Worksheet: Defining Your Spiritual Activism

What does spiritual activism mean to you?
(Write your own definition of spiritual activism below. How might it be useful in manifesting personal change?)

To me, spiritual activism means working on oneself in ways that lead to positive change. It involves reorganizing and reflecting on our real lives and identities in real ways—our deepest likes, desires, fears, angers, ambitions, etc.—and to align them with larger justice issues. In this sense, personal development becomes a means of resistance and ways to transformation. 

Identify and lightly research a historical or contemporary figure who you believe best embodies spiritual activism. What qualities do they possess that inspire you? What qualities would you like to develop to reach your spiritual activist goals?
(Name qualities.)

Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) particularly inspired me. She was a Kenyan environmental activist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). She founded the Green Belt Movement, which focuses on tree planting, environmental conservation, and women's empowerment. Through her efforts, she helped plant over 51 million trees and engaged in promoting environmental sustainability. 

I remember when I learned about her, how she also helped feed countless people, I was taken back on how something seemingly simple, like planting a tree, can have such positive effects. It makes me think if everyone on the planet planted just one tree in a year. That's over 7 billion trees. That would go a long way to combat climate change. Oh yeah, just saw this: What if there were 1 trillion more trees? - Jean-François Bastin (youtube.com)

César Chávez (1927–1993) was a Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW). He fought for the rights of farmworkers, advocating for better wages, working conditions, and labor rights through nonviolent protests, including strikes and boycotts, to draw attention to the struggles of agricultural workers. His leadership during the Delano grape strike (1965–1970) brought national attention to labor issues in the agricultural sector. 

Now this guy, and Dolores Huerta, are especially impactful for me. Such an inspiration. My family comes from a migrant town not far from Delano. I'm one generation away from those who endured this struggle. My mother and her family were migrant workers. Farm workers are still going through exploitation. I just learned about monopsony, the reverse of monopoly in a way, where a company, like Wal-Mart, has won out on all the competition, so they are the only buyer in town. Farm workers are tackling this issue right now through the Fair Food Program. Learn more here: The Fair Food Program – Consumer Powered, Worker Certified (The Fair Food Program is a unique partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the people who feed our families).

They resonate deeply with me because they embody qualities of courage and direct action. They demonstrate that simple, real-life acts—like organizing workers and planting trees—can create radical differences in our lives and systems of power. I aspire to develop these qualities, as their activism aligns with my values and cultural background.

How can a better spiritual or personal connection with yourself support your activism and what does it mean to you? List at least three ways.

• Journaling and reflective practices can help connect personally and spiritually with oneself. This process reveals our feelings and keeps us aligned with our deeper desires while maintaining focus on targeted goals and outcomes.
• Finding a passion project or two that we care about can deepen our connection with our truer selves and larger societal issues. I believe everyone has a justice project locked within them, and it is our responsibility to activate and uncover that route.
• Self-care and mental health practices such as meditation, yoga, and taking time off can sustain and fulfill one’s goals for positive personal change. We must start with self-healing and acknowledging the cultural and social abuses that affect our bodies, minds, and souls. As Gandhi said, "The only devils in this world are those running around in our own hearts."

What brought you to this site? What are some things in the world that you’d like to change? How can a change in yourself facilitate these changes?

As the founder, my life project and academic studies have motivated me to create this site to help myself and others find an outlet that leads to positive self and social change. I am deeply concerned with the issues our world faces today: capitalism, war and conflict, racism, sexism, classism, speciesism, global warming, climate change, habitat loss, coral reef degradation, species extinction, trash and food waste, and on and on and on. There are so many problems, and it angers me that day by day, we do nothing to mitigate these phenomena; we just mindlessly engage in the exact same actions and worldviews that propagated these problems, our self-conceptions and deeper structures of feeling. Now, I know it is hard to go against the current. Most acknowledge these issues but take no action; those who can often remain inactive. Many scholars critique the world using abstract, arcane language that disconnects from reality (I'm super guilty of this); they do nothing to enact change. This has led me to construct this site, which helps sustain my activist directions and changes within myself, focusing on inner work and passion for addressing systemic issues.

Reflect on some the systemic abuse(s) that we all endure (such as having to work 9-5, systemic racism, gender discrimination, environmental pollution, wars and conflict, etc.). Which issues are most important to you or have greatly affected your own life? 

Animal and environmental justice are particularly important to me, having watched documentaries in my youth that resonated with these issues (see Cowspiracy). I remember learning about these grave issues during a college course on environmental ethics. We watched documentaries and read relevant works, emphasizing the importance of being open to the world and its harms. I became a vegetarian and shortly thereafter a vegan, contemplating which products I consume and do not consume. The pain and suffering animals endure is not worth my luxurious desires. Now, I'm not perfect and have wavered at times with the vegan thing. But this has been a decades-long struggle. But I care about remembering these facts, keeping lines of empathy open. This site is to help me stay on that track.

Animal agriculture is also linked to climate change and environmental degradation, helping me conceptualize how systemic issues intersect. This realization led me to understand spiritual activism’s interconnected framework. Making these self-changes and dietary adjustments is difficult, requiring daily choices and reinforced values. It is something that has often alienated me and made me feel awkward around others when eating out. In other words, it is not easy. Nevertheless, I continue to care about these issues and keep them in the forefront of my daily habits. 

