So, the father of the American community organizing lineage, Saul Alinsky, was someone whose book I read in—or rather, during—college (I had a great habit of reading voraciously, but rarely what was assigned). But in rereading his classic, Rules for Radicals, I just came across a passage that sparked the tinder box of my grey matter like an epiphany, leaving me thinking, “was that really in the text the first time I read it?” Do you ever get that strange feeling when you re-read something, like something fresh and brilliant just worked its way onto the page, while the book was standing dormant on the shelf, bored and lonely, waiting for you to (re)discover its relevance? I get that feeling from rereading Buddhist books sometimes.

The passage comes after Alinsky has begun discussing how he sees many young radicals (in 1970, at the book’s publication) falling into the trap of dogma and fixed ideology. Here’s the passage:

“The Ideology of Change

What, if any, is my ideology? What kind of ideology, if any, can an organizer have who is working in and for a free society? The prerequisite for an ideology is possession of a basic truth. For example, a Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism…. The Christians also begin with their prime truth: the divinity of Christ and the tripartite nature of God. Out of these “prime truths” flow a step-by-step ideology.

An Organizer working in and for an open society is in an ideological dilemma. To begin with, he does not have a fixed truth—truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing. He is a political relativist. He accepts the late Justice Learned Hand’s statement that ‘the mark of a free man is that ever-growing inner uncertainty as to whether or not he is right.’ The consequence is that he is ever on the hunt for the causes of man’s plight and the general propositions that help make some sense out of man’s irrational world. He must constantly examine life, including his own, to get some idea of what it is all about, and he must challenge and test his own findings. Irreverence, essential to questioning, is a requisite. Curiosity becomes compulsive. His most frequent question is ‘why?'”

-Saul Alinsky
Rules for Radicals

Um, just insert the word “Buddhist” where Saul says “Organizer” and see if you don’t have a complete description of the Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Path of human development. Insert the word “Christian” and see if you don’t see what Jesus was trying to get us to see.

I think it’s a bit of a shame that the book has the word Radical in the title, because it’s really not a book just for the fringe groups that we would call radicals. It’s really for anyone who wants to work to transform community. I also think it’s a shame that the cover looks like the Communist Manifesto, because Alinsky disses communism in it. At least historical communism.

My first thought on the passage above is “He just told all activists they need to meditate, but maybe he didn’t know that’s what he was saying. Once again, I find myself wanting to reach beyond the conversational impossibility of death, shake Saul awake from ash, and ask him what was his personal method of reflection and questioning. Did he follow his breath? Did he ask himself about the nature of self? Of community? Of suffering? Of ego? Of power?

My second thought is “If someone was holding Saul Alinsky’s lineage of community organizing and ran for President of the USA, I would have to work hard on that person’s behalf. As a Buddhist. As a compassionate believer in relativity. As a fearful lover of uncertainty, I would have to make sure the holder of this man’s lineage was elected to a leadership position.

Oh wait, Paris Hilton is the Democrat nominee! Paris Hilton worked for years studying Alinsky’s philosophy and organizing poor people on the South Side of Chicago, right? That’s how she became a celebrity? By studying the passage above? By putting her uncertainty into compassionate action?

Vote Paris!

Saul Alinsky says Vote Paris Hilton!

Hilton/Spears ’08!

But seriously, what other quotes do you all have that hit the nail of Integral Activism on the head?

What are you reading that inspires you to change the world?