Ideas & Opinions

Social Activism as Spiritual Expression

Peter Moore

There is a nexus between spiritual awareness and social activism that too many of us have too long ignored. The reach of authentic spiritual activity desires—no, requires—that a higher path be taken in the conduct of our worldly affairs, i.e. what we do in the world, what we connect our energy to. Social activism generally approaches worldly affairs by a more “worldly” route. But, in the end, spiritual expression and social activism are linked at the root, and they arrive at the same high calling. Call it service.

It is important for spiritual practitioners to clearly observe our world—this world—and to commit time, resources and action in it. We may not be united by the giant institution of an ancient church (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.), nor by those institutions of vast power and wealth called corporations and government but lacking these, what have we in common? The answer, of course, is that we have ourselves, however independent and seemingly scattered. We are participants in an emerging integral culture, worldwide in scope. We are the cultural creatives, concerned with values of spiritual transformation, ecological sustainability, holistic health, political & economic justice, self-actualization, authentic expression, enlightened parenting and truth-based intimacy. We are open to the ecstatic possibilities. Cultural creatives constitute fully 25% of the population and the percentage is growing fast. As Ram Dass said in his recent interview with Alternatives, the next great human evolutionary leap is to oneness.

And we’re having an effect, individually and collectively, in our world—though the institutions of government and media don’t often recognize our existence yet.

It is great that cultural creatives engage in our individual entrepreneurial enterprises, and in our personal and collective spiritual path. It is wonderful that we can party and love so grandly as we create events, music, ceremonies and rituals based on true experience in the Now. We are creating culture out of the very stuff of our lives and influencing the more tradition-bound culture into which we were born.

But why don’t we participate in the more broadly shared cultural events of our life & times? Consider national elections, for instance. These are big, splashy affairs with huge ripple effects out in the world. And they are free! We all have ticket to get in; it’s called our vote. Yet this past mid-term election, only 39% of eligible voters showed up at the polls, meaning 61% of the people stayed away, didn’t participate, didn’t vote.

Now consider what was at stake this past election: billions of dollars and the moral compass of a nation. Not insignificant stakes in our relatively real world. Of the 39% who voted, 20% voted Republican and 19% voted Democratic. The winner-takes-all Republicans now claim a “landslide” with a “mandate” to pursue whatever policy the current president and his handlers want. The wealth of our nation is thus squandered into the military, into tax breaks & subsidies for corporations and the wealthiest class of citizens. Meanwhile healthcare is unaffordable, inner city schools are blighted, cruel poverty and racist discrimination rule the lives of millions of Americans, the environment of this cosmic island earth is ravaged, and a shower of uranium-enriched killing devices is amassed to rain down on the heads of thousands of innocents abroad. All of this, based on a 1% difference between Republicans and Democrats, while a majority of people didn’t even show up at the event that decided all of this last November.

Imagine what our 25% would have meant had we all voted.

Cultural creatives ignore local and national politics to our great peril. We are no longer an isolated minority. We are a vast movement in consciousness now. Our numbers are enough to influence—even determine—election outcomes, when we vote our values & principles.

Voting is a form of prayer—a prayer for our people, our nation, and all the peoples of the world. Next time an election is held, vote. When all of us—spiritual practitioners, cultural creatives and social activists—all have our ballots counted on the same day, our prayers are potentiated and made manifest.

Peter Moore is the editor of "Alternatives for Cultural Creativity" Magazine based in Salem Oregon. You may reach him through the web site www.alternativesmagazine.com