Sacred Activism has a special foundational meaning to me. The fusion of social justice activism with a profound sense of the Divine (or whatever you prefer to name the unnamable) has always been more potent when we consider such historical sacred activists as Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammad, Jesus, Gandhi and others. This potency is needed now more than ever. As Andrew Harvey says, the fusion would be like a “nuclear bomb of love.” This is the movement we need in order for humans to survive, to turn the direction that this world is headed. To think “outside the box” is crucial. As Paul Hawken said in “The 11th Hour” film: “We need to re-imagine everything we do.”

However, we also know that any movement that brings politics and religion together usually spells fundamentalism and screams out the inevitable: failure, more repression, more corporate/government alliances, more deaths... Just look at the current administration’s quagmire in everything it touches. A heavy dose of Christopher Hitchen’s book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, also will challenge us to see the cold realities of how “God” in politics has been used to stifle freedom rather than liberate our Spirit to create a socially just and sustainable future.

This is why Shawna Galassi has reported on various activists in Santa Barbara and SLO who combine their activities with the touch of the Sacred. I can’t say enough wonderful expletives to describe Van Jones. He manifests the sacred activist fusion, combining heart, activism, fierce compassion, with social justice, sustainability and spirit. I have been very fortunate to see him at BALLE and at the IONS Conferences. And he always leaves audiences sobbing while opening our hearts not only to bemoan the critical urgency but to inspire us profoundly to act and become someone larger than who we imagine ourselves to be. We have been fortunate to reprint excerpts from his speech at the Pachamama Alliance gathering, and we have scheduled a screening of his talk for late October in SLO.

I attended a workshop with Andrew Harvey on Sacred Activism. My report is here . Paul Hawken, in his latest book, Blessed Unrest, explores this fusion of spirituality and activism here (videos of Paul Hawken’s speeches are available at the Film Library).

HopeDance is cosponsoring the Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums in Santa Barbara and SLO, so please check the print issue of HopeDance for details of these life-changing gatherings.

A very intriguing and controversial book has been recently released: Awakening into Oneness by Arjuna Ardagh. If only 10% of the miraculous stories of healing and transformation are true, it would be totally remarkable and revolutionary. The gist is that people are flocking to India (remember the ‘60s and ‘70s?) to learn how to give deeksha, the oneness blessing. The idea is that IF we can experience viscerally “oneness,” then we would automatically halt the violence on the planet since we would know viscerally that we are killing ourselves. That appears to be the core issue. I read the book with both fascination and skepticism. Ardagh also wrote the outstanding The Translucent Revolution, reporting on the many transformations that are happening to people on this planet. We received permission to reprint a chapter from the book on how “deeksha blessings” are affecting prisoners; see Oneness Blessings in Prison .

One of my favorite socially engaged Buddhists is Sulak Sivarksa. Please read here to learn more about this powerhouse of a sacred activist. And founder of the Central Coast Village Center, Tyler Hartford, has written a personal account of his journey being an activist “Retrieving the Sacred,” here .

Our next issue will be on Social Marketing, to explore HOW campaigns of social and behavioral change are indeed WORKING and why; edited by Lisa Quinn. I will be working on editing the Best of HopeDance BOOK hoping to be completed in time for the 10-Year Anniversary HopeDance Party on October 27. See you at the films and other events.

Bob Banner