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<back | home Visionary Activism by Caroline Casey (The following include abridged excerpts from her book "Making the Gods Work for You," with permission from the author.) Think of your life as a spiritual detective novel. Each aspect of your life, especially the really quirky, maverick parts, are clues to your task, your destiny, and your gift to the world. Invite yourself to see life as a web of myriad meaningful patterns. Those moments when we apprehend and perceive patterns give rise in us to feelings of reverence and awe (ah!)—-two very healthy attitudes that have been the central foundation of great civilizations, but are what are sadly lacking presently in our own. Gandhi spoke to this point when asked what he thought of Western civilization, by replying that he thought it was a good idea. Entertain the possibility that you are an undercover agent parachuting down to this beautiful planet in its time of need. What catalyzes your memory of your mission? Each of us has some crucial task to perform in the Grand Intrigue, a task that will not only transform us personally, but will also transform the entire climate of culture. By responding to the invitation to participate consciously in evolution, we cultivate the infinite capacities of being fully human. Our affinities, those things to which we are strongly attracted, lead us to our gift, and hence to our way of serving the larger community. We can then give a gift to the world that could be given by no other; we can do a work or work a magic that could be effected by no other. The Lakota saying O Matake Oyasin, "for all my relations" defines community in the largest sense, to include all of creation. Through this saying the Lakota remind us that all our actions want to honor the spirit in all things—bugs, microbes, rocks, animals, plants, planets. Magical kinship should be encouraged at all times, for it is what makes life bearable. Some styles of spiritual practice arise from the premise that the world is merely a seductive illusion to be transcended through detachment. There is not a lot of room for humor in this approach, for this is serious business, a kind of goal-oriented, solo, M.B.A. approach to enlightenment. "Down to Gehenna, or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone," says Rudyard Kipling, speaking for those who value speed and expediency. But is it the most fun? Life is to be embraced as an ally—-to be transformed rather than transcended. We want to become completely involved in the responsibility of shaping reality for the greater good of all of our relations. There are two primary Buddhist paths toward enlightenment. Hinayana meaning "lesser vehicle," is the path of (strictly) personal salvation, whereas Mahayana, "the greater vehicle," is devoted to the salvation of all creation. This book ["Making the Gods Work for You,"] aspires to the Mahayana path—of full self-cultivation, participation, reverent curiosity and concern for the well-being of other creatures—and thus encourages us to become increasingly conscious players on the team of creation. We aspire to wed spiritual magic and compassionate social activism, because one without the other does not work. Vision and spirituality by themselves can be too ungrounded, detached, narcissistic, or oblivious. For example, there was a great blooming of interest in metaphysics and Eastern spiritual practices in Germany in the 1930’s, but without sufficient sense of compassionate social responsibility. Yet activism by itself is too dreary and overworked to be effective. We all know people who are doing noble, hard-working good, yet who have a gray pallor of infighting fatigue, symptomatic of "magic deficiency." They are tyrannized by "realism," alienated from their innate capacity to draw upon larger resources to heal and revitalize themselves. Visionary Activism invites us to participate actively in shaping and creating our personal and collective reality by embarking on an adventure of joyful maximum self-cultivation. The third Webster’s dictionary definition of maximum is "an astronomical term for the moment of greatest brilliance of a variable star." Astrology describes us as living in a Kairos, or "fulcrum"moment. The future is not fixed (but it’s not broken, either). Our actions can tip the fulcrum either way, toward the life or death of innumerable communities of creatures living on this planet. By voting with our imaginations, we determine the outcome. The all-too-visible forces of greed are stupidly lumbering along, dragging everything in their net toward the abyss of planetary systems collapse. But the forces of human ingenuity and artful compassion, allied with the world of the invisibles, are sprightlier, sleeker, and smarter, and they know how to dance away from the chasm. If imaginative people can use their powers to release creation from the net, then the forces of greed can hurtle themselves into the abyss (to be transformed at a later time) without taking the rest of us. Therefore the cultivation of imaginative capacity is the primary, specific, and detailed act of magic to which we are dedicated. We do not need more power, magic, or wealth but, rather, to use the abundance we already possess in conscious, imaginative ways. When we suffer from magic deficiency, we do so not because of an absence of magic, but because of our inattention to its presence. We are constantly performing acts of magic, summoning and invoking our reality — personal and collective. HopeDance publisher Bob Banner and Santa Barbara co-editor Margie Bushman are huge fans of Ms. Casey, who was heard at a Bioneers conference a few years ago. They are grateful to her for allowing excerpts of the first chapter of her book to be printed in HopeDance, which is of utmost importance at this time. To learn more about Caroline Casey, visit her website at: www.visionaryactivism.com; or phone: 1-888-741-GODS. She may be heard on the Visionary Activist Show on KPFK Los Angeles at 5:00AM Friday morning and KPFA Berkeley. <back | top^ |