The Spiritual Foundations of Activism in the World Today
If the urge to satisfy desire is the basic urge of the form life of men, the urge to serve is an equally basic urge of the soul of man.
~ D.K.
Twelve years ago, a package arrived to my home in Bolivia. A dear friend from New York sent me a gift: various editions of Kosmos Journal. I don’t think she knew what this really meant to me. From that moment on, Kosmos Journal became an important tool for me as a spiritual group facilitator. I soon became a Kosmos Global Ambassador, eager to spread the word in my home country of Bolivia with others.
Kosmos Journal opened a door to a whole range of excellent, caring, thinking people that show us new horizons of world activism. During these years, it has been a support in our spiritual quest and in our public activities, providing so much information, intermingled with such breathtaking beauty in its colorful pages. Some examples:
Spring/Summer 2006: Hiroo Saionji says, “If we can reach a critical mass of people with new awareness and new consciousness, an avalanche will be triggered and changes will inevitably occur within civil society.”
Fall/Winter 2009: Amidst exquisite photos of nature, Evan Leeson tells us, “The camera has always been a tool that helps me learn to see the universe on all scales. Seeing this world more fully motivates my activism in areas such as the food system and climate change.”
May 2001: Patricia M. Mische writes about the driving force that spirit contributes to poverty alleviation and development while recalling a “barren, garbage littered encampment in Southern Africa, where 20,000 people lived in complete poverty. When asked what they wanted in order to improve their livelihood: A school? Micro-enterprises? Community gardens? They answered, ‘We want a church.’ They thirst first for spirit. Development would probably follow.”
Fall/Winter 2011: Nancy Roof states, “Kosmos is ready to act. We will be initiating a Global Citizens Movement: A Global Community of Conscience, Integrity, and Action soon. We invite you to participate in its formation.”
Spring/Summer 2016: According to her Potawatomi elders, Shaapodaske Gishgokwe says that the key to sustainability is “Walk gently upon the Mother Earth.”
I am an enthusiastic reader of Kosmos Journal and it is an inspiration for me and a source of optimism, in spite of the current world situation. Reading about people trying to make a difference on the planet, adding beauty to it, and striving to make it a better place to live reassures us that better days are dawning.
My Work as a Spiritual Group Facilitator
When the world of thought is unified, then the outer world will fall into a synthetic order.
~ A. A. Bailey
Throughout many decades, my priority has been group work in Bolivia; the members have been gathering together in a living organism bonded by the group soul in brotherhood. We engage in group meditation and study, aware of our innate unity with all that is. There are many groups like this in the world today. We are always connected via Internet or in the silence of our meditation with other goodwill groups. Once a month, we link together, all around the world, and share a common meditation. Individually, we connect in triangles with others propelling thought-forms of inclusion, love, light, and goodwill.
We also give seminars and talks (Kosmos Journal has inspired us in many of them), and we have a monthly newspaper called The Beacon of Light with articles that range from diverse spiritual themes, United Nations’ activities, ecology, science, to world activism. We are trying to help shape the way people think, to be global, and to encourage inclusion, right human relations, and goodwill.
Activism and the New Group of World Servers
During the history of the world, we have seen waves of different groups appearing and playing their roles. Today, we are their beneficiaries. The Renaissance was initiated by cultural groups, with poets of the Elizabethan era, artists, musicians, and more. Political groups brought about the French Revolution, which fought for the divine rights of man. There was also a cycle of religious groups—Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Methodists, and Pilgrim Fathers. We cannot forget the scientists and philosophers. These were all molding groups that taught people how to think.
According to Alice A. Bailey in Discipleship in the New Age, we now see the gradual appearance of another group: the group of world servers, activists who are not content with the world today and want to make a difference. She says they come from diverse ways of life. “They are of all races; they speak all languages; they embrace all religions, all sciences, and all philosophies. Their characteristics are synthesis, inclusiveness, intellectuality and fine mental development. They own to no creed, save the creed of Brotherhood, based on the one Life. They recognize no authority, save that of their own souls, and no master save the group they seek to serve, and humanity whom they deeply love. They see their group members in all fields—political, scientific, religious and economic—and give them the sign of recognition and the hand of a brother.”
And thus, we see Green Peace, Doctors without Borders, NGO representatives from the UN, and many more, big and small, like CNN Heroes, cleaning the Mississippi River, empowering women, protecting and educating abandoned children and teenagers, helping animals and plant life. Or people like Karim Wasfi, Director of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Baghdad, who is seen, sitting on a stool, playing his cello, wherever a terrorist blast occurs. He says, “Some have turned Iraq into a war zone; I choose to turn every corner in Iraq into a place where there is civility, beauty, and compassion.”
The World Today
We need not see the world in disarray. It is a time of challenge and great opportunity because the peoples of the world are demanding their fair share, righteousness, justice, and inclusion. We can clearly see where there is light and inspiration and also where there is darkness. This is good because we can do something about it. Actually, humanity as a whole is maturing and thinking. There is still a lot to do, but many before us and many alongside of us are taking the right steps.
Kosmos Journal brings together world servers and global activists who are shaping a new age of inclusivity, goodwill, and a spiritual humanity.