Since few years and all around the world appeared a new posture labelled "Post - activism" . Defend the sacred, engaged buddhism, subtle activism , pacific extinction rebellion mouvements are all part of it. With a small group coming from various spiritual practices we decided to explore what could be a Contemplative activism. This is how I frame it for now . C.A is for me the Zen path actualized for secular time and even its practices will differs from traditional zen practices the essence is the same and the main practice too : just sitting, just living, together.
C.A is another name for awakening to s(S)elf from
A manifestation of full beingness coming from collective wisdom practices leading to right actions in the world
The process seems to be related to a collective frame which allows emergence of a suttle resonant space where individualities can feel a dissolution of separated self for an interconnected one.
From this feeling of being complete , at peace, arises deep joy of living and also deep capacity to embrace the pain.
Being able to bear witness to pain within joy is the road for collective compassion and right ( adjusted action). This emergence of our true human compassionate nature comes from a frame , a « spaciousness» which can only exist in the mirror of a trustful community. Being seen and seing others with no judgement nourrishes our joy of living and reactivate our natural compassion towards others members and outside. Then from that we deeply generate an intuition of acting wisely in the world.
How to create the collective frame ?
From community Practice( s)
As practice is space in istself
If we don’t want to reproduce the mistake to beleive that virtue, good intention ( distorted by our equality complex ) will make the job we shall write another story , outside the ethic as a mean for good but where virtue is a natural consequence of our pratice of life within community .
Moving our body together to constantly crossing our relative ( separated one ) and absolute reality ( interconnected one) dissolves the « ontological identification » of beleiving that reality of being exists in itself ( concept coming from the 3rd generation of ACT therapies and inspired by the illusion of ego in buddhism)
More than inside and outside’s perception of self it touches the Varela ‘s concept of autopoïese ( we are both separated and intricated and our autonomy comes from our aptitude to produce from ourself something else than ourself through constant integration of alterity and still deeply be s (S)elf ) or the « Jikko » from Uchiyama Roshi (self embracing the Self to be the s (S)elf ) in an infinite interconnected danse where autonomy rather than individuality, equity rather than egality is manifested through actions coming from « being the world » in a state of constant transformation , with no permanent self.
Practice is the mouvement of life moving through life co-creating life
Movement is being within space beyond time ( the ingraspable present)
Practice is awakening to s(S)elf
In that sense , practices are an awakening in themselves as they put us in movement of s(S)elf by just living our lives together with others . They also are an inclusive way to activate and sustain , learn , integrate fluidity along time ( doing circles, meditation, cooking, cleaning is a practice and a teaching at same time) .
Practices should not be based on rules or laws but on patterns and principles based on a new ontology of reality of Self , an intricated and impermanent one.
we can only truly manifest our (sS)elf through community of trust
As an illusionary separated lost entity we need a frame of remembering : trust building and sustainable practices to reactivate the space for our universal being to manifest fully and act accordingly to its true nature.
Here are a Set of practices, principles and patterns to be used in communities Labs Hub to protect the frame of activation of collective wisdom.
Everything is practice, as practice is living life itself