In what ways do you believe personal transformation can influence broader societal change? What characteristics would you like to work on yourself? How have you been complicit or challenged the status quo?

My aim is to move the needle in the right direction—not to be perfect, but to decolonize my mind from Western culture and reorganize my life to fight for a just cause. I see personal transformation as vital for creating activists. Navel-gazing pursuits and self-centered ambitions—like career, money, sex, status, and power—lead to systemic inequalities. Devoting oneself to the movement toward a new identity is an absolutely foundational step to fixing our society.

We first need to become the types of people who demonstrate love, compassion, and respect for others, who fight for and sustain peace and coalition. Without this transformation, larger social patterns remain in the hands of the corrupt few who control the movements of masses, who seek complete control, wealth, and power. I want to work on sustaining these pursuits, which has been a struggle for me for many years. I aim to continue changing my daily habits and view of myself to reflect these goals, focusing on education and learning, writing and reading, and self-creation and spirituality.

I recognize my complicity; I have been deeply embedded in academic institutions. I have spent too much of my time, money, and resources serving only myself. Of course, I am not all to blame. One must engage with the capitalistic order to survive. But I am searching for those spaces where I have choice, more choice than previously conceived. A deeper reorganization of self. 

I want to achieve a healthier balance between self-care and activism, dedicating my life to a grander cause. I am engaged in many entertainments and indulgences, have taken too many vacations, and have purchased too much needless shit from stores and online retailers due to manufactured desires created by these mega-corporations. It reminds me of that Fight Club quote:

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off”-Tyler Durden

I am very pissed off! This spiritual war, the one against the corrupt, has led me to adopt a more minimal lifestyle, challenging the everyday models on consumption. While responsibility doesn’t fall solely on individuals, I must confront how I have perpetuated and benefited from systemic inequalities, how learning more makes us more responsible. These uncomfortable acknowledgments are vital. Necessary. We have spent too long serving only ourselves. We are all connected, and I believe spiritual activism urges us to act on these interconnections, rather than pursuing self-centered ambitions.

How does your understanding of systemic injustices affect your interactions with others in your community?

My understanding of systemic injustice has shaped my interactions with others and my community, often leaving me feeling alienated. I believe that social status, class, and the way we define ourselves by our labor contribute to deep disconnections from others, animals, and the planet. We invest in crafting a self-image to secure approval and employment built on the exploitation of others and nature, but we don’t learn to genuinely care for others outside of those terms—only in superficial ways that serve our own interests. Of course, this isn’t the case everywhere, but it reflects broader trends. We are too tied to old systems of money and consumption; these old ways of seeing ourselves and relating with others need to go. 

Can you identify a personal experience that has shaped your view on the systemic issues you stated? How might sharing this experience contribute to collective awareness? 

I have already mentioned that I became aware of animal and environmental issues during a college course on environmental ethics. We watched documentaries and read other relevant works that opened my eyes to the conditions animals face. Witnessing these harms spiritually broke me; the sheer amount of suffering and destruction is staggering. This experience motivated me to become a vegetarian and then a vegan, which has influenced my choices about what products I consume.

I have shared this experience with others in ways that highlight spiritual activist dimensions. This powerful experience has undoubtedly contributed to collective awareness, as I have had to explain my dietary habits to friends, family, and strangers, highlighting injustice and raising awareness. This could encourage others to reflect on these issues and consider changes in their own lives. 

Redefine spiritual activism. Has it changed since you engaged with these questions? 

Spiritual activism is about writing for oneself.  I am grateful for this more fluid style I have used to write these responses, being honest and allowing thoughts to flow in a stream-of-consciousness manner. Most of my writing tends to be highly structured, particularly in academic contexts, replete with neologisms, fancy jargon, and needless philosophical debate. This more open, free, and honest model is why I created this site: to encourage others and myself to critically reflect on ourselves and the world around us. It gives us all a space for honest critical reflection with deeper personal and social issues, and I hope to lead by example. 

I will continue to think of spiritual activism as a form of writing that allows me to vent, articulate my truths, and engage with the pressing problems of the world today. Spiritual activism challenges us to speak our truths, delve into our spirits, and be brave about what we might discover in our hearts: the devils, angels, selfishness, selflessness, complicity, and resistance—interconnected threads that weave together our journey toward a better world.

In a more free-write format, what other final or personal thoughts emerged from the result of engaging with these questions? What are some of your final reflections?

To conclude, I am excited to have finally finished and to get this first module out. I am beyond ecstatic that my visions are materializing and that I now have this digital platform to continue developing my ideas, inspirations, and insights. I aspire to be among the first spiritual activists to have gone through this “academy.”

My goal is to unlearn the damage of being ‘human’ and all the detrimental consequences instilled in us by Western frameworks and colonial ideologies, this Us versus Them way of thinking. WE ARE ALL OF US. Our identities should not be owned; this is a space to experiment and ‘rewrite’ our identities in alignment with interconnectedness and activist stances and actions.

This is my first step. While I acknowledge that more work and challenges lie ahead, it is important to recognize some wins and milestones along the way. My anger, resentment, resistance, hope serve as companions on this journey, interconnected in complex ways that demand change, that reject this world order. I will continue to listen to these feelings, this inner voice, my intuition—my spirit—through my writing practices and evolving sense of self.