Green Books (Cambridge 2016). Hbk. 224 pages. £18.94.
‘Direct political action is not something to be looked for from a creative artist. The creative artist will contribute in his own way. Though practical action is of course necessary, so also is the inspiration that no-one but a poet can give.’ So wrote the priest-poet R.S. Thomas in his Autobiographies; and it was these words that I found I kept on thinking about as I read Spiritual Activism. Is everyone a potential Gandhi, a Martin Luther King, an Aung San Suu Kyi? It is not a question the authors address, and I suspect that it is unanswerable. Everyone reading this excellent book, however, will be left pondering the relation between spirituality (as they understand it) and engagement with the harsh realities of the world in which they live.
The first thing that needs to be said about the book is that it not a harangue. Both authors show a gentleness, one can say a compassion, that makes their writing appealing. It is deep, too, ranging widely through the thought of Jung (among others) and reflecting on insights from Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. One and a half centuries after his death, how Chief Seattle would have embraced this book, revealing as it does the sympathy and profound insight into humankind’s relation to the earth which his people had kept in their soul from the beginning and the white colonisers had forgotten. So the authors lead us to consider the ‘left hemisphere dominance’ of Western culture, and its need to reconnect with the deep wisdom of the soul.
Spiritual Activism is divided into ten chapters, each one about twenty pages long and ending with a ‘case study’. Gandhi and Tutu, understandably, provide subjects for two of these case studies, but it is good to be introduced to others less well-known like Mama Efua from Ghana and Isabella Baumfree, who managed to escape from slavery in New York at the beginning of the 19th century, and later assumed the name of Sojourner Truth. Each chapter could be the basis for fruitful discussion in a book group. Chapter headings such as ‘The Structure of the Psyche’, ‘Nonviolence and the Powers that Be’, ‘The Psychodynamics of Campaigning’ and ‘Tools for Discernment’ indicate the kind of areas covered.
An attractive feature of the book is the sense of humour of its authors which pervades it and is found not only in the text but in the delightful cartoons drawn by Matt Carmichael. In any kind of activism there is a need for psychological honesty. ‘We are reminded of a newspaper cartoon that showed a procession of placard-bearing protesters. “Save the Whales,” read one. “Stop Logging,” said the second. “Down with the Corporation,” another. Finally, right at the end of the line, “I hate my Dad!”‘ This kind of self-awareness, involving ‘the gradual shift from being egocentric towards becoming a more centred self is… an essential process to sustain and endure the vicissitudes of activist life.’
Surprising, perhaps, to those of a religious cast of mind, is the inclusion of the rock band Pussy Riot’s protest in Moscow Cathedral in 2012. Three of the young women were prosecuted by the state for an act of ‘hooliganism’, and no doubt most churchgoers in Moscow and beyond will have thought: ‘And quite right too.’ For the authors of Spiritual Activism, on the other hand, it was an act of prophetic protest against the collusion of the Church with a repressive state. ‘Pussy Riot’s protest was not to reject the Church, but to reclaim it for the people.’
What, then of R.S. Thomas’ reflection on the role of the creative artist and that of the political activist? Martha and Mary? There is the extrovert and the introvert, and we are all somewhere on the spectrum between the two extremes; no doubt those at the extrovert end of the spectrum will be more drawn to spiritual activism than those at the other end. Spiritual Activism, however, is not a book only for extroverts; it is for all who are struggling to live a life which tries to hold together body and soul, prayer and politics: a life of integrity.
Edward Walker was an Anglican minister for 18 years, five of which he spent in apartheid South Africa. After returning to Britain he resigned from the ministry and became an RE teacher in schools and colleges. His book Treasure beneath the Hearth was published in 2015 (Christian Alternative, Winchester).