Reflections: Youth Empowerment Programs, Anarchist Tendencies, and Paradoxes of Spiritual Freedom
Year Delivered or Published: 2007
Author: David M Boie
Author's Faith: A Course in Miracles
Date Submitted to Inspiration and Issues: June 16, 2007
Topic: Spirituality
The region of Montana where I reside has been dubbed the "methamphetamine capital of America." Montana Meth was filmed around where I live, and some may wonder if the compulsions and temptations associated with drug culture can be undone.
Recently, two staff members from a local Montana newspaper participated in the Manaia/Youth Empowerment Leadership Programs happening in the region. These programs have been sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters, a Montana Judicial District Court, and numerous other institutions who regularly deal with the fallout of a human culture that, shall we say, appears to be "having a hard time." We can be grateful that the Court system has found courage to go "out on a limb" in addressing issues of social disintegration.
Rather than focusing too much on back-patting, this column draws attention toward a few pitfalls inherent in youth empowerment programs... in the interest of preserving the immense value these programs hold in trust for all of us. If youth and adults alike can be aware and mindful of potential dangers - we may find compassionate responses to any youthful "acting out" (or adult insensitivity) that may arise. Surely there may be some untoward experimentation mixed-up with the more authentically creative impulses of empowered young people... impulses being incubated and explored in these encounter groups.
Yes, dangers... as illustrated well by the dynamics and tension of the Sixties - including the depressive "Big Chill" that set in after the flower-children encountered a deeper sense of personal impotence and selfish ambivalence in which we all share. As Manaia participants and other "inner-explorers" re-enter the larger world with a re-newed sensitivity and open-awareness, many, like yours truly, may feel some overwhelm confronting the pain of this world... the pain we feel in resonance with our fellow Brothers and Sisters as we labor under weight of our own Self-abnegation.
Recently encountered with a facilitator of the Manaia project in a local pub concerning these issues, and he spoke of the training and overall objective of Manaia as being "revolutionary." And, though I sense he meant this term in the best of all possible ways... alarm bells went off at hearing this blood-stained word used with such an energized, and seemingly contagious zeal.
As one with bi-polar disorder, I feel acutely aware of the pit-falls of "riding too high" on the concept of personal empowerment, and also have found myself resonating with the vibe of youth who wish to dismantle the urban/industrial complex in favor of a more "natural" state. When encountering frustration at being unable to accomplish this undoing in twenty or so years, the temptation to "tear-down the walls" (a la Pink Floyd) may come fairly rapidly to the fore, as in my case-history.
Walls, both personal (as encountered and softened in Manaia training) and societal, have resistance to being torn down - in some measure, walls represent what we the people believe protect our lives. Paradoxically, the revolutionary political anarchism currently fashionable in youth culture may be the swiftest path to a global police state... as a wise soul said: "a people gets what government it deserves."
Political anarchy seems an appealing option for many youth and adults alike. Having encountered the chaotic equivalent of a political anarchy within context of my own internal world (schizophrenic psychosis), I can speak with some authority in saying that a revolutionary fervent in favor of enforced anarchy approaches foolish in the extreme... besides, what authentic anarchist can presume to be the one "authority" authorized to enforce his or her limited version of freedom on people - a freedom that the hard-core anarchist in me, I daresay, barely understands.
In dialog with a friend recently, the idea came up that, beyond a sometimes thin facade of forced manners and presumed expertise in urban culture, there already exists an invisible, and subtly powerful "anarchy of goodwill," forbearance, and understanding. This delicate-seedling of shared good faith cries out for all the tender care we can muster.
No one can force us to be open and sensitive with one another, and in moments of despair we may balk at how powerless we seem as unique personalities able to effect significant change. And yes, we may indeed be largely powerless as "personalities." However, in moments of joy, we transcend our personality structure, and oh, the power of these moments.
Often times, we fail to see that our impacted social order has itself sprung from previous "successful" attempts to secure power as egocentric personalities. And the short-sightedness that in one era erects "the Walls" as a monument to our collective narcissism... this same short sightedness appears as the urge to violently tear them down in the next. I ask that empowered youth who have more direct access to the spontaneous joy of childhood have patience with the repressed adults of the world and the walls we have built... we all be in this boat together.
Throughout the centuries, there have been those who have intuited the diabolical nature of their own hunger for a sense of "personal power" - a power which, seemingly, must be wrested from others in a sort of grand competition (even at Christian Church socials). A few of these folks have turned themselves inside-out in search of an authentic sense of Self. The report of these mystics and navel-gazers? The authentic Self is Real, reachable, and has access to a river of joy that flows eternally without friction or turbulence.
Regardless of culture or religious affiliation, similar prescriptions have been offered by humanity's saints and sages for realizing this feeling of centeredness in joy: serve your brothers and sisters in gratitude as best you can...surrendering attachments to outcomes, as well as personal grievances along the path. And above all, be gentle with yourselves, your bodies, and the body's desires ...offering yourself all the gentle discipline you would want for a beloved pet. And, I feel guided to add, please have fun... for our ineradicable connection with Source is humanity's greatest treasure.
This prescription transcends dogma as a pathway of "impersonal empowerment" - the willingness to labor amongst the "shadows of the valley," shining Light where we can, and perhaps retreating to find centeredness in solitude when Krishna and Arjuna's famous and ongoing battle with the ego's sense of despair, resentment, and anger becomes too much with us.
Friends, we balk at how intractable our social problems seem nary so much out of a sense of being impotent as "unique" personalities... rather, we balk at how powerful we may become as beings able to transcend personal concerns in faithfulness with our fellow beings.
