Activists in reality

Good people do not become less good when the world is bad. Humane and compassionate people do not lose their compassion or humanity when disasters and crimes unfold around them. This is a kind of built-in fear that has been coming up lately in the clinic, in sessions with activists who are experiencing distress during this complicated time, when it seems as though the world is in moral bankruptcy, causing caring people to feel real anguish.And to all of them I explain it again, over and over: this deep fear is misleading and mistaken above all. It misses the very essence.

As someone who hears daily about vile acts that human beings do to their children or to their partners, I have never feared that my own humanity was in danger.And I’ll explain this point here for a moment.

In the world we have known, the one whose dichotomous, flattened, frightened consciousness flowed into us with our mother’s milk - a magnificent and innovative tectonic shift has taken place.From a reality that we perceive as something we must adjust to and position ourselves in relation to, we are carving our way toward a new consciousness that asserts the opposite.Meaning: instead of determining what kind of person I am and where I’m headed according to how severe the situation is, reality is measured relative to us, to the work we do, to the language we speak to ourselves.

Without over-philosophizing: The habitual way in which people “understand” whether they are good or bad is a perception that drains the human phenomenon of its content, the phenomenon that heals, builds, and rises from the dust, and conditions our right to exist, our degree of moral devotion, on external metrics. How foolish, weakening, oppressive is that? Very. So much so that, paradoxically and tragically, the sweetest and best people, those whose hearts are full of love,are the ones collapsing themselves, collapsing the wondrous miracle of their own creation. Ignoring the necessity of believing in themselves, especially now.

And why?Not because they are self-righteous. Not because they are sanctimonious do-gooders. But because the concepts they use to explain suffering, evil, despair, are deeply lacking.And what are they lacking?A deep understanding of the connection, endless and unshakable, between good and evil.They lack the deep hope that comes from unconditional love. They lack the strengthening knowledge that we are not alone; that the self that stands present even amid terrible and horrific acts is a radiant, creative, generative being whose power does not weaken, especially in the face of evil and loss.

We do not need to change reality, we need to change the place from which we stand in relation to reality.Speech that tries to decipher and articulate an answer to suffering through guilt–shame–blame is very bad speech, because that currency is not exchangeable anywhere, under any circumstance.Not even in the face of rape, hunger, or suicidality.

Being a fountain of optimism and hope is not something extraordinary or larger than life. It is essential work, top priority, in these days.And yes, it is something done by detaching from the water flow outside and building your own closed water cycle.

To hold high your knowledge that your heart is good and generates love and health in every circumstance, that it does not measure itself or compare to anyone or anything, that is a life-changing responsibility.

As I see now,desperate posts in the face of the war of annihilation, stabbing the guilty heart with cruelty, will not help in any way whatsoever. Just like they never helped in the face of countless atrocities committed and still being committed here since forever, in bedrooms, conference rooms, stairwells, garbage rooms.

What will help is looking at the beauty of the compassionate heart, the one that recognizes the healing power given to us.What will help is the knowledge that loving is something that changes reality.Because this ability gives us the experience of capability and worth, the very things we did not bother to protect in the face of the roaring cannons.

For hope, you do not need anything else. You need you. Only you.

And that, I promise, is enough.