Integral Activism (Part 2) — by Lucky

It is important to me that I am constantly acting on behalf of my values each and every moment, in all my relationships with strangers and within myself. To do that, I have had to redefine inner work and make it more robust and engaged. I find that when there is no boundary between what is within me, and my actions in the world, there is much more likelihood, that I am going to be connected to the moment, others, and the Spirit. All of this comes to pass because I practice what I call an inner form of activism to complement my actions in the world.

The advent of these internal practices came about as I followed my own natural ageing process. I have slowly been moving inward. I’ve talked to other ageing people and looked at the limited research on this subject. The research shows a resurgence of spirituality in the latter years of many old folks’ lives. This, combined with the reports of my friends, and my own shifting focus, altered my perspective. I like the sense that I am becoming aware, in a different way, at nature’s behest.

When I had my stroke, and especially during this long aftermath of disability, I acquired (without intent) a new more connected way of experiencing things. This involved a greater emphasis upon inner life. Alive, in a new way (for me), I have noticed how I have been naturally embellished through the aegis of getting older. I believe this is a process of integration aided by the actions of life. This formulation of an integral activism is an outgrowth of a burgeoning awareness.

Inner work has become, in my mind, less “subtle,” and much more engaged and robust. Inner activism still relies on the cultivation of awareness (meditation, contemplation and prayer) but is much more active. It uses attention to actively practice increasing awareness in four areas that I have identified. Internal activism endeavors to:

• Uproot Internalized Oppression

• Free and Be Yourself

• Practice Community

• Cultivate Paradoxical Awareness

Uproot Internalized Oppression

There are a variety of forces at work shaping social reality, contesting for cultural adherence, and working at multiple levels, trying to capture us. This runs the range from group and class power dynamics such as racism, ageism and sexism to subtler forms such as advertising, psychologizing, and other forms of pathologizing or dehumanizing assumptions. There is a complex amalgam of assumptions that, when internalized, provide the preconceptions that limit others and lead to prejudicial beliefs. These beliefs rebound into a kind of self-negation and lead to a variety of self-image issues.

An example from my life illustrates, I have had to be around other disabled people to see more clearly how my able-bodied prejudices have poisoned my experience of other disabled people, and especially how these assumptions have impacted me.

This is a practice that involves developing an inner immunity to the internalized messages that are designed to keep us in a predictable place. The goal here is not to eliminate these messages/beliefs, but to identify and suspend them. As any interaction, or thought, arises it is reviewed to see if it expands or limits choice. This is an application of mindfulness that identifies thoughts and feelings that contain belief structures that limit.

Free and Be Yourself

This practice’s goal is freedom. It entails showing up authentically wherever one is. It involves a combined focus of attention, upon authenticity and inner conditions that inhibit freedom of expression. As you can probably tell this practice has several challenges, not the least of which involves self-knowledge. It acknowledges, that internal factors play as great a role in inhibiting freedom, as external factors.

To be as clear as possible, this practice is intended to support being oneself wherever one is. This means clearing the way within so one can give voice to differences, choose to offer a unique perspective, and add to the diversity of the moment. This is a practice that involves exercising one’s own freedom, by focusing upon, and suspending, the self-limiting beliefs that inhibit free choice.

Again, to use my life as an example, I’ve had to work with myself to show up as a disabled man. My wholeness, my humanity, is not obvious if I am unable to put myself out in the social world. To do so, I have to ready myself to face, out in the world, the very prejudices I know that are within me. My freedom to be me depends upon it.

Practice Community

The goal of this practice is to make the migration from separation to connection. This entails learning about, and practicing, the inner (and outer) conditions that allow interdependence. Immersion in intense social relationships necessitates identification with others, and the practice of internal capacities that connect one uniquely with the collective, lending surprise, authenticity, accountability and compassion to action.

Differences are highlighted (like my being disabled) in this practice and provide many of its benefits. The practice of community also provides insight into the way collectives create and maintain social reality. This provides a very dynamic environment in which practices of holding on to one’s uniqueness, can be seen as paradoxically related to the quality of social connection.

Cultivate Paradoxical Awareness

This is a practice that proceeds from, and best integrates, a sense of connection.  This practice provides the deepening of a broader perspective. The practice starts with the acknowledgement that one has grown knowledgeable enough, to know that one doesn’t know much. From this recognition emanates a greater awareness that inner, as well as outer, reality is composed of relationships that are paradoxically related. That means that things that appear solitary are joined.

