Mid-Atlantic Regional Transition Hub

(Adapted from a presentation given by Will Keepin at Schumacher College

Totnes, England, July 1997)

• Transform the motivation underlying activism  from anger and despair to compassion and love. We seek to work for love, rather than against evil. We adopt compassion and love as our foundational intention and do whatever inner work is required to implement this intention. Even if our outer actions remain the same, there is a major difference in results if our underlying intention supports love rather than defeating evil

• Observe non-attachment to outcome. To the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures which is a path to burn out. Failures are inevitable and successes are not the deepest purpose of our work. This requires a deepening of trust in the intrinsic value of our work, beyond the concrete results. To the extent that our actions are rooted in pure intention, they have a reverberation far beyond the concrete results of the actions themselves

• Consider integrity as protection. The integrity of our work protects us from negative circumstances. There are practices which allow us to internally step out of the way of negative energy and make ourselves energetically transparent so that it passes right through us. But this only works if our work is deeply rooted in integrity.

•  Unify integrity in both means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in the fruit of one’s work. You cannot achieve a noble goal using ignoble means.

• Do not demonize your adversaries. To respond to arrogance with one’s own arrogance leads to polarization. Constantly entertain alternative points of view so that you move from arrogance to inquiry, and then have no need to demonize opponents. The challenge arises from our feeling very certain about what we think we know, and the injustice of what we see. Going into an adversarial situation we can be aware of the correctness of what we are affirming, but there is  usually a kernel of truth in what our opponent is affirming aw well; however small. We need to be especially mindful about what we deny because that is often where our blind spot will be.

• Love thy enemies. or at least have compassion for them. This means moving from an us-them, consciousness to a “we” consciousness. It is seeing the full circle of our interconnected complicity and discovering all the problems of humanity in our hearts and in our own lives. We are not exempt, and we are not different. The “them,”  that we talk about, is also us. Te practice of loving adversaries is challenging in situations with people whose views and methodologies are radically opposed to ours; but that is precisely where the real grown occurs.

• Your work is for the world rather than for you. We serve on behalf of others and not for our own satisfaction or benefit. We’re sowing seeds for a cherished vi

• Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. We must allow our hearts to be broken open by the pain of the world. Aw we let the pain in, we become the vehicles for transformation. If we block pain, we prevent our own participation in the world’s attempt to heal itself. As we allow our hearts to break open, the pain that arises is the medicine by which the Earth heals  itself and we become the agents of healing.

• What you attend to, you become. If you constantly attend to battles, you become embattled. If you constantly give love, you become loving. We must choose what we attend to wisely, because it shapes and defines us deeply.

• Cultivate a deep trust in the unknown. Recognize the presence of larger forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise agendas or workings. This implies that there are invisible forces upon which we can draw to engage; first by knowing that they are there; secondly by asking for them to support us or more precisely, to serve on their behalf. This entails knowing from experience and intuition about intrinsic universal principles beyond out direct observation, and relying upon these principles –whatever they are– to support us in creating what we aspire to create. This brings relief when we realize it isn’t up to us to figure out all of the steps to manifest our unfolding vision because we are participants in a larger cosmic will. Nevertheless, it IS our job to discover our unique gift and role; and for each person to give their gift as skillfully and generously as possible while trusting that the rest will work itself out.

• Love Creates the form. The mind gives rise to the apparent fragmentation of the world while the heart can operate at a depth unknown to the mind. If we can begin imagining with our hearts we can develop an unprecedented effectiveness beyond out normal ways of understanding, which involves thinking. When we bring the fullness of ourselves to our leadership we can be effective in creating the future we want.