The following principles emerged from several years' work
with social change leaders in Satyana's Leading with Spirit program. We offer
these not as definitive truths, but rather as key learnings and guidelines
that, taken together, comprise a useful framework for "spiritual activism."
Transformation of motivation from anger/fear/despair to compassion/love/purpose.
This is a vital challenge for today's social change movement. This is
not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the
face of
social
injustice. Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against
evil to working for love, and the long-term results are very different,
even
if the outer
activities appear virtually identical. Action follows Being, as the Sufi
saying goes. Thus "a positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair" (Dalai
Lama).
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Non-attachment to outcome. This is difficult to put into practice, yet
to the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise
and
fall
with our successes and failures—a sure path to burnout. Hold a clear
intention, and let go of the outcome—recognizing that a larger wisdom
is always operating. As Gandhi said, "the victory is in the doing," not
the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances: "Planning
is invaluable, but plans are useless."(Churchill)
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Integrity is your protection. If your work has integrity, this will tend
to protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep
negative energy from others by becoming "transparent" to it, allowing
it to pass through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness
practice that might be called "psychic aikido."
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Integrity in means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in
the fruit of one's work. A noble goal cannot be achieved utilizing ignoble
means.
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Don't demonize your adversaries. It makes them more defensive and less
receptive to your views. People respond to arrogance with their own arrogance,
creating
rigid polarization. Be a perpetual learner, and constantly challenge
your own views.
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You are unique. Find and fulfill your true calling. "It is better to tread
your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully." (Bhagavad
Gita)
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Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This is a vital
challenge for our times. This does not mean indulging falsehood or corruption.
It
means moving from "us/them" thinking to "we" consciousness,
from separation to cooperation, recognizing that we human beings are ultimately
far more alike than we are different. This is challenging in situations
with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Be hard on the
issues,
soft on the people.
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Your work is for the world, not for you. In doing service work, you are
working for others. The full harvest of your work may not take place
in your lifetime,
yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for future generations.
Let your fulfillment come in gratitude for being called to do this work,
and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, fortitude, and
forgiveness as you can muster.
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Selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. "It
is in giving that we receive." We are sustained by those we serve, just
as we are blessed when we forgive others. As Gandhi says, the practice of satyagraha
("clinging to truth") confers a "matchless and universal power" upon
those who practice it. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because
it cultivates an expanded sense of self that includes all others.
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Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself
from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and
learn
to move in the world with a broken heart. As Gibran says, "Your pain
is the medicine by which the physician within heals thyself." When
we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that
heals
the world. This is what Gandhi understood so deeply in his principles of
ahimsa and satyagraha. A broken heart becomes an open heart, and genuine
transformation begins.
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What you attend to, you become. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately
you become that which you most deeply focus your attention upon. You
reap what
you sow, so choose your actions carefully. If you constantly engage in
battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love,
you become love
itself.
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Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it all out. There are larger
'divine' forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their
precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering
yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. "The
first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening." If you genuinely
ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully—you
are working in accord with these larger forces, and you become the instrument
for their music.
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Love creates the form. Not the other way around. The heart crosses the
abyss that the mind creates, and operates at depths unknown to the mind.
Don't
get trapped by "pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced
by an optimism concerning divine nature, or you will overlook the cure of
grace." ( Martin Luther King) Let your heart's love infuse your work
and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different
from what you imagine.