10 Ways to Become a Sacred Activist

How to Give Back from the Heart

By Andrew Harvey

With so many crises facing our planet--from extreme poverty to environmental depletion to our often hurried, disconnected pace of life--the future can seem bleak. And many of us feel discouraged and overwhelmed about our ability to make a difference. The most visible world activists are often "fighting for peace," an ironic position that doesn't really reach the roots of our planetary problems.

But one movement, "sacred activism," an approach in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, engages our compassion so that action comes from love. Author and teacher Andrew Harvey has written a book about this phenomenon, offering sage wisdom and practical tools for positive personal and planetary transformation.

He suggests trying these ten things to start to align yourself "with the power and hope of sacred activism." The first six invite you into deep, nourishing connection with your spirit; the last four will help you express the compassion and joy this connection awakens in you in action.

Click for the first step to sacred activism....

The following is an excerpt is from The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism (Hay House, 2009) by Andrew Harvey. Reprinted with permission.

Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher. He is the architect of a modern day spiritual movement known as Sacred Activism. He has published over 20 books including Son of Man (Tarcher/Putnam) and The Return of the Mother (North Atlantic Books) . Harvey is the Founder/Director of the Institute of Sacred Activism in Oak Park, Illinois, where he lives. His website is www.andrewharvey.net.

Pray or Ask to Align with Love

When the text you have chosen starts to light up your spirit, pray a short prayer that aligns you with the "pure deep love" that is longing to use you as its instrument in the world. Here are four, from different traditions, that I use at odd moments throughout my day:

-Lord, let me live to be truly useful.

-Beloved, make me strong enough to do Your will.

-Divine Mother, fill me with your passion of compassion so I can do your work tirelessly.

-For as long as space exists and sentient beings remain may I too remain to dispel the misery of the world.

If none of these inspire you, or reflect your beliefs, make up your own spontaneously and say it ten times with passion, in the core of your heart.

Develop a Spiritual Practice

Make now a real commitment to spiritual practice. If you do not yet have one, start now, simply. Just sit, with your back straight and watch your thoughts for three minutes and allow your mind, however briefly, to fall silent. In that silence is your greatest treasure, one that will unfold its gold in you if you commit to twenty minutes of simple sitting in the morning and evening before you go to bed. Don't believe me; try it. If you find sitting and watching your thoughts boring, try this visualization that I was given by a great Tibetan master who recommended it to be used "anytime, anywhere."

"Imagine that love and compassionate action has transformed you in a large brilliant diamond that radiates diamond-white light. Send that light to all the four directions, praying, with whatever words you choose, that all sentient beings everywhere be happy, well, and protected."

Over time this will awaken you to your own deepest sacred desire to see all beings living in harmony and true realization and your deepest sacred courage to express it in action. When you have begun to experience the beauty of this practice, start doing it at different times in your day "anytime, anywhere." You will be amazed at its power to bring you home to your most compassionate self and its hunger to help.

Take a Baby Step for World Hunger

Make a commitment to skip one meal in the coming 24 hours and send a check for the money you would have spent on it to a reputable organization dealing with world hunger. I strongly recommend Buddhist Global Relief, which focuses on providing food aid to the hungry of the third world and on supporting projects aimed to develop better long-term methods of food production and management; it is run economically and by devoted people. Turn to its website for further details. ANY check, even for five dollars, will help far more than you can imagine. Never forget that almost two billion people live on less than a dollar a day.

Here are some other reputable hunger aid organizations:

Heifer International

Oxfam International

UN World Food Programme

Choose a Cause

Make a commitment today, even if you are having financial difficulties, to tithe between five and ten percent of what you earn to a cause of your choice. I recommend choosing one particular cause that deeply moves you and sticking to your commitment, whatever happens; over time, tithing like this will give you a great and healing sense of being of use and the cause you are helping will become more and more precious and personal to you, and you will want, naturally and simply, to do more.

I have tithed for several years now to the cause of keeping the white Siberian tigers alive; it gives me happiness to think that because of the little I can give, two or three of those magnificent and noble creatures might be able to live easier. Because of my passion for animals and my distress at our continuing barbaric treatment of them I would like to recommend that you consider giving to one of the many wonderful organizations that are trying to help them and that are all struggling for funds. Whatever cause really moves you, move to be of help now. Don't wait. There is great suffering already all around us and it is likely to get worse. Responding now will immediately empower you.

Extend Compassion

And one last suggestion because 11 is a sacred number and the number of the hexagram "tai" in the "I Ching" that means "peace." Make a commitment to always have some small change in one of your pockets to give something to one of the growing thousands of homeless in our streets. I learned this habit as a child from my grandmother in India, and over the years it has brought me into contact with some extraordinary people. For example, outside a temple in South India, there was a long line of desolate looking beggars and among them a very old woman, dressed in a ragged and filthy sari with no shoes. I gave her what I had on me--about a dollar. I watched in amazement as she walked unsteadily over to the nearest food-stand, bought herself a handful of chapatis, broke them carefully in two, and shared them with a dog as emaciated as she was.

If we all knew what that penniless old beggar knew, the many, many children who die of starvation every year would be alive. There is hope. We can all do a small something to honor our hearts and extend compassion everywhere--right now.

9 Habits That May Be Causing Your Back Pain

Do these habits sound familiar? Read next feature >