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SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE - JULY 1998 |
"The new age stereotype is that it's all
about changing one's self internally and the
world can take care of itself. The political
activist's stereotype is that we ignore our
inner selves to save the world. Neither works"-Sarah
Van Gelder of Yes Magazine
Personal spirituality and social change are
fundamentally connected. Each has implications
for the other, and both are dependent on the
other. Until we as individuals know ourselves
we cannot hope to change the world. Until
we find the path to overcoming our perception
through individual ego the reason for social
change will never be truly clear.
My Deconstruction
In 1981 I decided I must make a decision about
my political beliefs and act on them. At that
time I felt that if I could not support the
U.S. government that I should join The Weathermen
or some other militant force and fight for
armed revolution.
As I was trying to sort this all out in my
head I began to realize that I could not make
a decision concerning my political beliefs
unless I had a firm sense of my own moral
beliefs. Realizing that I had never consciously
considered my own moral beliefs lead me into
a long journey of psychological deconstruction.
Soon I began to question everything I had
ever believed. I realized my head was filled
with beliefs and I had no idea where they
came from. They were just there. The more
questions I ask, the more were suggested.
This process was frightening and painful.
Before it was over I felt overwhelmingly confused.
I had no idea what I believed any longer.
At the lowest point my entire value system
completely collapsed.
Feeling exhausted from months of brutal self-examination,
and realizing that my sanity may have been
pushed to its limits, I dropped out of the
world for awhile. I spent the next year and
a half living in a secluded forest retreat.
I tried not to push my mind too hard. I needed
time for my unconscious mind to digest all
that had happened.
In time, slowly and naturally, I began putting the pieces back together. Doing my best to not be swayed by
the social programming of my childhood, and trying to make conscious, rational decisions as I built a new value
system for myself.
As painful and hard as this process was, I
value it greatly because afterwards I saw
the world with new eyes. I felt strong in
my beliefs. I knew what my values were and
what the were based on. And if further questions
were raised I had no fear of reevaluating
them again.
The Imperial Orgy As Spiritual Medium
As I learned from personal experience, each
individual must go through a process of self
examination to undo the social programming
they have been conditioned with since birth.
Before we as individuals are old enough to
reason for ourselves we are conditioned by
family and friends, teachers, the media, and
advertising to believe a complex set of values
which we have never consciously considered.
The motto of The Imperial Orgy is 'follow
yourself'. 'Think for yourself'. But before
one can do so we are forced to question everything
we have been brainwashed into believing in
the past, and make conscious value judgments
for ourselves. It is a process of spiritual
deconstruction that can be painful and confusing.
And to take responsibility for oneself is
a burden many do not wish to bear.
One of our goals in The Imperial Orgy is to
present a medium to inspire people to seek
spiritual rebirth through self-knowledge.
One of the means in which we do this is through
The Imperial Orgy website. The heart of The
Imperial Orgy website is an introspective
journey of self-discovery where the visitor
is initiated into The Orgy's Inner circle
by making their ways through a maze where
they are asked to share their deepest beliefs
with the Orgy community. For many this process
of self-examination has a profound effect
on them. Many claim the experience gave them
a sense of clarity which they never knew before.
Further, other arts and events presented by
The Imperial Orgy are also designed to stimulate
people to question their own beliefs and begin
this process of spiritual rebirth. The process
of self-knowledge is also one of overcoming
one's ego. And only once we escape the selfish
control of the individual ego are we ever
really able to dedicate ourselves to a larger
cause and realize that we are one with all
humanity, life, and the universe.
The social evolution of humankind has been
the process of this passage, step-by-step,
from animal, to human, to something which
for lack of a better word we will call 'God'.
God in the sense of understanding that below
the illusion of our sense perceptions of the
material world we are all truly one.
This process of overcoming ego is the passage
from thinking like an animal only of our own
individual desires, and moving from there
to expanding our sense of responsibility to
include family, to tribe, to race, to nation,
to all humankind, and now to this realization
that we are responsible for all of life and
that all of the universe is life.
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SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE NEW AGE Activism an article by author Caeser Pink
on the relationship between spiritual issues and political activism. Imperial Orgy
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