An Example of Spiritual Action
by Robert Rabbin
When it comes to explaining concepts, I
favor metaphors over definitions, and I favor examples over metaphors.
Examples are the best way to explain concepts: don't tell me; show me. What
does enlightenment mean? Don't tell me the answer: show me.
I begin with this caveat because I am often asked to define
spiritual activism
or, as I prefer to call it,
spiritual action
-- about which I speak. I usually say that
spiritual action is the embodiment of the highest expression of our common
humanity -- love, wisdom, and peace. I say that when we enter the Silence
beyond the mind, we discover our authentic nature, and this nature expresses
itself in certain predictable ways: as love, wisdom, and peace. I say that
spiritual action is not a choice, it is choiceless. The experience of our
authentic being and its embodiment as wisdom, love, and peace are a singular,
inseparable movement, dance, entity. Insight and action, flower and fragrance,
wetness and water.
I have said that spiritual action, when presented with violence, presences
peace; when presented with hatred; presences love; when presented with fear,
presences unity.
Of course, I go on and on with metaphors and definitions because I love to
talk, however futile such talk may be. So today, I want to offer a beautiful
example
of spiritual action, courtesy of one of my many new Australian friends: Isira
Sananda.
A brief context: in the past few days, a number of violent incidents, dubbed
"race riots," have occurred on Cronulla Beach, one of Sydney's beachside
suburbs, to the extent that authorities have said they intend to close
Cronulla, and several other beaches, for the weekend. Two thousand police have
been dispatched to the area to stand guard against further disturbance.
Isira acted. The media release distributed by her organization, Living
Awareness (www.isira.com), announced:
Living Awareness, centre for healing and personal growth, today said it will
hold a peace gathering at Hyde Park, on Sunday 18 December, to join with the
Sydney community in peace, to unite and transform the violence in the area.
And so it happened. On Sunday, December 18th, at 11 a.m., some 25 people
gathered in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia. I was among them. There were no
fiery sermons, no placard-waving demonstrations, no chanting. Actually, no
nothing. Just sitting together, quietly, then silently. A small band of people
in full public view, sitting silently, acting spiritually in response to
violence. No thought, no deliberation, no planning, no fundraising: just this,
a simple response from the heart, choiceless, immediate, loving, peaceful,
embodied, public. Beautiful. Not against anything. Not for anything. Just
sitting in authentic being, radiating authentic being. Insight and action,
flower and fragrance, sitting and silence, peace and more peace.
On this brightly prophetic day in Hyde Park, with traffic filling Elizabeth
Street, and throngs of people flowing through the park toward the cafes and
shops, in this city of five million people, in this country of 20 million, on
this Earth with six billion -- some 25 people gathered to express the peace of
their authentic being, to demonstrate their peacefulness, to welcome others
without distinction, to meet others heart to heart, and thus meet them unified
in peace, and unified in love; on this morning turning to early afternoon,
under the sun and blue sky, some 25 people chose to gather in peace, to
announce peace, to show peace; to sit quietly and open their hearts, to open
themselves, to expand themselves and embrace all, to welcome themselves, and
each other, and others not present, and the world, the Earth herself,
welcoming, welcoming in love and peace, choiceless, immediate, without
thought, but from the necessity to embody the highest expression of our common
humanity, to testify to the truth and accuracy of my definition of the nature
of authentic being: unity-in-love with
all creation.
I know the world is richer and more
vibrant, more alive with spirit, more open for peaceful possibilities, for our
gathering, for our expression, for our choice. May we all find ways to gather
for peace, to express peace, to choose peace, for this is truly the highest
expression of our common humanity. May we find ourselves in each other, and
delight in each other, and celebrate life with each other, in love, and joy,
and peace -- each day, every day, from now until forever.
I'd like to conclude by quoting another of my new friends, a marvelous young
sage who lives with his parents and younger brother, Seth, in Melbourne:
Narayan John Matthews, five years old:
"If the world can be beloved by us, we can bring peace and hope to all the
world."