Having been a teenager in the 60s, I am very familiar with Social Activism. But what about Sacred Activism? How does it work, and what is ours to do as a sacred activist?
As a teenager, I was against racism, violence, and the VietNam war. I identified more with hippy thinking (I was not into drugs and free love but believed in most of the rest). But as a New Thought person, I needed to rethink the value of activism while living in a place of love.
Then I read Raymont Anderson’s July Science of Mind magazine article: The Business of Us All. Here is an excerpt from his article:
Practicing Sacred Activism
How can we be the change we want to see in the world and live from our commitment to the Beloved Community? How do our words, thoughts, intentions and beliefs become meaningful action?
From Naropa University: Sacred activism is an approach to social justice that synergizes mindful awareness and spirituality with the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. Spirituality, whether secular or non-secular, nurtures roots of hope, self-awareness and sacred community to human rights work, while social justice work activates and focuses spiritual practice on tangible injustices.
This interdisciplinary framework prepares today’s Beloved Community with the skills needed to be active changemakers while simultaneously improving personal resilience, intrapersonal communication and emotional regulation.
From Andrew Harvey: We can live from a vision of action that is inspiring, hopeful and grounded in deep spiritual wisdom and compassion. Some spiritual seekers, for instance, use spiritual knowledge as a subtle way of dissociating from hands-on realistic social, economic and political engagement in the world.
Exhaustion, burnout, and debilitating and divisive emotions can cut us off from the healing and transforming wisdom of spiritual traditions and simple techniques, prayers and practices that sustain, inspire and nourish our well-intentioned endeavors.
People are rising up who have fused deep spiritual knowledge, experience and practice with wise, incessant action for justice and peace. Together, we can accomplish the unimaginable.
Raymont Anderson encourages us to support human rights beyond offering thoughts and prayers. He suggests we “wed our values to our actions by doing what is ours to do.”
Each of us can look at what is ours to do — one of the areas my prayer partner and I pray about regularly. Most of the time, I don’t always know what that is at the time. But contemplating and praying about it activates my mind and soul to act when it is appropriate.
As Raymont says, we need to DO rather than just sit by. Sacred activism can be different for each of us.