I went to a state park recently with a friend, and we took some time to reflect as we walked their labyrinth. A labyrinth is a circular form that has a winding path leading from the entrance to the center. Across centuries, religions and cultures, it has represented the spiritual journey to union with God, and serves as a form of walking meditation. What stood out to me as I walked the labyrinth was the way the path leads to the Center, and then returns back to its beginning. In other words, the spiritual journey doesn’t end once you’ve reached union with God. The next step is to return to where you came from, bringing this experience into the world as a gift to others.
This is precisely what Sacred Activism challenges us to do. We do not follow the spiritual journey merely for ourselves. Rather, once we have received the liberating gift of transformation and tasted the peace that passes all understanding, it is our task to bring that to others – not in the form of dogma and requirements for inclusion, but by being a living example of sourcing our lives from Love. We don’t have to wait until we do it perfectly – our failures, flaws, and missteps serve as opportunities for growth and show others that they too can receive the gifts of the spiritual journey without being perfect.
While our perfection is not required, it can still be challenging to attempt to be a living example of Love in a world that is deeply immersed in duality and seduced by evil.
This is why doing our shadow work is so important. If we do not fully feel and take responsibility for the places where we harbor judgment, resentment, vengeance, and even hate towards those we disagree with, we will inevitably act in out in some form. We will either act from the same negativity that we see in others, or abandon the task of creating a more compassionate world. We often justify this by thinking we are too spiritual to engage in conflict that can get messy, ugly, and potentially reveal that we aren’t as nice or as evolved as we want others to think we are.
In a blog post by Richard Rohr, he quotes minister Elle Dowd, an anti-racist white activist:
“Many people—white people, in particular—have little tolerance for tension. We have been taught to avoid tension. Our conditioning has trained us to recoil from discomfort, to think of it as an inherently bad thing, something to sidestep and evade at all costs. Instead of leaning into tension to see what we can learn from it, we often avoid it. But when we do this, when we turn away from tension, we fail to see the gift that this tension can be in revealing the truth. We miss out on the clarity it brings with it, the opportunity to move forward.”
So choosing to serve love invites us closer to tension, conflict, and negativity so that we can shine the light of truth and love where it is most needed. Of course, this also shines the light on our own dark corners that need love and compassion in order to heal. It requires us to reflect on how we can discern the the difference between holy anger and destructive aggression. Also, how to distinguish the difference between genuine love and a mask of niceness that disguises fear, pride, and self-interest.
So while you may willingly take the walk to the center of the Labyrinth, how willing are you to embrace the invitation to return to the world of duality and offer love, especially to those who might not currently align with your views? Remember, love is not always rainbows and unicorns. It sometimes means speaking uncomfortable truths and taking uncomfortable stances. How willing are you to sacrifice comfort to speak truth in service of love?
I invite you to trust love. I invite you to lean into tension and potentially messy and conflictual situations from a non-violent stance. It won’t be comfortable. It will probably at times be humbling and/or stressful. It will likely require a degree of risk and vulnerability.
Do it anyway.
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Lean into the tension of the different parts of you that are at war with one another. Lean into it with love.
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Lean into the hidden corners of your psyche that you would rather not admit exist. Lean into it with compassion.
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Lean into the vulnerability of challenging your loved ones when they are caught in negativity. Challenge them from love as opposed to blame.
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Lean into the tension of the world that is struggling through a dark night of the soul. Lean in and offer your gifts in whatever imperfect way you can.
Lean into whatever crisis appears in your life, for it is there that you will find growth, healing and transformation, while at the same time offering it to others.
