Welcome everyone to my first blog!
"Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple ..."
1 Peter 2 vs 5
As part of the Occupy London movement, and being a person of faith, much of my involvement has been led by my belief in one thing that Occupy has done as a global movement, which is to unite people in believing that we can stand together and find unity to seek change for the greater good, not to continue being a part of the global system that supports the few at the expense of the many. In the Occupy London initial statement, there is one line that for me holds particular importance: "we want structural change towards authentic global equality".
What is "structural change" one can ask, and how do we achieve this? What is or what could "authentic global equality" be?
I guess for myself "structural change" means a totally radical reformation of the way in which governments, corporations, banks, and society, are created, authorised, and behaves and conducts itself. A change in the way that all of these are structured in attitude, conduct, ethics, values, morality, transparency; and in finding a way to do this with understanding, love, charity, empathy, consideration, compassion, respect and honesty. A socially just and fair society, led by shared values.
This all sounds so very utopian, but if we have no hope, no desire to change, no commitment, no belief that we can change, and no faith driving us so that we can be empowered to be a part of a better world, then we may as well give up on ourselves as a human race. For our role in the destruction, greed, apathy, and our acceptance of the corrupt structure of the world we live in today should not go unchallenged, and this means challenging ourselves first, as we need to change our views and behaviour before we can go out and change the world view. We need to know that we have been a part of the problem until now, and will remain so, if we do not become a part of the solutions for the future.
We need a cross-pollination of communication, experimentation, a true melting pot of ideas and suggestions, to find alternative ways forward towards a stable, just, fair, loving, faithful and valued global community. No-one should want or be forced into a world in which the economic global crisis leads to a similar situation as post the 1930s Depression, with the rise of fascism, racism, elitism, anti-semitism or Islamaphobia, nor to the destabilising of society through the rise of strong leaders with dictatorial political power pushing for war, or the destructive road that leads whole generations to participate in or die in war after war.
Surely there is a better way, a way that encompasses faith and love and understanding and a desire for peaceful resolution towards a just, sustainable and democratic global community. One where we are all brothers and sisters, one in which humanity is important not not just the individual, but that the individual in the greater society and community through their own personal interactions ensure that they feel valued within the greater community.
No-one is above reproach, no-one can truthfully say that they have never behaved in a destructive, selfish or inconsiderate way at times, but now is the time for us to reflect on not only our own behaviour, but our accountability, our role in being responsible for our world, our society, our own everyday actions and attitudes. Faith without action, and action without love, is hollow and dead.
"Three things are equally important: earth, humanity and dew..... without the earth there is no dew, without the dew there is no earth, and without them both there is no humanity."
Genesis Rabbah13 vs 3
How can we achieve structural change is something that we should as a global community, to be talking about, discussing, debating and sharing ideas and possible solutions.
Now I come to the "authentic global equality" ... if only we knew what that meant, what that would look like, how it could be created. The problem with the word 'equality', is that for many people, this seems to conjure up the idea that we should all be the 'same'. 'Sameness' is not equality, and equality is not all being the 'same', equality is to have that ultimate respect for 'other' and for 'each other', to accept our differences, to strive for understanding where we don't have the 'sameness', to embrace our diversity, to focus on what we share as a human race, not be divided in what we don't have in common. Equality is not pushing our own ideas of democracy on others, not proselytising, not judging, not legitimising our own ideas at the expense of others ideas, not forcing our own structures onto and at the cost of other choices, not pushing our own culture onto others, nor our own language, all these lead us further away from the universal language of humankind, universal in that we can respect and love both ourselves and other for our difference and diversity.
"The blind and seeing are not alike, nor are the darkness and the light. The shade and heat are not alike, nor are the living and the dead."
Translated from the Koran, Chapter 35 The Creator
There is much I wish to talk about, but as this is only the start for me on a journey I hope will bring into contact many new people and help us to become both students and teachers in our world. I sincerely hope that anyone who is interested in being a part of Occupy Faith will share their comments and feel free to join and participate in this journey of hope and faith in a new beginning.
Tanya
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