The book you now hold in your hands has gestated in my heart for many years. Indeed, the art of spiritual leadership is found by seeking sparks of holiness in everyone and everything. Just as the heart needs to pump fast to bring nourishment to the body, so does the heart need to generate and express compassion to nourish the soul.
In the following pages, I set out to define the qualities I deem most pertinent to ensure that spiritual progress remains a dynamic movement in the contemporary world; activists have as much a role to play as elected officials or policy makers. Without the rumble of committed people in motion, many of the privileges we take for granted today would have remained unobtainable. But the work is never complete, as can be attested by anyone turning on the news.
How do we make this spiritual work manifest in the world? First and foremost, we need spiritual strengthening and the commitment to value everyone’s experience. Everyone’s voice deserves to be heard; every story deserves to be told. But there are so many aspects of our society that need fixing: Where are we to start? Systematic racism is frustratingly rampant, the rise of neo-fascism seeks to upset post-Cold War norms of tolerance, and genocide still stains humanity all over this world. While activism itself may not remedy the problems with the alacrity we desire, embracing the general orientation towards inclusivity and equity is paramount in the realm of activism if we are going to be leaders of spiritual innovation to safeguard the dignity of all peoples around the world.
But rather than do the easy task of following a pope or a chief rabbi or any guru, spiritual activism challenges each of us to bring all our unique streams of faith together into one stream: for the sake of justice. Each of us—invigorated by societal progress and the righteous pursuit of moral parity for all—is the authority in our own spiritual quests. Here, together, we elevate our pursuits. The noted twentieth-century Catholic theologian Thomas Merton (1915–68) writes to this need for people of all different beliefs and politics to join together in the pursuit of justice:
[The] basic problem is not political, it is apolitical and human. One of the most important things to do is to keep cutting deliberately through political lines and barriers and emphasizing the fact that these are largely fabrications and that there is another dimension, a genuine reality, totally opposed to the fictions of politics: the human dimension which politics pretend to arrogate entirely to themselves. This is the necessary first step along the long way toward the perhaps impossible task of purifying, humanizing, and somehow illuminating politics themselves.1
To achieve our goals, we never have to embrace the authoritarian parts of our respective traditions. Take for example the top-down, authority-based approach many religious traditions embrace. Such a paradigm almost always stifles creative expression, hinders free thought, and conditions people to operate as blind followers. Throughout human history, we’ve seen the detrimental effects of this model as it pertains to the subjugation, colonialization, and oppression of countless people. Unfortunately, many major faiths not only embraced this ethos, but deployed it to centralize their influence, power, and wealth.
Yet, there were always reformers and countervailing forces within religious traditions, who called upon religious leaders to scale back their grandiosity and lust for material comfort, in favor of compassion, tolerance and healing among all the peoples of the world. Such approaches, while always challenging, have time and again proven to be the best ways of moving civilization. Hindu religious philosophy offers a fascinating analysis of these differing modes of faith in the world:
There are essentially two models of tradition: the arboreal model and the river model. The arboreal model claims that various sub-traditions branch off from a central, original tradition, often founded by a specific person. The river model, the exact inverse of the arboreal model, claims that a tradition comprises multiple streams which merge into a single mainstream.2
Whether racing through the jungles or the streams of life, the quest of every spiritual activist remains the same: to find meaning in all of our pursuits to repair the world, fix the brokenness, and bring light to the darkness. Yet our minds continually race; the precariousness of the world continually shifts. We don’t want to slow our minds down, but we do want to gain control over the processes of our changing world. We wish to take control of our minds and hearts and steer them down a spiritual path that will bring love, beauty, and justice to every corner of humanity. In all we do in this life, we seek to alter the mundane and secular into something everlasting. While our generation’s legacy is a byproduct of accomplished activism, it is never the objective. Rather, with all we do, let us wish that the desire to deepen our connections to all beings for the benefit of a more just and verdant world is paramount in our minds.
