Thoughts on Activism?

[SS10]

Is activism a distraction from turning inwards and locking at yourself? Or does it facilitate much needed change in our society? Hoes does stage green shadow come into this? I think this is something we should address because this is currently resisting stage orange people growing through green

[Preety_India]

Activism is extremely important to bringing social change The people who actually need to look inwards and look at themselves are the ones who are opposed to it because there's no solid reason why positive social change should not happen. If the activism is about something frivolous and it adds to more chaos in the society, that's where it is unhealthy green and orange should resist it. But if orange is resisting any healthy form of activism, then it's just an indicator of green shadow. Example of real activism - fighting against environmental damage. Fighting for justice for victims 

Example of frivolous activism - where a woman fashion designer wears a T shirt that says "the future is female" stuff like that or they want some celebrity banned because they said something racist or sexist many many years ago. 

 

 

[blackchair]

me being myself is a form of activism.

[Haumea2018]

It can certainly be a distraction for people who would rather not deal with their own issues and try to change the world instead.  Changing yourself is painful and hard.  Jumping on some bandwagon can be very satisfying, but ultimately one has very limited control over the course of events.  Also, the kind of mindset that this approach generates can be one rooted in constant dissatisfaction, since the world will never be to one's liking.  It's pretty much a guarantee of endless misery and suffering for oneself.  

Edited February 10, 2021 by Haumea2018

[Haumea2018]

22 minutes ago, datamonster said:

Turning inwards is important, but it's ultimately passivism.

I mean "ultimately" any direction is bad. A world full of activists rearranges the chairs on the Titanic, since the root cause of the problem, which is people unwilling to face the shadow, never goes away.  You need to turn within to at least consider there may be something there that needs to be changed.

But in the context of our present day culture, there are way too many people who simply don't want to deal with their own shit and focus on some external demon instead.  So you have people trying to control the thoughts, behavior and actions of others (the perceived wrongthinkers/evildoers) not realizing that their actions are perpetuating the problem instead of solving it.  Being on the side of the angels is the ultimate ego trip of our times.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Haumea2018

[Haumea2018]

18 minutes ago, datamonster said:

And vice versa...

Well, you can look at it this way.  Your life is time-limited; what's more likely to bear fruit -- that which is very much under your direct control, or that which isn't?  So, choose carefully...or don't. It's your life.

[mandyjw]

I suspect that a lot of activism comes from people thinking that they can bring about change in return for their suffering for a cause. They believe something like, "the more upset I get about how dolphins are treated, the better it is for dolphins. The more people I guilt others into also feeling horrible about this, the better for the dolphins." God/Source is way better than that. Real change comes from inspired action and inspiration, not despair, worry, fear, guilt, shame and demonization. Being conscious of an issue means realizing that it's a problem and change is called for but also means being open to inspiration. Epiphanies and new solutions come from a relaxed mind. So it's not the activism itself but the attitude behind it, I think. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by mandyjw

[Consept]

Just throwing this out there but something I've often thought; is a lot of activism just about giving yourself a purpose and painting yourself as the hero in your story? 

The reason I bring this up is because if you question people at any rally, a good percentage are often not that well educated on the subject of what they're protesting about and they almost definitely are not taking a nuanced view. Add to that the hero's of society in recent history have all been activists fighting, usually validly, against an unjust system, mlk et al. 

So with this incentive of being a hero, mixed with in some cases an ignorance on the topic, I think it can lead to over exaggerating situations, some of which could actually be solved if a few people sat around a table to discuss it. 

Obviously I'm not saying activism can't be useful I just think this modern day activism has a lot of ego and is a lot for show, it's almost like issue of the day, rather than thought out campaigns. 

Yeah to agree with above, if everyone did turn inward the world would be better but you know everyone's on their own journey 

[aurum]

17 hours ago, SS10 said:

Is activism a distraction from turning inwards and locking at yourself? Or does it facilitate much needed change in our society? Hoes does stage green shadow come into this? I think this is something we should address because this is currently resisting stage orange people growing through green

It certainly can become a distraction. But then again, anything can become a distraction so that's not saying much.

However, I don't believe it's inherently a distraction. I believe both inner work to change our state of consciousness and outer work to heal the world can synergize nicely.

Really, you need both.

Activism without consciousness quickly devolves into an Us vs Them stage green type of shadow. Tons of victim consciousness or painting oneself as the hero, as well as not appreciating the deep systemic nature of our problems and the complexity of solving them.

It's not grounded in someone who has taken the time to connect with Spirit and has melted many of their biases.

Turning inward without activism looks like a bunch of people sitting on a yoga mat doing spiritual bypassing and thinking they can "create their own reality" while corrupt institutions and systems destroy the planet.

I don't believe we have to fall into either trap. The world of activism and spirituality can merge. In the hippy generation, a lot of it was.

For people struggling to merge these worlds, I'd refer you to the work of Andrew Harvey. Feels very Green to me, but still worth looking at. Green is what we mostly need.

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by aurum

[Matt23]

Daniel Schmachtenberger, a stage yellow thinker i believe, made a nice caveat to consider when participating in activism.  It's something like (and I'll probably miss the point here) make sure your activism doesn't come back and bite you in the ass.  Like, being an activist might create enemies which, later on, may simply propel the very thing your fighting against.  He doesn't disagree with it i don't think, but he mentions something about considering the whole, otherwise if you create division, the parts you've cast outside your domain of concern could come back and create issues for your cause.  

Perhaps it's something like fighting to end deforestation and against those chopping down trees.  But those people doing the chopping don't like you because you're taking away their very livelihood.  So now you got enemies.  

I appreciate this perspective since it shows a nuanced view of things and tried to take into consideration everyone and the whole.  Seems like a more effective, sustainable, and smart way to go about making the change you want as well.