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An Example of Spiritual Action
by Robert Rabbin
When it comes to explaining concepts, I favor metaphors over
definitions, and I favor examples over metaphors. Examples are
the best way to explain concepts: don't tell me; show me. What
does enlightenment mean? Don't tell me the answer: show me.
I begin with this caveat because I am often asked to define
spiritual activism or, as I prefer to call it, spiritual action
-- about which I speak. I usually say that spiritual action is
the embodiment of the highest expression of our common humanity
-- love, wisdom, and peace. I say that when we enter the Silence
beyond the mind, we discover our authentic nature, and this
nature expresses itself in certain predictable ways: as love,
wisdom, and peace. I say that spiritual action is not a choice,
it is choiceless. The experience of our authentic being and its
embodiment as wisdom, love, and peace are a singular,
inseparable movement, dance, entity. Insight and action, flower
and fragrance, wetness and water.
I have said that spiritual action, when presented with violence,
presences peace; when presented with hatred; presences love;
when presented with fear, presences unity.
Of course, I go on and on with metaphors and definitions because
I love to talk, however futile such talk may be. So today, I
want to offer a beautiful example of spiritual action, courtesy
of one of my many new Australian friends: Isira Sananda.
A brief context: in the past few days, a number of violent
incidents, dubbed "race riots," have occurred on Cronulla Beach,
one of Sydney's beachside suburbs, to the extent that
authorities have said they intend to close Cronulla, and several
other beaches, for the weekend. Two thousand police have been
dispatched to the area to stand guard against further
disturbance.
Isira acted. The media release distributed by her organization,
Living Awareness (www.isira.com), announced: Living Awareness,
centre for healing and personal growth, today said it will hold
a peace gathering at Hyde Park, on Sunday 18 December, to join
with the Sydney community in peace, to unite and transform the
violence in the area.
And so it happened. On Sunday, December 18th, at 11 a.m., some
25 people gathered in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia. I was among
them. There were no fiery sermons, no placard-waving
demonstrations, no chanting. Actually, no nothing. Just sitting
together, quietly, then silently. A small band of people in full
public view, sitting silently, acting spiritually in response to
violence. No thought, no deliberation, no planning, no
fundraising: just this, a simple response from the heart,
choiceless, immediate, loving, peaceful, embodied, public.
Beautiful. Not against anything. Not for anything. Just sitting
in authentic being, radiating authentic being. Insight and
action, flower and fragrance, sitting and silence, peace and
more peace.
On this brightly prophetic day in Hyde Park, with traffic
filling Elizabeth Street, and throngs of people flowing through
the park toward the cafes and shops, in this city of five
million people, in this country of 20 million, on this Earth
with six billion -- some 25 people gathered to express the peace
of their authentic being, to demonstrate their peacefulness, to
welcome others without distinction, to meet others heart to
heart, and thus meet them unified in peace, and unified in love;
on this morning turning to early afternoon, under the sun and
blue sky, some 25 people chose to gather in peace, to announce
peace, to show peace; to sit quietly and open their hearts, to
open themselves, to expand themselves and embrace all, to
welcome themselves, and each other, and others not present, and
the world, the Earth herself, welcoming, welcoming in love and
peace, choiceless, immediate, without thought, but from the
necessity to embody the highest expression of our common
humanity, to testify to the truth and accuracy of my definition
of the nature of authentic being: unity-in-love with all
creation.
I know the world is richer and more vibrant, more alive with
spirit, more open for peaceful possibilities, for our gathering,
for our expression, for our choice. May we all find ways to
gather for peace, to express peace, to choose peace, for this is
truly the highest expression of our common humanity. May we find
ourselves in each other, and delight in each other, and
celebrate life with each other, in love, and joy, and peace --
each day, every day, from now until forever.
I'd like to conclude by quoting another of my new friends, a
marvelous young sage who lives with his parents and younger
brother, Seth, in Melbourne: Narayan John Matthews, five years
old:
"If the world can be beloved by us, we can bring peace and hope
to all the world."
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Robert Rabbin is a contemporary mystic, public speaker, and
writer who offers Radical Sages events throughout the world. He
is a leading exponent of Silence and self-inquiry as a way of
revealing our authentic being and of living in wisdom, love, and
peace.For more more information, please visit: http://www.radicalsages.com
.
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© 2005 Robert Rabbin/All Rights Reserved
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