Taking Action

An activist is someone who takes action. The intention behind the action is to raise awareness, and to effect change.

Is it possible that a truly effective activist would be someone who takes action while at the same time challenging their own limiting habits, expectations, judgments, and fears? Could we not learn to free ourselves from rigid political views and expectations; so they we are not limited by notions of right and wrong? Rather, is it possible to be driven by a deeper (let’s say, innate) human integrity and capacity for compassionate action?

What I want to suggest is that our ongoing commitment to transform the world and our ongoing commitment to transform ourselves is, in reality, part of a single process. We can’t do either one effectively without the other. And there’s no more effective way of free ourselves than by letting go of rigidity, political correctness., competition. What are the alternatives? – clarity, openness, a systems-view and the corresponding ability to act both collaboratively and with individual authority.

A key word here is Leadership. Which is precisely the theme of our week-long Sanctuary Training for activists at Manzanita Village in July, facilitated by Michele Benzamin-Miki and myself Caitriona Reed.
You can learn more at Sanctuary Training

Photo of Arundhati Roy from The Hindu May 18

Sanctuary. An Ongoing Training for Activists.

An activist is someone who takes action - in order to bring awareness to and to change situations of injustice.

An effective activist is someone who takes action while at the same time challenging their own limiting habits, expectations, judgments, and fears.

The ongoing commitment to transform the world and the ongoing commitment to transform ourselves is, in reality, the same thing. We can’t do either one effectively without the other.

We are called to be practical, adaptable, and open. A doctrinaire approach self limits. The time is over for rigid adherence to doctrines - Buddhism, Marxism etc. Such things are best used as filters, rather than articles of faith.

We are better off learning from multiple sources. To do so is not to dilute the truth of what we know. It is to go ever deeper into an understanding that works systemically. It is inclusive, and it is essentially creative. It includes those we may have thought we must oppose, it moves toward win-win solutions, it is rooted in basic human values of kindness and mutual co-operation. It is the essence of Anarchism in its original sense. Call it original anarchism. Eros out of Chaos . . .

Look for Kropotkin: Mutual Aid
and Alfred Wallace: The Malay Archipelago
Mix gently and simmer.
Season with Audre Lorde's essay on Uses of the Erotic.

Mmmmm delicious!