In the introduction, I found two key themes, interbeing and the primacy of love. Interbeing is word coined by Thich Nhat Hanh for an idea expressed so well by Martin Luther King, Jr.
All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.
A spiritual activist is one whose work is driven by, ground in, the awareness of this interdependence - her desire for change is rooted in the knowledge that all suffering is her own suffering, and the compassion that flowers from that knowledge. So when she sees suffering in the world, she is moved to respond - to change the systems and structures in the world that create suffering as well as responding directly and compassionately to those who suffer.
And the tactics a spiritual activist chooses are also rooted in that knowledge, because those he works against, whose behavior he endeavors to change, are also his brothers and sisters. Because of that, it is impossible for the spiritual activist to fully separate means from ends. As Coretta Scott King writes,
Noncooperation and nonviolent resistance were means of stirring and awakening moral truths in ones opponents, of evoking the humanity which, Martin believed, existed in each one of us. The means, therefore, had to be consistent with the ends.
The primacy of love is the second essential element of spiritual activism. Martin Luther King, Jr., writes
To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.
This ethic of love affects our relationships to our coworkers and our opponents. For myself, I am profoundly imperfect in its application - but the knowledge of it informs and teaches me all day. For example, an organization with which I am deeply involved is having a small financial crisis - something that is affecting so many activist organizations in these times. If I ask the question, what is best for the organization, I get a clear answer. But when I instead ask the question, What would love do?, I get a deeper and more complex answer, that is more aware of the humanity of the staff, instead of seeing them as only vehicles to moving the mission of the organization.
As I reflect on these things, I have many questions. One has to do with effectiveness - are spiritual activists less effective, and have less impact, because their view is more complex and because they might be unwilling to consider tactics that are aggressive? Or are they more effective because their work serves the larger goal of creation of a new world, a "beloved community"? Is the difference in effectiveness only short-run vs long-run?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
