In the beginning there was a submission
The key enablers of free spiritual adventure are civic liberties accompanied with stable politics. This is the conclusion where we are heading with this article so it may seem weird straight out from the box but as you will hopefully realize – the key ingredient for spiritual advance lies hidden and forgotten in liberties which we enjoy today thanks to our ancestors and a long history of mankind which was full of fights for our freedom.
For instance take into account this logic. During the last two centuries or so, the political position of women in the world, and in western world in general has drastically improved. Women have gained voting rights. Different suffrage policies along with many other civic liberties associated with democratic world have enabled women to become free. This position has also set them free (or at least improved their odds to be freer) from general duties that come with patriarchal system. As a result women are able to find their own ways in life and devote to spiritual development among other things. No longer is women solely responsible for everything going on in a household – you can now freely assign a babysitter for your children and order food delivery for your family in order to be able to attend a yoga class. No longer will you be judged, forbidden or in risk if you want to go alone to walks, hikes or exploring nature while connecting with your inner-self, or gods or stars, whatever it may be that you are seeking.
Voting as a commemoration ritual
You still may not think that voting rights are not important for women or anyone in general because voting does not bring about change anyways (if you think so you are fatally wrong about it so you should continue browsing this platform). But what voting rights did for women is that they made them equal to men! No longer can man argue that women are valued less because now they are equal in the face of the law. This eventually influences public perception about equality in general. One of the common flawed logic in men’s mind before was that if women has no right to vote in public than women have no right for their opinion in marriage, household or family. The suffrage policy have therefore completely reprogrammed men to think of women differently and respect their opinions.
Civic liberties widely enjoyed by women today which enable them to explore meanings of life other than those found in the kitchen did not appear out of nowhere. They are a result of efforts of other ancestor-women which had to spend their entire lives fighting for such rights. And the same applies to every minority group and men. Yet we tend to forget these facts despite their occurrence in our recent history. Voting and any other act of public participation should serve as commemoration ritual for our ancestors that lived and died for our freedom.
Just meditate and everything else will fall in place…NOT!
One of the main arguments against political activity or better to say substitution for activism and political activity is found in the natural effect of meditation itself. Most of us do agree that activism, good politicians and sound policies are able to bring about improvements in the world. However we are convinced that meditation in general results with not only our spiritual growth but it also contains a spillover effect for the world around us. If we meditate we project higher vibrations and positive energy which in turn also improves the world around us.
There is no argument against the fact stated above for the mediation truly influences the entire universe and not only our body mass and mind. If every person in this world would occasionally meditate surely we would witness the overall improvements in material existence as an effect of increased energy levels. But should we all JUST meditate? That is exactly the type of mindset which contains one of the greatest pitfalls of current global spiritual trend. Just meditate and the world around you will improve. Just meditate and ignore politics so you can peacefully meditate even more. There is no more important thing than to just meditate. If you recognize the resemblance of your mindset with these statements you should carefully consider the following story.
Remember why you were given so many gifts
Once the students asked their guru about whether the purpose of life should be just to meditate or meditate as much as possible. Instead of answering the wise guru asked them the following question: “Do you think that the God (or universe or whatever spiritual authority you may have) has gifted you with so many powers just to meditate? You were gifted with the power of speech to educate and compliment others, you were gifted with the power of sight to notice the beauty and see what needs to be fixed, you were gifted with your hands and fingers to build, create, repair etc. And you still think that you should just meditate?!?”.
There is no greater story that flaws the “Just Meditate” mindset than this one. Truly, we are gifted with so many physical tools and virtues which can be applied to improve not only ourselves but also the world around us. One of the greatest characteristics which differs us from animals is the power of discernment. We posses the ability to sharply perceive and judge well. Perhaps along with our eyes, ears, tongue, hands and legs the power of discernment turns humans into the ultimate moral contribution machine for this world. Political activism is just one of the areas of our lives (but arguably one of the most influential areas) where these powers may be utilized. Knowing all this, it is up to us to use the power of discernment and decide how much time should we devote to meditation and how much for activism and politics because as the same guru (and one more guru) mention in our story described above once said:
