10 thoughts on the future of activism
So here are 10 thoughts on the kind of activism we need at a point of widespread crisis and deep polarisation – a distillation of what I’ve been thinking about over the course of the first half of a six month sabbatical.
1 The best activism works for both inner and outer transformation, because it understands that the crises burning around us are external expressions of our inner worlds
2 The best activism moves beyond the idea of victory, and categorically refuses to become a story of “us versus them”
3 Love has the power to change the world, but love and care for others only becomes possible with love and care for self
4 Change depends on shared stories, but we cannot truly listen to anyone else’s story, much less develop shared ones, unless we are brave enough to truly tell our own
5 Self-help is great – but if it extends no further than individual level then it’s stunted. In a time of culture wars and deep polarisation, what we need now is *collective* self-help and healing
6 Moral evolution is the central story arc of human history, and we are poised right at the cusp of our species’ emergence from adolescence and into adulthood
7 Our civilisation faces an initiatory moment of death and rebirth, and myths about these themes hold deep wisdom for us at this point
8 The universe is intelligent, conscious, and non-random, and at the most basic level for us rather than against us
9 Unbelievably rapid, non-linear change becomes possible when we remember that we create the reality around us through our expectation, attention, and intention
10 Our best days are before us, not behind us