James O’Dea: The Conscious Activist
Whether you believe in God or not, I think it would be impossible to sustain your activism without making contact with that light. Einstein realized that we had to discover whether or not it is a hostile universe. The mystic earns the privilege of experiencing love at the core of the universe. It is my wish that every activist would come to experience this reality also.
OMTIMES: In The Conscious Activist you talk about your affinity for the Hindu Avatar Krishna. You ask us to imagine Krishna not as Arjuna’s charioteer in some obscure war from history, but as a witness to the slaughter of the Cambodian Genocide. Why is it important that we close the gap between traditional forms of “spirituality” and the mysticism you describe?
James O’Dea: In almost every image you see of Krishna as a divine archetype, he is playing the flute. He is the representative in human form of the Godhead awakening our souls with the music of love, peace and healing. Yes I love the image of divinity inviting us to dance our truth and to become one with the harmonies of reconciliation. But again we cannot get lost in beautiful ideas– so the mystic quest is about experiencing that flute music of the soul in the heart’s core and incarnating its resonances in our lives. And into a world filled with the cacophony of exploitation.
That is why I tell the story of Arn Chorn Pond who was picked up as a young child by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Even though they slaughtered many children that day, Arn was spared because he was clasping a traditional flute in his hand. They made him play traditional folksongs and lullabies even as they rampaged through the countryside committing acts of genocide. They have made documentary movie about Arn called The Flute Player. When you meet Arn there is an inexplicable light in his presence. Despite having been taken into the epicenter of human hatred and cruelty his core is love. He is another example of the indomitable spirit shining even when the light of human goodness is totally eclipsed. He himself will admit that his story is ultimately about the triumph of love.
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