SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM
Although we are often presented with denying negative images and stories, people all over the world are committed to a healthy ecosystem and healthy communities. These champions often draw their strength from their own spirituality.
Hearing about and celebrating each other’s successes, sharing hard-won wisdom, and finding the “best practices” can move us forward in our own spiritual activism.
This new way of being politically active emphasizes spirituality and creates just, sustainable communities. It gives the ability to solve problems creatively, discover new possibilities, and honor the earth by taking innovative solution-oriented action.
Roadmap
Part A
- Split the group into smaller groups of three to six students and give each group a newspaper.
- Give each group fifteen minutes to find as many articles as possible that are solution-oriented (hopeful, optimistic, or visionary) and offer a proactive solution to a problem.
- Have each group share the essence of their favorite article and explain how spiritual activism was present here.
Part B
- Divide the group into students exploring local, national, and international solutions.
- Each student prepares a 2-5 minute presentation on a person, organization, technology, policy, or project that relates to health and sustainability for both the environment and humans.
- Discuss the spiritual components of each presentation.
- Ask the participants of each group to come up with a definition of ‘spiritual activism’ and ‘solution-oriented politics’ and share it with the whole group.
Part C
- Have students brainstorm problems they encounter in their community or city/village.
- From these, choose a priority problem and assign each team the task of coming up with a solution to the chosen problem.
- Appoint a jury that chooses the best solution based on the degree of spirituality.
- Design an implementation strategy for the selected solution.
- You can have the students write letters to the editors of the various newspapers asking them to publish more news about spiritual activism and solution-oriented politics or to thank them for what has already been published about this.
Target
Participants will learn about spiritual activism within their own community and communities around the world and thereby learn to make a difference in environmental and social justice.
Learning Outcomes
Understand the terms “spiritual activism” and “solution-oriented politics” as concepts that offer a powerful combination of politics, hope, achievement, optimism and spiritual practice.
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