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How to be a Political Activist
Andrew Paterson—08/2003 |
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 OLITICAL
ACTIVISM is much more
than turning out on voting day and ticking a ballot
sheet. That is far too passive and ineffective, and
will NEVER be enough to halt the current erosion of
community and the destruction of our planet. Instead,
to become a bona fide activist, we have to do much
more: we have to have such a burning desire to make
a difference that we are willing to embody the solution
in ourselves, without only resorting to the all too
easy recourse of vilifying politicians, governments
and/or multinationals (although it is important to
first identify the problem step in trying to find a
solution). To embody the solution takes courage, commitment
and a deep understanding of the power of our minds. |
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| Think of two perspectives of reality: the first is
that we are all separate human beings with our own
thoughts and actions on a particular planet that is
finite and being rapidly destroyed. In this perspective
we struggle to achieve political freedom and economic
fairness, whilst at the same time trying to limit greedy
governments and corporations from taking more than
their fair share, and taking it in such a manner that
is destructive to the environment and cruel to other
life-forms. This paradigm is the one held by most activists — the
kind that takes part in protests, hand-outs out leaflets
and is generally quite vociferous about injustice. |
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| The second perspective is one in which we are all
connected by one mind in a world that is the creation
of that mind. Unlike the first scenario in which matter
is the foundation of reality, in this one it is mind
that is that foundation. Our minds collectively construct
every aspect of what we see "out there", including
the injustice, destruction, cruelty and greed that
we perceive. In this scenario, we realize that vilifying
the projected image of "mind" is not ultimately
helpful… in
fact, as all minds are connected, negative emotions
like this only serve to exacerbate the problem. This
paradigm is the one held by many New Age and spiritually
developed people — the kind that meditates and
uses visualisation to modify reality (but the kind
that is also unfortunately politically naive). |
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| Naturally, there are many activists who like to think
they can hold both perspectives. However, the bottom
line is that these two paradigms are so fundamentally
different that it takes some serious juggling to hold
both. More likely, traditional activists tend to hold
to an earth-based "Gaia" pseudo-spirituality
which is in fact a souped-up version of materialism.
This belief is an eco-spirituality which renders the
human being once more to a cog in a machine, albeit
a green eco-machine complete with Earth spirits and
invisible energies. True spirituality is by definition
our relationship with the infinite, whereas this form
of spirituality relates primarily to a finite Earth
Mother. The first acknowledges an open system whereas
the second a closed system. |
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| Ecology, of course, is essential to our understanding
of the world and the consequences of our physical actions.
Without it's understanding, the destruction of
the environment would probably be a lot worse than
it is today, and ecology by itself certainly offers
important solutions to improving the health of this
planet. But ecology can only be incorporated into spirituality
if it acknowledges the fundamental role of mind (used
in the larger sense of the word - spirit) in the actual
creation of reality. Otherwise ecology is "just" a
useful tool which must not be elevated to a central
status in any personal philosophy or paradigm. If it
is treated as THE central perspective, then it will
only lead to greater materialism and therefore more
psychological pathologies. |
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| However, if ecology can acknowledge the central role
of consciousness, then it would demand a very different
approach to finding solutions to the ecological problems
of the world. That approach would include serious self-examination,
becoming psychologically ecological, accepting responsibility
for our role in creating this problem, stopping shadow
projection onto "those responsible" and acknowledging
that there is and will always be something much bigger
than the destiny of this beautiful planet, and that
our responsibility is not so much to heal the planet
but to heal our minds and perceptions. This would mean
letting go of desperation, anger, materialism and trying
to control outcomes. |
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| Unfortunately, most ecology today does not acknowledge
consciousness's central role, which is why it is not
being as effective as it can in stopping this looming
ecological crisis. The true activist should be cautious
of holding too tightly to an ecocentrism, or hanging
around too much with those hardened eco-warriors. Much
of today's ecological and activist moments have descended
to pure reactionism. Political activism wants social
change so badly because it invariably views people
as victims of a political system… once
again, cogs in a machine. This paradigm is self-defeating
because disempowered people — denying
people their role in reality creation is seriously
disempowering, and disempowerment of the people is
the very last thing that effects societal change. The
fundamental role of consciousness must be acknowledged
if we are to truly heal society and this planet. |
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| So the true activist first of all must acknowledge
the power of mind. There is no other road to healing;
consciousness must be fundamental. In the process of
doing this he or she realizes that the root cause of
the ecological destruction and social injustices in
the world are not "out there" but "in here"… in
our own minds, and it is therefore "in here" that
we must start the healing process. |
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| If we see ecological destruction "out there" in
the world, there is ecological destruction in our minds:
we are spewing out negative emotions and destructive
thinking. How can we expect the world to clean-up when
we have not cleaned ourselves up? We have to take responsibility
for this, we have to learn psychological ecology (see
article on Psychological Ecology for more info). If
we see social injustice and cruelty "out there" in
the world, there is social injustice and cruelty in
our minds: we are acting like a repressive dictator
to certain aspects of ourselves. We are suppressing
our spirit, imprisoning what we believe is unacceptable
to ourselves and others, and hurting a tender part
of ourselves. This is the root cause of social injustice.
It might sound trite and self-centred, but it will
only sound this way to a person who does not acknowledge
the central role of mind in the underpinning of reality. |
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| Having healed the mind, the reality changes automatically.
A person who has healed themselves in this way has
an incredibly infectious influence on each and every
person he or she meets — much more so than a
person who just gripes on about the injustice and horror
of it all. This is because the change so desperately
needed is embodied, and just in going about his or
her daily life a healed person has an enormously greater
influence than if he or she went on a thousand angry
political marches. Of course, once a person has healed
in this manner, he or she can consciously and specifically
go out into the world to heal both society and the
planet. There are a few of these individuals in traditional
activist movements but they are, unfortunately, few
and far between (although it is they that make the
biggest contribution, usually unknowingly). |
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So if we want to be an effective political activist,
we are probably better off pursuing a spiritual path
(not a religious-dogma path but a true open-ended spiritual
path), and then incorporating into it outer ecological
and political practices. But if we ever find ourselves
getting angry, frustrated and fearful, then our perspective
has started to creep outwards again, and we are again
embodying the problem and not the solution. At such
times it is important to reaffirm (through contemplation,
meditation and prayer) that there is something much
bigger than our lives, the justice of society and the
destruction of this planet… a something of which
we are and always will be an integral part. This is
the paradox and is called getting our priorities
right!  |
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