As I’ve progressed in my work in the dual fields of activism and spiritual leadership, I’ve ruminated more and more about the role of spirituality and religion—which are often conflated but are quite different—in the contemporary sphere of activism. Not to delve too much into the negative aspects of contemporary culture, but more often than not in the modern imagination, religiosity and religious values seem to be supplanted by far-right demagogues, who so often couch their politics under a false, exclusivist, even hate-filled, agenda. This gives them not only an authority and a confidence to pursue a reactionary agenda, but also a deep fervency in their sense of purpose. But let’s not get too bogged down in despair. As activists, we too need spiritual uplifting and a fervency of our purpose.
I hope—pray—that we can reverse this trend together. As an activist, my career in the field has been one of collaboration, dialogue, and striving to go above and beyond for the sake of the vulnerable. My heart laments when I speak to those who have been castigated by an uncaring agenda of convenience over compassion.
But it’s in that gap where the most effective change occurs.
Let me give you an example from personal experience: Several years ago, the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona, was chosen to be the host city for the Super Bowl. In preparation for the event, the city and the surrounding areas thought it most prudent for the influx of tourists to avoid having to interact with the homeless population. While the homeless community of Phoenix is not as well-known as, say, that of Los Angeles or San Francisco, it is significant, and the challenges it faces are vast. For one, the Phoenix summer is the most brutal of any major city in America. With temperatures consistently in the triple digits Fahrenheit throughout most of the summer, the options for a homeless person to find a safe place to sleep are limited. While there are shelters available, the space is limited; most people find themselves in the overflow section of the shelter, also known as the parking lot.
When I learned of the initiative to push out the homeless, I was a) furious and b) determined to do something to quell the cruelty. Ranting on social media, for cathartic release, wouldn’t have been enough. Real change needed to be made. The only question was how.
What resulted was a months-long mission to understand the lives of the homeless in my own community. I lay on the threadbare mats at the overflow shelter. I talked with my homeless brothers and sisters. I heard their stories and sought their understanding. Ultimately, what began was a cooperative campaign to collect funds and raise awareness for the invisible population in my backyard. Strategic partnerships with local faith-based groups were formed, money was raised, meetings with city officials were held, protests were led, and small victories were gained. In the end, the awareness campaign led to the establishment of an active community group dedicated to pursuing justice in the local area.
All it took was a push and a dream for a more repaired world.
Not all of us can take the major step from dream to actualization, but we should all strive for this ideal. Because, when it comes down to it, we all recognize that human beings are—at their fundamental level—noble beings. We are not meant to live as lowly, neglected creatures. We recognize the imperfection of our species by acknowledging that we are a crucial part of our journey in the universe. From the day we are born, we are meant to grow our spiritual potential with the intent of actualizing every fiber of our being towards the ultimate healing of the world. Hopefully, this redemption will occur, but we cannot be lackadaisical in our efforts. Every moment gives us untold opportunities to become who we are meant to be. As the vanguard of a renewed world, we must hear the call and grasp every opportunity that is presented to us. It is our imperative, our mission, and our sacred duty.
Spiritual activism is an art, a calling, and a raison d’être. No easy task, the work of spiritual activism takes commitment and a true desire to enact significant change in the world. It is a communal effort that seeks partnership—heart and soul—and tenacity. After decades of dormancy, spiritual activism is ready to make its appearance known yet again for all the world to see.
Each of us has a crucial role to play to bring more light into this fragile world. It goes without saying that there are other really important ways to create change in addition to activism (education, donating, fundraising, service, social entrepreneurship, community building, acts of kindness). While this book focuses on activism to create systemic and structural change, we completely value and respect the various other ways to create change. Many of the lessons here will be applicable to those other areas as well.
Let us begin our journey as strangers and leave as allies.
Many blessings to you,
Shmuly Yanklowitz
Scottsdale, Arizona
August 2018