Welcome to the first Joyous Activism entry!
I consider myself a very “small-time activist” compared with many, but some form of activism has been a major feature of my life for over fifty years. Friends have often asked how I am able to hang in for so long. That’s one question I’ll be exploring in these blogs, but as I look back over these 50 years, I know that despite the frustrations, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
It has been — and still is — a heart and mind-expanding journey. I invite you to travel along with me.
Is Joyous Activism an Oxymoron?
How ironic that I am writing the first entry on a blog entitled “Joyous Activism” during the week of the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. A relatively obscure Jewish holiday, Tisha B’av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av), a day of fasting and mourning, commemorates a series of cataclysmic events that reportedly occurred across hundreds of centuries on that same date, including the fall of the first and second temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70CE) and the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.
A related irony is that I, a Reform Jew, am drawn to a holiday that is rejected — largely on the basis of theology — by non-orthodox Jews,. http://www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tishah-bav. Nevertheless, this year, partly inspired by dear friend Dr. Rashid Muhammad, who last year during Ramadan spoke at the Islamic Center about the benefits of fasting, I decided to add fasting this day to my own spiritual regimen. With time to meditate and read Lamentations, I grieved the similarities between the wickedness described there and the unjust and violent aspects of our society.
Fasting also helped me think about people who go hungry not by choice. And a surprise insight came from imagining what it must have taken for my ancestors throughout the millennia to survive — their hardships and sacrifices enabling me to be alive at this time. Gratitude for my forebears became one more motive to pursue activism — joining my obvious long-established reason: deep concern for the kind of world I am leaving my grandchildren and future generations.
One goal in these blogs is to communicate how activism, however large or small, opens us to be more fully alive. Mourning might seem an unwelcome intrusion in that discussion, but experience tells us that mourning — facing and grieving the losses and suffering that are part of the human condition — is not antithetical to joy. I can still hear beloved friend, Father Joe Brennan (of blessed memory) quoting a rabbinic teaching that translates: “The only heart that is whole is the heart that is broken.”
When I have allowed myself to feel the depths of grief, especially when in the presence of those who will simply receive my feelings, a bigger picture and new perspectives usually emerge. Room is made for joy. (I am hugely indebted to Re-evaluation Counseling for opening me more to these truths and experiences, as well as having a very large influence in my becoming an activist. r.c.org).
It’s tricky because of course we cannot hold or process all of the world’s pain. A certain amount of denial is a necessary part of preserving our wholeness. I don’t watch t.v. news, which focuses on”if it bleeds, it leads” and am disciplining myself to switch the radio from WXXI news to music when I sense I’ve heard enough. I struggle with an internet addiction, and am getting a little better at setting limits, but amidst the enraging and heart-wrenching news, I search for acts of compassion and courage, which I focus on to balance the craziness. (See “Winning” below).
The central contradiction to the world’s pain is GRATITUDE for the magnificent reality of this universe. Whenever I focus on this moment, I can see that the present is good!
The Joyous Activist’s Path is Paved with Paradoxes:
Examples:
- Confronting current potential and losses reminds me how much I love what I fear losing, especially around climate disruption and species extinction
- Allowing myself to feel outrage and grief at the countless unbearably painful and tragic acts of gratuitous violence against African Americans opens me to a greater sense of love and connection across the bonds of suffering.
- Years ago, as I faced the threats of nuclear war I tuned in far more intensely to the mystery and beauty of nature, the delights of sensual world, and the loving relationships I’ve been blessed with.
All these in turn fuel my passion to take action to preserve these blessings and to work for justice.
THE GOOD NEWS IS WE ACTIVISTS ARE WINNING!
The greatest contradiction
to burn out is to notice and celebrate all the signs of what Joanna Macy has
called “The Great Turning.” (www.joannamacy.net)
Simultaneously with horrific happenings, and largely in response to them, we
have seen just in recent weeks:
• Unexpected turns in Supreme Court decisions on health care and gay marriage
• A ban on fracking in New York State (which many of us have worked for years
to
see)
• Pope Francis’s magnificent Encyclical on the environment:
• Black Lives Matter and the movement against mass incarceration gaining
power
across racial and ethnic lines
• The fall of the Confederate flag in the Statehouse in South Carolina
• Progress on increasing the minimum wage
• Increasing traction for the anti-poverty initiative in Rochester
• Police being prosecuted for egregious acts against African-Americans
I invite readers to join this exploration/celebration by adding what you are noticing as
victories and signs of “The Great Turning”.