The practice is essentially one of focusing attention upon the perception and realization of paradoxical connections. By cultivating this awareness, and applying it to all of reality, including one’s sense of self, there comes an experiential recognition of integrality. Combined with the other practices, a burgeoning of a broader awareness occurs.

As an example, I offer a highly relevant quote from Parker Palmer (from A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life —Welcoming The Soul and Weaving Community in a Wounded World). This quote illustrates paradoxical awareness and demonstrates how this mindset transforms situations. “If we are to hold solitude and community together as a true paradox, we need to deepen our understanding of both poles. Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from oneself. It is not about the absence of other people — it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It is not about the presence of other people — it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone.”

This particular practice has helped me see how my disability has led me to new abilities. I now say I am Lucky because I have experienced the enabling loss.

Integral activism is a product of age, experience, and awareness. It represents the refinement of love. The world is a holy vision. Gaining access to this vision does not diminish the passion for justice. It refines it, and renders a new way of acting. 

Emancipated Innocence and The Old Fool — by Lucky

 I have, like most people, been fascinated with children. There is something about watching a child discover the world, which is absolutely mesmerizing. I learned that I could not conduct a group, a therapy session, or even a decent discussion, if there was a young child, particularly, a baby around. I would soon end up paying so much attention to the infant that I, and the other adults present, could not really carry on. I was captivated with the child. I didn’t want to miss their encounter with anything for the first time. I came to eventually understand that fascination, to grasp it, as a desire to see the world again — through the child’s eyes— allowing me to see the world, innocently, in all its raw magical potential.

Now I’m older, much older, and I’m delighted to be discovering there is another kind of innocence that makes the world come alive in a similar enchanting way. What is so unusual about this kind of innocence, is that it is so unknown, and yet, so similarly wondrous. Even more remarkable to me, is the fact that it seems to come on late in life. Strangely, this seems to be a form of innocence, which survives the slings and arrows of adulthood. Imagine that, an innocence that endures the horrors we all know.

It turns out, one of the benefits of old age, is that it comes with a fresh way of perceiving reality. I won’t go into the disturbing fact that everyone doesn’t uniformly have this experience. Instead, here, I’m going to dwell on the realization that some do. Life, for a few, turns over, and reveals itself in ways similarly magical as childhood, but different, in a particularly grown-up way. This through-the-looking-glass way of experiencing Life isn’t available to every grey person, but is much more common than realized, and could, if it were more thoroughly understood, lead to a greater awareness of just how miraculous this life really is.

I’m talking about something a colleague calls “emancipated innocence.” Notice the word emancipated. That word implies something really important about the process of returning to an innocent apprehension of the world. The world we know, is one we must free ourselves from, in order to have a fresh take on reality. Getting away, in this case, is far different than the transcendental assumptions that seem to prevail. Getting away from what has passed (and sometimes served) involves getting through all the heartbreaks, betrayals, achievements and accidents.

Emancipated innocence arises as a result of living out the rigors of life — it is an apprehension of what’s left — the miraculous. This kind of innocence arises inside —then transforms what it experiences. The old acquire this gift naturally. It comes as a result of living fully, engaging what life presents one with, becoming true to what is within, and keeping faith with the mystery of existence. It seems to derive from going beyond the advice of culture. Emancipation is a weighty weightlessness that takes courage, or is a result of adequate desperation — a pulling inward, away from the known world in favor of the unknown world.

Some old folks end up loose and free. How this happens, is for those of us motivated by whimsy, to discover. In any case, somebody truly original emerges — the old fool. The old fool is the apotheosis of what it means to escape the gravity of societal beholding. This is the person who belongs, not to family, friends, community, or history, but to Life. They belong entirely to themselves, and simultaneously, to the Universe. They have succeeded in integrating what seems impossible. The old fools are the ones who are elegantly non-conventional while being adroitly relational. They live not for a purpose — they exist because Life exists. They are like play, without a purpose or reason, not for the sake of anything, but out of the sheer exuberance of existence.

It is good to know that such humans exist. They aren’t an accident, any more than the rest of us are. Rather, they show us how much is possible. They restore, along with emancipated innocence, the level of enchantment in the world. It is good to know that in this world, with its threats, horrors and sadness, human beings can exist who know these terrible things, and yet are capable of experiencing and expressing the miraculousness of Life.

It is good to know the old fool is amongst us. It is even better to know that the old fool is within us. Each of us is someone Life might turn into somebody original, enough so, that despite the stupidity and insensitivity that haunts us, our humanness shines miraculously forth. The old fool is an embodiment of our essence. It is amazing what ripening can do for us.