As a spiritual person, I have felt aloof from the Occupy Wall Street movement. I have thought about this aloofness a great deal, spoken and dialogued about it, and written about it, but I still struggle to put my head and heart together over how I can serve and contribute to Occupy and within the realm of social justice as a whole.
At a recent panel discussion at Union Theological Seminary, entitled "Being Mad And What To Do About It: What Occupiers And The Occupied Can Learn From Interfaith Dialogue," my frustration was crystallized to a certain extent. As my friend Samir Selmanovic spoke eloquently about the need to deepen our compassionate spirit in our dialogue with the "other," i.e the people who run the machine of Wall Street, and as I heard the responses from Occupiers in the audience who refused to acknowledge the need for any such kind of dialogue, the nature of my own disconnection from the Occupy movement became more clear.
I felt that, as natural and acceptable as it is in one sense to feel anger at some of the entities on Wall Street. the "vampire squids" and "evil bankers," and as natural as it is to respond to being dehumanized by such entities by dehumanizing them in return, as a spiritual person my engagement with this immense problem must go deeper. It must include yet transcend the rage, exasperation, and frustration all of us feel.
One can say that these "evil bankers" don't deserve a compassionate dialogue, yet compassion is multifaceted. It is not just good vibes, but the strength of providing what is truly needed for someone to give up their selfishness and illusion, even if that means the strong arm of justice and the clear light of truth.
One can say that because of the power dynamics at hand, because of the immense wealth and influence that Wall Street has in this discussion, that to engage with them is fruitless. Yet there is nothing more powerful than a spiritual response to injustice and inequality. If you doubt what I am saying, just look at the lives of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, among many others. The divinity behind their voice was what gave them the power to make such immense change.
I can relate to the struggle Thomas Merton went through in the 1960s, as he lived his life as a Christian monk yet was deeply drawn into the monumental struggles of civil rights and nuclear war. As a committed spiritualist, his response to these issues required an incredible amount of depth and clarity. One passage, from his book "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander," elucidates my feelings towards how we should view the "Other" or our "enemy" much better that I could ever say:
The tactic of nonviolence is a tactic of love that seeks the salvation and redemption of the opponent, not his castigation, humiliation and defeat. A pretended nonviolence that seeks to defeat and humiliate the adversary by spiritual instead of physical attack is little more than a confession of weakness.This may be easy to talk about in theory. It is not easy to practice, especially when the adversary is aroused to a bitter and violent defense of an injustice which he believes to be just. We must therefore be careful how we talk about our opponents, and still more careful how we regulate our differences with our collaborators.
I was also moved by a comment Samir made, in which he wondered and called out for people to minister and counsel to the people within the crypt of Wall Street itself. I told him of my friend Rasanath, whom I have lived with as a monk for the past three years, and whose remarkable experience of giving up a lucrative career with Bank of America to live as a monk has given him the perspective and calling to become a spiritual guide for many people on the Street.
The only response to any injustice I can give, as a spiritual person, is a humane response. It is a response which doesn't ignore the injustice at hand but which transmutes into something that actually moves and heals. I ask our fellow Occupiers to consider the language, tone, and motivation of their response, so that we can deepen our ability to affect the change we seek.
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What if the 99% - workers who decry the unethical behavior of the legal entity they work for - join together, make an appointment with the decision makers - and invite them to retire? What if the ethical workers then operate the business in a beautiful way?
What if they then design every project for the betterment of humanity? What if each and every business, agency and person within it, is held equally, legally accountable? Surely the system will quickly clean up its act from the inside. Every worker will be very careful, because he is risking his future and the future of his colleagues.
Imagine, for instance, the military-industrial complex retooled into an infrastructure support team - making clean water, air, organic food, available to the entire world. Companies and agencies, please invite your corrupt leaders to retire. When corporations are run ethically, the world will operate as it should - for the highest good of all humankind.
If victory of your viewpoint is not the goal, then why bother to protest in the first place? Nonviolence is not about love and compassion, it's rightfully called a "tactic" because that's what it is -- a method used in war.
IF that is true -- and that is a very big IF -- then they need to step forward, expose transgressions, cry out against the lies and align their interests with those who have been oppressed by the 1% -- even at the expense of their jobs. Were they to do so, they might be invited to help reform the system when it happens.
But there is no real integrity in the system, nor can there be. It has been thoroughly corrupted. Bankers at the top of the system reward loyalty with continued employment and monetary rewards. Staying in the system is only possible if you are corrupt or if you are a very low-level employee (like a cashier) who cannot possibly do anything about policy.
The idea that "dialogue" will change the system is false. There's been a lot of dialog, and the Evil Bankers refuse to change, rejecting all forms of regulation. They have declared their intention to cheat.
The Bankers were the first to dehumanize the rest of us, rejecting compassion, stealing lives and livelihoods. It is no longer a matter of persuading them to stop. They must be forced to yield, one way or another. We will no longer accept slavery.
Jesus implied that rich people did not have their spiritual act together, so we now follow and somewhat worship a society that worships the machinations, goals, and attacks on spiritually these spiritually bankrupt "leaders" almost continuously exhibit.
It forces the conclusion that "Christians" who support the corporate structure as is are supporting the forces most antithetical to their stated belief structure and spiritual health.
Are there ethical people out there? I suppose there have to be people who are filled with remorse over helping to implement harm and feeling no option to prevent their participation. Where does that leave them?
Factually, there are corporate people making decisions which kill citizens and take away our freedoms. There are congresspeople who assist them. Do we need to feel compassion for them? We should - but will that elicit change? It may be necessary to be able to feel compassion while swinging the sword.
As a spiritual person, I consider wanting to feel spiritual and peaceful a temptation that I may need to resist at times. Perhaps restlessness is a humane response.Those in reconciliation processes have learned that it's not healing to victims to ask for peace when the injustice has not been addressed.
Should dialogue be achieved, it should be compassionate. The compassion should include all parties, those who have been hurt and wish to express it as well as the bankers. We should listen to the anger with compassion, too.
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There are actually fewer and fewer low-level white-collar jobs on Wall Street. Sure, back in the 80s, everybody had a secretary, and there was a mail staff, receptionists, file clerks, a whole support system. But that has largely given way to automation.
A spiritual person immediately has compassion for the legitimate protestor. A religious type has to wade through twisted rationalizations to mentally conclude what is good and what is bad, when basic morality is obvious to a conscious person.
Author confuses truth with manners. Manners have no place in spirit. Jesus angrily kicked the bankers out of the temple. Today's big bankers are sources of much of the evil in society, and they should be reviled, punished, and publicly scorned.
What I mean when I say I "felt aloof" was that I am still looking for my place of service and connection with the Occupy movement, and the social justice movement as a whole (in fact I am currently applying for Union Theological Seminary here in NYC), not that I don't have compassion for Occupiers. I really resonate quite deeply with people on the ground, and I desire to be able to use more of my time, energy, intellect, and spirit to be on the ground more and more.
And yes, I agree many of the scoundrels on Wall Street should be reviled, punished, and publicly scorned, but as a spiritual person, it is also my duty, after all this has happened, to forgive them and to help them transcend their lower nature.
It's going to take time, I mean come on, after the damage that was caused...