A Meditation

Last Sunday at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples I presented the following Meditation, which is a shorter, revised version of an essay I posted on Wade’s Weekly some time ago. Since it received a very strong, positive response, I post this new version.

--Wade

Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy (v. 2.2)

By Wade Hudson

In recent decades the United States has become increasingly ego-centered, task-oriented, impersonal, materialistic, fearful, angry, dogmatic, and undemocratic. Unsurprisingly, progressive-minded individuals, embedded in the dominant culture as we are, often reflect those same characteristics.

We become ego-centered when we worry more about our own status than the work at hand and care more about building our own organization than we do about alleviating the suffering of others.

We become excessively task-oriented when we concentrate on product and ignore process. We use noble ends to justify dehumanizing methods.

We become impersonal when we reduce others to tools. These days more people have fewer close friends with whom they can discuss personal problems.

We become materialistic when we minimize feelings and spirit.

We become fearful when we dwell on risks, agonize over what others think about us, and try to mobilize people by feeding anxieties. The politics of fear leads to burnout.

We become stuck in anger when we scapegoat so-called enemies and try to defeat them rather than reconcile with them.

We become dogmatic when we refuse to compromise and live in an abstract world of ideas.

We become undemocratic when we assume that leadership is determined by the ability to mobilize others to do what the leader wants them to do, that one must always either dominate or submit, that some one person must always be in charge and give orders.

For many people, these methods work fine. They accept being a cog in a machine.

But some of us seek ways that are more meaningful and productive. We aim to grow caring, activist communities filled with contagious joy and compassionate attention to one another’s needs and aspirations.

While working steadily to impact public policy, we want to really listen to others, enjoy each other’s company, and support each other in conscious efforts to become better human beings and more effective activists.

We make a clear commitment to ongoing self-development, which requires us to undo negative conditioning. We admit mistakes and try not to repeat them.

Building our own organization is not the be-all and end-all. We join alliances and coalitions. We focus on the need at hand, rather than our own self-interest.

We work hard but still take time to smell the roses, relax, take care of ourselves, commune with Mother Nature, and enjoy a wide range of human experience. We set realistic goals and accept our limits.

We treat others with respect, practice compassionate listening and nonviolent communication, and strive to know and understand each other more fully.

We acknowledge our feelings and express them freely. Though we have different ways of discussing our spirituality, we recognize that the material world is filled with mystery that cannot be measured. The self is boundless.

We face our fears without allowing them to control us. We speak our mind, do what we must do, and leave the future to the future.

We acknowledge our anger, express it constructively when we need to, and let it go, so we can focus proactively on positive solutions.

We realize that all words are approximations that merely point to reality. By avoiding ideological rigidity, we face life honestly and concentrate on changing what we can change.

We nurture collaborative, problem-solving leadership, work respectfully with others in cooperative teams, and foster democratic management styles.

Through these efforts, we empower each other and ourselves and strive to be the models of compassion, both individual and collective, that a nation needs in order to be a true democracy dedicated to the common good of all humanity.