Since we turned the page on the New Year, so much has been happening at such a mind-numbing pace, playing out on the streets and on our screens. What is yours to do? What is mine to do? How can we stay true to our values, do something that feels constructive, and act in the service of our neighbors and the greater good of our shared humanity? All things that make up the ground floor of a healthy democracy.
Indeed, activism takes many forms and can look like taking to the streets, leaning into a political cause, giving to organizations that are caring for basic human needs on the frontline, building a bridge over some dividing line to have a conversation with someone you know and care about, or a myriad of other outer, tangible things that you feel nudged to do to just be a good human. When things feel out of control, sometimes doing anything—no matter how small or seemingly insignificant—just makes you feel better.
As someone who works as a retreat leader and spiritual guide, my work can at times feel intangible and not very activist or “productive” but I remind myself that the mystics of every generation have been in this same place. So I am doubling down to mobilize – with contemplation. “What?!” you might ask. “With contemplation?! We need something a lot more productive than navel-gazing! Why waste time sitting on a pillow in contemplation? We need action, and now!”
This reaction makes sense but when life is not making sense and one feels small and helpless in the face of seemingly immovable forms of injustice and unchecked power, not doing can be a powerful way to mobilize and address the deeper roots of any crisis that, if we are honest, live in all of us.
Indeed over the course of history, authoritarianism and all forms of top-down, might-makes-right regimes have divided people against one another and from their deepest knowing as human beings. Authoritarianism has many faces and depends on blindness. It relies on people believing that might does make right, that “because I say so it is so.” . And that as the more people say it is so, it takes on a reality of its own and it becomes so.
Contemplation, on the other hand, opens eyes. As we get still, like the silt settling in a glass of river water, the stirred-up impressions within us settle, and we see clearly. We can separate truth from lies. We can tap into the deeper knowing of love that is the ground of being that lives within each of us and throughout our world.
Authoritarianism depends on fear. It asks us to look to a larger-than-life figure or system of authority for what is real and to bow our own consciousness into submission. Contemplation, on the other hand, opens hearts and thus diminishes fear. In biblical language, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Contemplation allows us to experience the deep love at the center of the universe, and thus strengthens us to stand in love ourselves whatever our chosen form of activism and—no matter how much we disagree—find a pathway to truly love our neighbor as our self.
Authoritarianism fears groundedness and connection. Authoritarianism relies on de-stabilizing people, disrupting their healthy nervous systems, and isolating them from one another. It fears people who are deeply grounded and immovable. It fears people who are connected to one another, who stand strong in community.
The contemplative path provides groundedness and connection. Contemplation grounds us deeply in truth and love. It connects us, through empathy and compassion, with our sisters and brothers. We experience communal groundedness and together, live out of love.
Whatever outer forms of activism we are called to, let’s also mobilize contemplatively and trust that in doing so, we unleash seeds of love.
