4 Vital Principles of Sacred Activism

These are reflections from a dharma talk Eden gave as part of Embodied Changemaking and Sacred Justice on Behalf of Life, a course offered through Barre Center for Buddhist Studies March-July 2024, to be offered again in 2026. Her next Sacred Activism offerings are a residential retreat in October and a 6-week course November-December.

So many of us are holding questions in our hearts about how to respond consciously to the times we face, and what being of service looks like now. Sacred Activism is based on 4 vital principles of embodied change-making.

PARTNERSHIP WITH NATURE: The key to effecting long term sustainable change within ourselves and our world is always partnership with nature. In the words of Vandana Shiva, “You are not Atlas carrying the world on your shoulder, it is good to remember that the planet is carrying you.” Partnership with nature - as a way of life and leadership - opens up dimensions of our being beyond the rational, linear mind, beyond the conditioned mind of limitation, beyond egocentricity and anthropocentricity. It awakens us to a much larger perspective and sense of possibility. Only when we listen more deeply to the natural world can we remember the ecoliteracy that allows us to receive guidance and support from every form of life.

RIGHT HERE FROM THE MUCK, WITH THE RESOURCES WE’VE GOT: It can be easy to believe the story that we are inadequate, or have limited resources to effect change. The circumstances we face can feel overwhelming, especially given the demands and constraints of racial capitalism. Yet throughout history, time and time again, sacred activists have modeled a “right here from the muck” mentality that says, regardless of the resources I have, I know I'm here to serve. And I choose to respond to this call on behalf of life. When we accept the muck we’re in and question the habit of perceiving insufficiency, we recognize how much energy that story was draining. We gain access to a well of vitality, and resilience with which to serve Life.

PROTECT WHAT WE LOVE, RATHER THAN DEFEND AGAINST WHAT WE FEAR:  From the microcosm to the macrocosm, from our personal daily interactions to our efforts to address systemic injustice, there is a vast difference in how we show up when we are defending against what we fear versus protecting what we love. Defending requires that we put on a shield and maintain the false lens of self and other. Consciously protecting Life is only possible when we connect to source and recognize interdependence. It’s not what we do but how we do it. Showing up with relational presence is an expression of sacred activism and allows us to act in a more effective way than fear-based actions. This inspires us to bring conscious to how we relate with ourselves and  grow movements and to impact change. 

RELEASING THE BINARIES OF COLLECTIVE CONDITIONING: Every ism that we face today is based in the distortion of binary perception: light v. dark, good v. bad, superior v. inferior. Through binary perception we falsely separate the sacred and activism, restoration and action, receptivity and our engagement with the world. Expanding how we relate to these elemental principles in our lives and on behalf of what we love opens us up to deeper power. Centuries of ingrained biases and patriarchy have elevated the principles of brute force, action, strategic thinking, rationalization, winning, and scale while devaluing stillness, embodiment cooperation, humility, care, compassion, and listening. Sacred activism invites us to see what is possible when we see clearly from the heart. perceiving through a lens of wholeness rather than separation.

Please consider joining Eden and her beloved colleague Nina Simons for 2 upcoming offerings to empower our sacred activism.

• SACRED ACTIVISM: WEAVING NATURE, CULTURE & SPIRIT with Deborah Eden Tull & Nina Simons, October 23rd-27th, 2024 at Art of Living Center. Register here.
  

• SACRED ACTIVISM: MEETING OUR CHALLENGES AS GATEWAYS FOR CULTIVATING RELATIONAL LEADERSHIP, a Bioneers Learning Course with Deborah Eden Tull and Nina Simons, a 6-week online series, on Wednesdays, October 30th - December 4th, 2024 from 1pm-3pm EST. Register here.

Truth Mandala: Honoring Our Pain for Our World through Community Ritual and Embodiment

Alongside the presence of Springtime invigorating my senses, feeding the vitality of my earth body, and inviting engagement with the elements each day, there is continual awareness of the River of Grief moving throughout our world. It flows through our collective consciousness as a constant undercurrent of loss and heartbreak. At times it feels like a subtle ache and at times our feelings torrentially overwhelm us. More people than ever are feeling powerlessness and confused about how to respond consciously to the times we are facing…confused about the process of discerning what to accept and what to take action on… confused about how to bear witness without feeding reactivity and how to stay resourced.

Within the dominant paradigm, there can be a tendency to push away grief, as if we are not equipped with the hearts to hold loss. The fear that our feelings will be too much, alongside a fear and rejection towards anything we label “dark,” together feed a culture of sunshining and spiritual bypassing. But all we’re really bypassing is the opportunity for healing. Healing – personal and collective – begins with turning towards discomfort rather than away and staying in our bodies. It is only through our bodies that we metabolize our love and pain for our world, a necessity for transforming our feelings into compassionate response.

Grief cannot be understood through binary perception. Grief and gratitude are not opposites, but two sides of the same coin.The reality of grief and  impermanence feeds our gratitude and willingness to give ourselves wholeheartedly to life and to service. Compassionate awareness of the acceleration of loss, uncertainty, and corruption within our world feeds the courage and spiritual sovereignty in which we choose to show up with each day. It is only when we push away our feelings or enter the cycle of mentalism and intellectualism, thought circling thought, opinions and finger-pointing about the state of our world feeding disconnection, that we lose our ground.  

It is more important than ever to have myriad ways to resource ourselves and to maintain the generosity of spirit to help one another stay resourced. From the grief pouring out of our hearts for the people of Gaza, to the tear in the fabric of human relationships that surround the upcoming election, from the conversation I just had with a friend in the Ukraine, to the most recent statistics on climate change…The medicine I know is simple and unrelentingly potent: Presence. Truth-telling. Community. Ritual. Embodiment. 

I’ve been engaging in and guiding the Truth Mandala ritual for decades. This ritual for honoring grief, anxiety, anger, love, and hope has been a lifeline for bearing compassionate witness to the corruption of our world. I’ve learned that I personally benefit from dancing before and after this ritual…moving my body in fluidity, flow, receptivity, deep listening, and pleasure. Conscious dance is a meditation in itself and a powerful ally for integrating all that is alive in our bodies-heart-mind. Conscious dance helps us to feel and hear the messages that come through our somas and through the cosmos.

We can spend all the time we choose going in mental circles talking about the issues we face today or find ways to numb out/cope with the state of our world. OR we can go down into our bodies…into the deeper darker undercurrents within and bring presence, honoring, and transmutation to the energy that moves through us in response to the world we’ve inherited. We can honor the life force which animates us, on behalf of our collective. 

We can recognize the sacred partnership between joy and grief, between meditation and movement, and between the inner and outer work. Our bodies are shamanic vessels for healing, for metabolizing and integrating our feelings, and transforming our experience into compassionate action.

So on June 9th, let’s get together for this simple purpose. Truthtelling-Community-Embodiment. Turning towards our love and pain together, in the spirit of deep listening, to acknowledge and metabolize our true feelings about what is unfolding within our world. Simultaneously we will affirm and celebrate the support of the earth with which we live in a constant reciprocal relationship. 

You don’t have to be a dancer to come…or even a meditator. But you do need to bring a beginner's mind and a sense of curiosity.

Join us for TRUTH MANDALA: A Community Ritual from the Work That Reconnects with Integration Through Meditation & Dance  - A 4-Hour Online Journey with Eden Bridging Personal & Collective Healing