and it got me to thinking, why? What does he mean exactly? How is my personal behavior and attitude going to make any significant effect on the world at large? I started thinking about the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement and how there is something about it that doesn't sit right with me - and doesn't have to do with the fact that they have no real demands or suggestions for how things can change, though I think such things would certainly help their cause. On the one hand, it is invigorating for me to see people finally standing up and saying, "Hey! Something is wrong here!" I think that is certainly a step in the right direction. But the way the whole thing has been executed so far comes across to me like, "We're angry! It's not fair! Why shouldn't we have everything we want! Off with their heads!" and then they point their fingers at anyone and everyone that has more than them. They are lashing out against corporate greed, but what I see, honestly, is greed. You don't have to be rich to be greedy. It is like a child who throws a temper tantrum because another child got a bigger piece of cake. There is a covetousness about it...
So I think back about the most successful movements against oppression, and I think of Ghandi and Martin.
What was it that made their movements so powerful? In my opinion, it was that they came from a place of love, not hate, of disappointment not anger. Ghandi did not say, "Screw the British! They're all a-holes! They took everything from us!" Instead he looked at them as human beings, and he appealed to their compassion. He sat in front them and forced them to take a good hard look at the suffering they were causing, and ultimately, he succeeded in eliciting change, because his actions spoke to the humanity within them.
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| Ghandi - Hunger Strike - 1932 |
In the same sense, Martin did not say, "Screw the white man!" He said, "I have a dream that one day black and white children will walk down the street hand in hand."
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| US National Guard troops block off Beale Street as Civil Rights marchers pass by on March 29, 1968. (Memphis, Tennessee, USA) |
What both these wonderful men were saying to their oppressors was, "I love you, because I love all human beings. I want us to walk together in harmony. I am disappointed in your actions but I know that they come from a place of ignorance. Let me show you just what you are doing, because I know that once you look us in the eye and you see our suffering, your humanity will take over, and you will no longer be able to inflict pain upon us."
You see, at the end of the day, it's not the laws, or the policies, or economic system that is the problem. Those are only symptoms of the problem. The problem is we view ourselves as separate from other human beings. We are concerned only with our own lives and the lives of those that are closely intertwined with ours. "Love your neighbor as yourself." "You want to be enlightened? Feed people. Serve people." The only way there is going to be more equality is if we stop looking at others as outside of ourselves; we start to see our own interdependence. It's not about, "Oh, I feel like being nice today. I'll give the homeless guy some change." It's about, "That homeless man is me. I am him. We are connected by our humanity. He is my brother. I can do nothing else but to help him."
So back to the 'Occupy' movement, I feel what is missing is the Love. I feel this movement will move forward by leaps and bounds when they figure out that the 1% is not the faction of evil-doers in this country - they're just people. Just like you and me. They struggle like us. They are ignorant like us. They need to be shown the harsh truth, but in a loving way.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
If you want equality, if you want people to treat you with care, concern, and compassion, to look at you as a brother or sister, not an 'Other', then you must treat them with that same love that you are asking of them.
This is right on Jaime. Well written piece. Though your points are all valid, I will share a little more with you. Ghandi was a 'Hindu', a devotee of Lord Rama to be more precise. And in these teachings we learn of the principles of Karma. Which seem like a real simple principle, right? What goes around comes around. But, its not always that simple. There is a forced perspective of accepting responsibility for the pain one feels in life. So instad of thinking 'the world sucks, how can I change it?', the Hindu thinks, 'The world sucks, how can I change me?' Its put the responsibility for ones pain, on past actions, that have established false perspectives, that cause the suffering. So in order to stop that suffering, one needs to change ones own perspective, ones own karma, and as you were saying, turn it into a perspective of love. Difference between "hindu' and current western ideology is: Westerners say 'That happiness can be found outside our bodies', most Eastern ideology says, 'Happiness can only be found within ones self.'
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