Reflections on Spirit in Action
When interviewed shortly before his death, the sculptor Henry Moore was asked if he believed there was a secret to life. “The secret to life”, Moore answered without hesitation, “is to have something you devote your entire life to, something you bring your whole self to each day. And the most important thing is – it must be something you cannot possibly do.”
This is a perfect description of our work in the world and the motivation behind it. Our deepest intention is simply to embody and serve the peace, justice, and love of beauty that we wish to see manifest in the world. This is a task without end. We cannot possibly do it, fix it, or bring it to completion. Nevertheless a current of actions naturally flows from the spirit of this intention.
The short essays linked to below are a series of reflections we have written over the past decade on this subject – the congruence of spiritual recognition and outer action. In these writings we share how we personally have experienced the surprises of pilgrimage, and what we have learned about bearing witness to cultures, individuals, and societies very different from our own. One recurring theme in these essays is the dynamics of personal and cultural identity, and how our identities – when they are grasped tightly – lead to conflict.
Spirit in Action Essays
- The Challenge of Fundamentalism (Elias Amidon & Elizabeth Rabia Roberts)
The Challenge of Fundamentalism by Rabia Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon Wherever we travel we find concern about fundamentalism. Europeans are worried about violent outbreaks among immigrants in their home countries and the apparent failure of their attempts at multi-culturalism. Arabs try to assure us [...] - Showing Up: Notes on Action in the World (Elizabeth Rabia Roberts)
SHOWING UP: Notes on Action in the World Living a spiritual life has always included for me both an intensely inward, contemplative practice of liberation from my identifications and judgments, as well as the challenging aspect of outward service dedicated to justice in the world. [...] - Crossing Borders (Elias Amidon & Elizabeth Rabia Roberts)
CROSSING BORDERS . When the pilgrim’s road comes to an end and her goal is reached, she finds she has traveled only from herself to herself, and that the God whom she reached was all the while in her, around her, with her, and beside her. –Annonymous [...] - Home Sweet Home: Notes on Pilgrimage (Elias Amidon)
Home Sweet Home: Notes on Pilgrimage . I always thought I would be the kind of person who would plant an apple tree at the birth of my firstborn, and that I would tend it patiently through the passing of the years and age with its aging, [...] - Integrating Spiritual LIfe and Social Action (Elias Amidon & Elizabeth Rabia Roberts)
Integrating Spiritual Life and Social Action . The Heart’s Deepest Desire Nothing is more important in integrating spirit and action than coming into alignment with one’s life purpose. How do we do this? Where do we look in ourselves? The Sufis locate the root of life’s intentionality [...] - The Mall Quest (Elias Amidon)
The Mall Quest By Elias Amidon A few weeks ago, I found myself standing in a circle alongside 25 of my graduate students outside a large suburban shopping mall. We had come to partake in “Mall Quest,” a journey of discovery into a citadel of our culture. [...] - Journal Reflections (Elias Amidon)
Journal Reflections from the Thai-Burmese Border By Elias Amidon Early morning light breaks through the leaves of the jungle around me. I have just finished my prayers, troubled ones, and turn this page to try to make sense of what I am feeling. The flat fronds of [...]
- The Challenge of Fundamentalism (Elias Amidon & Elizabeth Rabia Roberts)