Sacred activism

[Rick]

The fine print: This is more 'nonduality teaching' than Buddhism, but engaged Buddhists might find it worth a gander.

A four-part live webinar on sacred activism by Andrew Harvey, looks quite good:

https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/we ... d-activism

The 1.5 hour interview video (bottom of page) is worth a browse through ... Jungians will like the key role the shadow plays in Harvey's view.

The series starts on 11/30 and costs $99. I'm thinkin' about it ... only I take his warning to heart, that you need a strong and stable foundation to be able to bear the full awful power of the shadow. Not sure "strong and stable foundation" describes me all that well ...

[Kim O'Hara]

I approve of "scared activism" in principle but that whole website is a bit too to convince me to go along with anything they promote. I explored it for a few minutes.
On the upside, I discovered a Hindu goddess I had never heard of. She was genuine, too (i.e. Wikipedia knew about her). On the downside, the article about her was copied, without attribution, from another site.
Oh, and their logo equation, Om = mc^2^beta is so bad I'm going to annoy my scientifically literate FB friends with it.

As for the specific programme ... Harvey loses me in his first dot point, "How our global dark night is potentially not the end of humanity but the terrible contractions of a destined process that could and must now birth a humble, united, sacred activist embodied divine humanity." "Could and must" here is pure 24-carat wishful thinking, IMO.

We can do better, and without relying on $$$ webinars. All we need to do is get out there and take every opportunity to do something good for people and other living things. Act for the benefit of others - that's all. Work with others who are already doing it, if that makes it easier for you, or makes your action more effective, or both. Work independently if you want freedom and flexibility. Just do it.


Kim

[Rick]

I’m more forgiving of the foibles of SAND. Yes it sometimes leans towards facile non-dual New Age-y pseudo-science/spirituality. The logo, for example. And the fairy tale-ish vibe of some of its content.

But I’ve run into several little gems in the site. And I’m happy to see a group of smart and spiritually driven people come together to explore the Big Questions by drawing upon an eclectic mix of tools: ancient religions, modern science, psychotherapy, philosophy, etc.

As far as ‘wishful thinking’ goes, one of the things I like about the video is that the birth of a ‘humble, united, sacred activist embodied divine humanity’ is not taken for granted. It’s presented as one possible outcome, another being the utter collapse of civilization. Harvey urges us to do the right thing without dwelling on whether it’s going to work or not.

[Lindama]

Thank you Rick. Nothing to forgive, it's gold. Andrew is a mystic and scholar. I spent time with him in the 90's in SFO in classes and workshops. Indeed, we are living in the dark ago of Kali. It's unknown what the transformation will look like. I'm not focused on any result, nor do I think Andrew is. Seems to me a way of speaking about right action and initiatory forces afoot. No, I don't think we can do better coming from so-called spiritual values and ideas of right and wrong without the sacred heart, the buddhist heart. call it what you will. Just look at the polarized mess that is currently swirling. There is a lot to consider in the interview. "Spiritual narcissism" included. In the long view, all we can do is be present, follow the heart and educate ourselves. Do-gooding according to principles usually misses the mark. I'm out of my league to say this... speaking of the flame of the mystics sounds awfully close to Vajrayana and Bodhisattva. Crisis creates consciousness.

I don't have the $$ to pursue the series No worries. This is the world we live in. I won't judge.

linda

[Lindama]

..... It's unknown what the transformation will look like. I'm not focused on any result, nor do I think Andrew is. Seems to me a way of speaking about right action and initiatory forces afoot.

To clarify, this does not imply indifference, Andrew speaks about this at the very end of the video. Also, a rich discussion about the short comings of non-dual and spiritual perspectives in the context of separation.