James O’Dea: The Conscious Activist
James O’Dea
“Truth can arouse conflict by what it says to us or by what it implies, but once its veracity has been accepted in the body, it remains a secure reference point for our choices, decisions, and actions.” ~James O’Dea
James O’Dea is award winning author of Cultivating Peace. He has conducted frontline social healing dialogues around the world for many years. He is former president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Washington office director of Amnesty International and CEO of the Seva Foundation.
James O’Dea is a member of The Evolutionary Leaders group founded by Deepak Chopra and is on several advisory boards such as The Peace Alliance and Kosmos Journal. He is followed extensively in social media and lectures widely.
James O’Dea grew up in Ireland and England and currently resides in Colorado. The author lives in Crestone, CO.
OMTimes Magazine is proud to share this interview With James O’Dea talking about his new book “The Conscious Activist”, his projects and Plans for the Future.
Exclusive Interview with James O’Dea
OMTIMES: What is a conscious activist?
James O’Dea: Essentially a conscious activist is someone committed to both rigorous soul work and social transformation. Cleaning up the inner life is as important as cleaning up the environment. We have to throw the spotlight of consciousness on both. The most toxic force in the universe is unbridled ego with all of its seductions, manipulations and greedy power grabbing. It is rampant ego that turns us into a species willing to destroy its own planetary habitat for short-term gain and self-interest. We can neither go off planet in pursuit of transcendental bliss or get so worked up about the crude injustice of it all that we blow out our fuses in anger or despair. What is called for is a kind of ecstatic spiritual awakening which is engaged in really deep social transformation. Simply getting this concept is not enough. If you are like me you get indigestion with so many dazzling concepts in the marketplace of ideas and so little embodied enactment. Indeed we have to be the change. As it turns out it is challenging work–to learn how to travel to the source of one’s own being and at the same time be a part of the courageous frontier of global transformation.
