James O’Dea: The Conscious Activist
OMTIMES: Is having or developing a mystical connection to Source a prerequisite for sustaining a life on the front-lines of the fight for human rights—or any other type of activism?
James O’Dea: At first what matters for the activist is a strong gut instinct for truth and justice. But the instinct fizzles without steadfast commitment. And even great commitment burns out with things like exhaustion, rage, an overly self-righteous attitude or getting caught in problem fixation rather than generating higher solutions. The passion of the activist needs constant refinement so it’s not just another form of ego getting on its high horse or exacerbating social polarities. This is where the depth work of the mystic can be most helpful.
The mystic thirsts for Reality and is willing to endure an exacting testing to make contact with the source of consciousness itself. The mystic must burn through the world of projections and surrender again and again to a Truth that compassionately embraces all life and all states of human consciousness. Even when faced with deep personal inadequacy the mystic must keep going until he or she is completely overwhelmed by the presence of a universal Love within their own souls.
I cannot speak to what sustains others, but for myself I think I would have drowned in the cruelty of the world had I not made real experiential contact with the spiritual source of all existence. For me there was a pivotal moment after experiencing the war and massacre in Lebanon in 1982. This was a time when hope for humanity seemed almost extinguished. And in the middle of the bombed out ruins of a refugee camp an old Palestinian man offered me coffee in the midst of the rubble. I saw in his being the indomitable nature of the human spirit shining through. I saw the light that shines in the darkness. I saw the part of us that can never be extinguished. I’ve encountered this light in kindred spirits, amplified in spiritual masters, and in the lives of those beloved beings who have been raped, abused and tortured and yet who choose to forgive and show us all the path to transformative healing.
