action is essential to the spiritual process...i've been hearing this from various teachers, from those who Know...
this is seen in the bhagavad gita, arjuna fighting in the battle field...tempted to leave it all, to get away, to focus on meditation, etc. krsna tells arjuna to stay, encourages him to focus on the action...otherwise it would be running away...running away from your duties will keep you bonded to those experiences...but krsna also tells arjuna that action with desire - is also not action... because that keeps us in a state of attachment...
action without desire is the goal of proper action - action without goal of personal gain. action is skill in action - action that liberates us - this is done through action as a worship of the One-ness, through self-less action.
we see this in the life of the prophet muhammad (s.a.w)...his life was a sajdah to those around him, and those not around him physically. he worked tirelessly to insist on fairness in all matters, without ever compromising his spiritual duties of prayer, alms-giving, acts of gratitude, pilgrimage, fasting, etc. in fact, the prophet's actions towards a better world were inseparable from his spiritual practices...
then the question becomes clear - what are you called into action to do?
based on the legacy of prophets, the running theme seems to be to fight injustice, to work towards fairness, to establish a more perfect union (globally)...
somehow, as i write this, i know, my spirit knows there are people being whose ways are being desecrated, their cultures decimated, their homes bombed and depleted, their families the targets of the most advanced technological weapons...and these same people are lauded as demented, portrayed as pathological, etc...i hear progressives regurgitate the party line from what they understand to be a progressive perspective, which sustains the party perspective on the pathology of these people...but the truth is clear...you Know it - what compassionate actions are you taking to render peace, to stop genocide?
what am i doing? how can i act without the motive of status, recognition-seeking?
a woman at the sufi durgah, after iftar, announced her work with refugee children in camps in turkey. she said she was an english teacher there, but when refugees from the levant came pouring in, her conscience led her to the camps. she left her job and began working in the refugee camps, sharing with children her love of art. she taught them to draw, to use art as a medium of therapy, to release. she left her job, to work, to do deep meaningful work, without weighing too heavily the consequence of this on her wallet.
i used to hear from some that they don't have the privilege of doing charity work. if you think of working for peace, for fairness, for humanity, for the earth, as charity, because it's not you under a bomb or drone, or bullet, then of course, it's charity. and charity is inherently privileged, and requires a separation of self from the object of work. but it you are clear in no one but One, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...that by pretending that what's happening there is there and doesn't concern you is just that - pretending - then you are called to action. most of my s/heros didn't come from privilege, yet they went far above the call to act...
...i will be weighing this deeper in shaping my movement...
No comments:
Post a Comment