth or what Jesus calls “the kingdom within.”

What are the pitfalls of the ego in relation to social activism?

1. Unconscious suffering.

The small self believes that suffering is redemptive. Suffering gives you an identity as a martyr or a good person.

Nick Hornby, author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, also wrote a novel called How To Be Good. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family in England. The mother is a doctor who became a doctor in order to be good, but had an affair and wondered if her one bad act nullified all the goodness of her life.

In a moment of intense guilt, she said this- “I want the day to be as unpleasant and as demanding as any working day has ever been, just so that at the end of it I have regained something of myself. I want to look at blocked rectums and oozing warts and all sorts of things that would make the rest of the world sick to its collective stomach, and hope that by so doing I will feel like a good person again. A bad mother maybe, and a terrible wife, undoubtedly, but a good person.” (Nick Horny, How To Be Good, page 52)

The husband, on the other hand, is a crank. He’s cynical and obnoxious, that is until he meets a homeless man who heals his bad back and he has a spiritual awakening of sorts. He begins giving away the family’s possessions, and eventually invites the homeless man to live in their home without asking the rest of the family. He and the homeless man, named Good News, begin asking the neighbors to give up their spare bedrooms for homeless people. He continues his mission to help the homeless, blind to the effects on his family.

The second egoic form of social activism is expecting others to have the same energy as you do.

2. My cause is everyone’s cause.

In How To Be Good, neither the husband nor the wife were wholly right or wrong in their attitude. The affect of the novel is that they are both operating mindlessly and don’t realize the pain they are bringing on the other. They are so busy playing the roles of “good” people that they fail to see their primary connection to each other.

3. I can save the world

The third form of egoic social activism is the savior mentality, or arrogant self importance. George Carlin railed against this form of egoic environmentalism. He felt that “Save the Planet” was a form of mindless arrogance

“Theres nothing wrong with the planet,” he said. “It’s the people who are messed up.”

Carlin offers a profound example of the famous Eistein phrase- “You can’t solve problems with the same level of consciousness that created the problem in the first place.”

Jesus described this as putting new wine into old wine skins, or putting new cloth on an old garment. They will compromise each other. I suspect Jesus was offering a sarcastic comment on the attempt to wrap new thought in an older, legalistic framework.

Consider this parable in relation to ecology. The old framework is that the earth is the dominion of humans. People should control nature for the good of humans. This thinking created the ecological disaster. Now the new perspective is to care for nature, but nature is still separate.

If you think you can save the trees, save the whales, save languages, save the PLANET, then you obviously think you can control nature, which is the same thinking that created ecological disaster in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong with going green. There’s nothing wrong with living more simply and there’s nothing wrong with sustainable energy. Just don’t think you are saving the planet. Nature is a lot more powerful than your small self. There’s a far more wholistic way to be an ecological activist, and I will come back to that, but don’t fall for the egoic trick that you can be the earth’s savior.

4. Stick with Tried and Tested Thinking

The ego wants you to keep thinking the way you always have, in order to retain a sense of identity from familiar thought patterns. This can be dangerous.

Some hunters chartered a plane to fly them to a remote area in Africa to join a safari. Two weeks later the pilot returned to fly them back. He took a look at the animals they had shot and told them, "This plane won't take more than one wild buffalo. You'll have to leave the other one behind."

The hunters protested. "But last year the pilot let us take two in a plane this size,"

The pilot was doubtful, but he finally said, "Well, if you did it last year I guess we can do it again."

The plane took off with the three men and the two buffaloes, but it couldn't gain height and crashed into a hill. The hunters climbed out and looked around. One hunter asked the other, "Where do you think we are?" The other hunter inspected the surroundings and replied, "I think we are about two miles north of where we crashed last year."

There is only one way to be conscious of old thoughts. That is, to think new thoughts.

How many of your thoughts about social injustice are simply old thoughts circling your mind? Become more aware. Test the assumptions of your old thoughts.

So there is a mindless form of activism. However, what is a mindful path of activism? Let me offer 4 ingredients for conscious activism.

Conscious Activism for a New Earth

1. Let go of the outcome

Ask yourself the question. When you come to the end of your days, and the issue that you have cared so deeply about has not changed significantly, will you feel like a failure? What will it mean for your identity if you have failed to significantly affect your cause?

Mark’s gospel (Mark 14 text below) records a fascinating encounter between a woman of dubious character and Jesus near the end of his life. The woman poured very costly perfume over Jesus’ head and body. Many who were present were indignant. The money could have been used to help the poor. Jesus took quite a different approach. He said to those gathered, “You will always have the poor with you.” But this woman “did what she could.” Luke described the same situation by saying that the woman had done a beautiful thing.

The woman’s inner presence appeared to be aligned to her outer purpose. She did what was right for her and no more judgment was required.

