Nonduality
seemingly insignificant acts
may ultimately make a great difference in the world
Silk Activism
Petros
Meher Baba, the great Indian saint of the mid-twentieth
century, made working with the "poor,"
marginalized and mentally ill one of the central points
of his spiritual endeavors. A book published a number of
years ago called _The Wayfarers_ explores in painstaking
detail this great enlightened being's travels all over
the Indian subcontinent, counselling and spiritually
assisting other wandering men and women known as
"masts" -- the "god-intoxicated," or
individuals so wrapped up in inward ecstasies that they
are unable to function in ordinary society and maintain
their accepted (sanctioned) social roles. Meher Baba saw
that these individuals were not merely mentally ill,
though some fell into that category, but were so
overwhelmed by their inner experiences that they tended
to break off contact with the outside world. He made it
one of his duties to help bring these people out of their
cocoons and teach them (through subtle, intuitive, and
often silent means) how to give back something to society
as a way of paying back the Absolute for the great
blisses they had experienced.
Of course not every person encountered by Meher Baba was
a "mast," and perhaps the majority were simply
marginalized for one social reason or another, or perhaps
suffered from mental illnesses that in that time (the
1940s) were barely treatable, especially in an
economically deprived area such as India, with its masses
of people and limited resources to help even a fraction
of them.
The devotion of great Saints throughout history is not
anything new, either; the story of the life of Jesus is
certainly the archetypal story of an enlightened sage
devoting his life to working with society's outcasts.
Whether one wants to give credence to the orthodox Gospel
accounts as written, or simply accept them with a grain
of salt as highly embellished stories that possess some
kernel of truth, they provide superb material for
inspiration and imitation. Modern scholars, who tend to
dismiss most of the miracle stories and supernaturalism
of the life of Jesus as related in the New Testament, see
his working with and living with society's outcasts and
marginalized people as the central focus of his mission.
For Jesus, according to today's scholars, the act of
"healing" someone of leprosy (symbolic of a
whole range of socially marginalizing diseases) was less
a supernatural cure than the simple act of befriending
such people, associating with them even to the point of
sharing meals and living space with them. This was a
social and psychological healing, and most importantly, a
spiritual healing. That such association was very
controversial both in Jesus' day and in our own is
attested to by the persecution and misunderstanding that
seems to accompany prophets such as he. To the power
elite (both ecclesiastical and secular), any act of
welcoming the marginalized into society is inherently
challenging to the status quo.
All the saints understood this. In 13th-century Europe, a
wealthy Italian cloth-merchant known to us as Francis of
Assisi had a powerful awakening to the reality of
suffering in his own society which compelled him to
literally discard everything he had -- his money, his
inherited business and lands, and ultimately even his
clothing -- and turn his back on comfortable society to
go out into the rural and waste lands to live among
society's outcasts, lepers and the destitute. For his
pains, Francis was persecuted, disinherited by his
father, and came close to excommunication from the church
and perhaps even (as with Jesus) martyrdom. As it
happened, some grace was with him; he was permitted to
found an Order of monks which continues to this day, and
he is revered as one of Christianity's greatest saints.
In my own time of trials and suffering, not so long ago,
I found reading about the life of St. Francis, and
watching modern depictions of his life in such movies as
the 1970s "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" to be a
source of great strength and inspiration, and many others
have benefited likewise.
The longer I live in the "big city" the more I
find myself fascinated by those whom the larger society
has cast off, or who have cast themselves off. This
fascination does not derive from some sentimental
attachment or pity. Rather, it is the recognition that
these individuals on the margins of society share a
universality, a timelessness that comes to those who for
some reason find themselves "de-conditioned"
from social and cultural norms, reduced to the bare facts
of existence. In this they share their essence with
realizers or "enlightened" types the world
over, and in traditional societies (such as India)
realizers and the homeless are still accorded a level of
respect that neither are given in the West. If one has
the misfortune of living where there are no realizers to
be found, one would do well to spend time associating
with local street people to gain a feel for the rawness
of a life lived with minimal cultural
"insulation." Unlike the case of enlightened
beings, one will still witness ego at work among such
people; but it is usually an ego stretched very thin,
almost to the breaking point; and one can see its
clinging desperation, and (hopefully) see a reflection of
our own patterns too.
One of the acts that Meher Baba performed,
ritualistically, for the street people that he worked
with was distributing small coins to them that he had
specially "empowered" with his blessing energy.
Whether one believes in this ability or not, such an act
of kindness cannot help but have a vivifying effect on
the recipients. This was not mere monetary charity, but
rather an act that formed a subtle bond between Baba and
the recipient of the coin. I found this simple act so
inspiring that I have tried to duplicate it my own daily
encounters with street people. I keep a small silk bag
filled with dollar coins especially for this purpose, and
during my wanderings will give one to a person that I
encounter, more or less at random. The important part of
the giving in these encounters is always the connection
that is formed by it, and the subtle interplay of energy
in relationship that is created at the time. The value of
the money itself is overshadowed in these cases, and (if
you try this yourselves) you may find that the recipient
is, to some small extent, "healed" of a certain
degree of his or her marginalization. Such seemingly
insignificant acts may ultimately make a great difference
in the world. It's a good idea not to get too sentimental
about this work, however. Notice how I have tried to
avoid using the word "charity," for instance.
One thing that has kept me in a right frame of mind is
the recognition that the giver gains as much from the
transaction as the receiver.
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