Does personal meditation play a role in activism or collective positive change?
We live in an extremely fast-paced world.
Short takes on Twitter feeds that can make or break careers.
Tech updates every week, day, hour.
Conflating self-worth with productivity because of how we measure success.
Struggling for time to be (rest, create without the assumption of producing, daydream, meditate, eat well, connect with others deeply) amongst all the doing that needs getting done.
And, for people that are concerned about collective wellbeing, especially in recent movements of social justice and the fight for systematic equity, we struggle with the tension between obligation and responsibility.
It’s our individual and collective responsibility to be active citizens fighting for positive change… And yet, in this fast-paced world (that seeks certainty like binaries, all or nothing, black and white answers), the unyielding or shaming obligation to do so (or appear that we are doing so) stifles the movement itself.
Productivity of any form requires regular periods of rest.
[Not to mention, rest is an essential human right unrelated to productivity entirely.]
Altogether, we all want to do so much that we lose sight of the importance of stillness, rest, and recovery. And in our complicated feelings of obligation, shame, fear, and more as activists, we fall into traps of being performative. Because we must show our support. We must keep up appearances. We must never pause, because it seems that nothing is ever enough… That we aren’t enough.
In these many stories of people genuinely doing their best on the lead-up burnout, we all swing so far in the direction of continual labor that we end up on the opposite side of the spectrum: ruts, forced rest because we pushed ourselves too hard, and we may even begin to fear or question our own intentions and capability to do what’s right.
So how do we disrupt this internal cycle, so that we may all be well, and cultivate more shared wellbeing?
How do we become well enough to continue connecting with each other, learning, and making steady, meaningful strides in our various pursuits including activism?
We tend to ourselves on a deep and mindful level, such as through meditation. Now of course, I’m not saying meditation can save the world. What I am saying is this:
We’re all more capable of responding instead of reacting, connecting meaningfully instead of shallowly, and making good decisions when we pause and mindfully discern long enough to hear our own inner wisdom.
“[T]he world and its people would be a lot better off if everyone was 10% better at pausing, taking a deep breath, and going inward (developing a compassionate relationship with your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations) before making those outward decisions, actions, and communications. There’s a great deal of wisdom and peace we can draw from and productively use when we tune into our inner world and cultivate a deeper awareness through practices like meditation.” - Can Relaxation Save the World?
It’s true that this sentiment can be a slippery slope. There are indeed people in the world who misunderstand meditation and activism and believe that their meditation alone can change the world… People who are defensive about facing their own complicit behavior, implicit biases, privilege and power, and don’t actually seek to disrupt harm or rewrite the status quo.
Sometimes we can hide in our practice – thinking about the changes we wish to make, sending intentional loving-kindness (prayers, good vibes) outward. But, as is hopefully clear across Technically Spiritual, saying you love everybody doesn't absolve you of the responsibility to disrupt systems of harm…
Love and light, without being paired with the active disruption of those systems of harm, is largely ineffective. Loving-kindness, without being paired with action, speaking up, and accountability, isn’t enough. Meditation is both a necessary reprieve AND can accidentally act as a shield or bubble, an incidental barrier standing between the intention and the action.
So, where’s the balance?
How do we lean into restorative practices like meditation (or rest, breaks from active labor in general) without falling into the understandable trap of bypassing responsibility?
We can apply extra mindfulness to these restorative practices and ASK/REFLECT:
Am I doing this to escape?
If so, for how long, and for what purpose?
And if I’m not trying to escape, what purpose is it serving?
Is it restorative for me, so that I may return as a rejuvenated ally in the future?
Is it restoring my courage to ACT?
Is it just good vibes?
Who is it for and who does it serve?
And who needs it most?
“Hope doesn’t arise until we come to terms with all that’s happening. When we get real with what’s happening, only then we can connect with fierce love.” - Chelsea Macmillan, Spiritual Activist
For more on hope, resilience, activism, meditation’s role, toxic positivity, and where our spirituality plays a role, listen to Episode 29: Sacred Activism: The Connection Between Inner & Outer Transformation.