Could you come to the point where you could say of your activism, “I did what I could, and that was enough”?

I heard a story that beautifully captures the point of conscious activism.

In an old cemetery in New England, there is an unusual epitaph. The name of the deceased and her dates had been scoured away by wind and rain, but there was a carving of a tree with roots and branches... and among them the words, "She attended well and faithfully to a few worthy things." At first thought, this seems pathetic, but when you think about it, it’s the greatest and most satisfying legacy.

"She attended well and faithfully to a few worthy things."
(this is taken from a book of meditations called Walking Toward Morning by Victoria Safford. The selection is called, "Set in Stone.")

Do what you can and know that this is enough. You don’t have to save the planet. You just have to think mindfully, love deeply and live authentically.

2. Don’t Over identify With the Cause

Now reverse the question. If you come to the end of your life, and the cause you cared so deeply about is solved. I mean, completely. There is no longer homophobia or war or poverty, or global warming is a problem of the past. How will you feel about your identity? You could rightly feel satisfied, but should it define your essence?

Consider this parable- A woman was in a coma. She heard a voice as if from another realm.
“Who are you?” the voice said.
“I’m the wife of the mayor,” she replied.
“I did not ask whose wife you are but who you are.”
“I’m the mother of four children.”
“I did not ask whose mother you are, but who you are.”
“I’m a philanthropist.”
“I did not ask what you did with your money, but who you are.”
And so it went. No matter what she replied, she did not seem to give a satisfactory answer to the question, “Who are you?”
“I’m a Christian.”
“I did not ask what your religion is but who you are.”
“I’m the one who went to church every day and always helped the poor and needy.”
“I did not ask what you did but who you are.”
She evidently failed to understand the point of the enquiry, for she was sent back to life. When she recovered from her illness, she set about finding who she was. And that made all the difference.
(slightly adapted from Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight, p. 140)

Do what you can, wherever you can, for whoever you can, but don’t ever forget that your goodness cannot fully define who you are. For good is DONE to others. At your essence, you cannot do to others, for you are one with others. There is no you and others. At your essence, you are part of Universal consciousness. When you act consciously, your inner presence aligns with your outer purpose and whatever you do, no matter how small, is perfectly sufficient.

3. There are no enemies

So much activism grows out of the idea that there is an enemy who is unjust, and the unjust enemy is oppressing your friend or the one you care about. George Bush is the problem, or Newt Gingrich is the problem. The terrorists are the problem, or the health care system is the problem. This is another trick of the ego, and is another example of trying to pour new wine into old wine skins.

George Bush may be contributing to problems. The health care system could be improved. However, lasting change will only come when your small self stops making enemies out of people and things. If you want things to be different, then you need to be different; think differently, respond mindfully, become more aware.

One of the most beautiful examples of conscious activism that I am aware of is the work of some Buddhist monks in Thailand. They were very concerned about deforestation in Thailand, and wondered what they could do that would effect lasting change. Rather than tie themselves to trees, an action that immediately creates more levels of drama and conflict, they decided to ordain the trees. They tied saffron robes around the trees, and ordained them. The saffron robes indicate that the trees are Buddha himself. Those who would chop the trees down, would be chopping down the Buddha himself. Now I’m not suggesting that this strategy would work in the US, if we painted a Jesus beard and sandals on endangered trees. We don’t have the same respect for religion. Religion doesn’t have the same cultural authority in the west. We need to find equally creative strategies.

If you become one with the one you see as a victim, and also become one with the one you see as the perpetrator, then your activism will be so much more conscious. There are no enemies. Enemies are a creation of the small self.

4. Be the change

I offer one last example of conscious activism. If you want the world to be different, then be different. The Hasidic tradition offers this story-

An old man was walking down the road. A horseman appeared out of nowhere and charged straight for the old man, so that he had to throw himself into a ditch just to save his life. As he clambered out of the ditch, he shook his fist at the horseman. He waved his fist and cried out, “May you be blessed. May your deepest desire be fulfilled”

A passerby was in shock. He said to the old man, “Why would you wish such a good thing for someone who nearly killed you?”

The old man answered, “If his deepest desires were fulfilled, he would have no need to run an old man off the road.”

You are the old man. Someone has tried to run you off the road. Your friend is the old man. Someone or some system has tried to run your friend off the road. The one you care about is the old man. Someone or some system has tried to oppress the one you care about. How will you respond?

If you respond consciously, you will most certainly do something. You will be the difference you want to see in the world. You will respond out of your largest sense of self, your “I am” that knows inner peace and acts with an outer clarity and purpose that is in complete alignment with your inner peace.

You will act consciously, you will not be fooled by the tricks of the ego, you will see the situation as a connected whole, and you will be part of the miraculous realization of a new earth.

Mark 14:

3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’ Mark 14; 3-9