I wonder if we will remember the date, Saturday November 12, 2011, when people of Spirit around the world came together to sit in quiet meditation for 108 minutes. It's called
Sit4Change and takes heed of the non-violent actions of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and others.
In its call to action,
MoveOn.org says,
Practices of spirit, faith and personal transformation have been THE essential, critical ingredient of our most admired social movements-generating compassion, inclusion and sustainability on the road to victory. ... We encourage all Occupy sites to share 108 minutes of expression of the sacred, of ceremony, of prayer and of compassion as individuals, as families, and as communities.
The idea is that, sitting together in Spirit--whatever that means for us as individuals--in support of the Occupy movement, in support of We, the 99 Percent, we effect personal transformation, and that in transforming ourselves, as the woman in the short video below says, we transform globally.
Why I will Sit4Change tomorrow
Not long ago, my sweetie and I joined a hundred or so others in an Occupy meditation in downtown San Francisco. It is one of the most positive political--and joint spiritual--actions I have experienced.
There we were in Union Square on a cold, blustery day--old people, young ones, a man on a cane, another in a wheel chair, some in Buddhist monk robes, some in business attire. After brief welcoming remarks, and surrounded by the honking, shouting din of rush hour traffic, we planned to sit in silence for thirty minutes.
At first I thought I might not be able to meditate in the relative discomfort of noise and public exposure. Those feelings quickly dispelled when the thirtiesh woman who organized the gathering began to speak
The city permit forbad using a public address system or even a megaphone. With the wind and poor acoustics, many could not hear. Someone shouted, "Use the People's Voice!" She smiled and said a few words. In unison, the people within ear shot repeated them. She said a few more. They repeated them. Soon the speaker and her amplifiers spoke with such rhythm that it seemed the most natural thing in the world. We heard every word perfectly, as I have never heard over a PA system in the open air. I felt astonishment at this incredibly effective, and unifying, way of communicating within a crowd.
It is easy to forget how powerful We The People can be when we come together. We have a much stronger voice than we realize. And that's not all. Sitting in utter silence with these individuals, each of whom had taken time from their busy day to make their way to this public square, I felt a deep sense of peace. At one time, something wafted over me, it felt like a giant, warm bubble of love. I can't describe it better any other way. In that moment, I felt as if we had generated that bubble and it was touching each of us, teaching us the power of our collective love and intention. Then it floated away, to where I do not know.
So yes, tomorrow I will join others, whoever comes, to sit for change at Occupy San Francisco.
Will you join us?
Find an Occupy location near you.
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We make peace in a million small ways every day.
All text and images, unless otherwise noted, copyright L. Kathryn Grace. All rights reserved.
author Charles Eisenstein, snags my attention from the get-go. Speaking of the Occupy movement, he says it's not about us (99 percent) versus them (1 percent).
