Beyond spiritual bypassing - putting love into action through protest
There is growing condemnation of those in the spiritual community for their silence and spiritual bypassing of the unfolding g@nocide happening in Palestine.
Their silence saddens me; but it does not surprise me.
At a different point in time, I would have been one of them.
I would have remained silent because I didn’t want to ‘lower my vibration’.
Instead, believing that me emanating ‘love and light’ was all I needed to do to contribute to positive change in the world.
With all my heart I thought I was doing the right thing…
Until a gas company tried to frack farmland outside Lismore.
What emerged is known as the ‘Bentley Blockade’ - a coordinated community effort to protect the land from this fate.
Initially I hesitatingly attended a rally - genuinely fearing the damage we might be doing energetically as the adage ‘what you resist, persists’ ran through my mind.
But as a teen who wore flowers in her hair and watched Woodstock 69 (stoned) in her spare time, the internal pull to be a part of the movement grew stronger.
The Bentley Blockade was an incredible sight to witness… a colourful and coordinated physical blockade of the gates, with a large campsite nearby and a network of thousands of people who would mobilise within minutes.
Upon any threat of the gas corporation’s trucks turning up to the site, a text message would be sent for us to turn up and prevent them from entering.
I’d get goosebumps and tears in my eyes watching the trail of headlights of the stream of traffic as thousands of us answered the call to protect those gates in the wee hours of the morning.
>> You know what happened?
It worked.
Eventually the NSW Government conceded and cancelled the company’s drilling licence.
A win for the community and our precious mother earth.
>> You know what else happened?
I realised if we hadn’t stood at those gates, that gas company would have rolled on through those gates at the first available opportunity and fracked that land.
I realised that in the face of oppressive, dominant forces, we need to resist or they will continue to act in their own vested interests.
I learnt that the most spiritual thing I can do is to put love into action.
Sometimes that looks like standing at a farm gate alongside my community to protect it; other times it’s been working with a community impacted by floods; and these days it looks like standing alongside the millions of others saying ‘not in my name’ and ‘never again’ in the face of what is currently happening in Gaza.
I am forever grateful for my spiritual practice.
It gives me the strength and capacity to face these painful and revolutionary times.
To hold the grief and help me transmute it into action.
May our hearts continue to be cracked wide open and mobilised to stand up together.
Love Mandie x
Soul Strategies
Practical spirituality for purpose-driven humans
"The ultimate measure is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where we stand at times of challenge and controversy". Martin Luther King Jr
This was me (far right) dressed for a 60's themed party in my final years of high school. They are all my usual clothes worn by me and my friends. I always thought I'd be born in the wrong era… until now. Now I see I am exactly in the era I was destined to be here for; as are you.
