Our Mission

We believe in the radical transformation of self and society through the power of spiritual activism. By intertwining spiritual practices with personal growth and political engagement. Our vision is a world where personal transformation catalyzes global change, fostering a deep, visible, and complex connection between individual empowerment and collective justice. At Spiritual-Activism Academy, we are dedicated to nurturing a new form of interconnectedness with others, animals, nature, and the Earth. We prioritize activism and global justice through self-transformation.

          "Most contemporary spiritual practitioners in this country ignore the political implications and do not concern themselves with our biggest problems and challenges: racism and other racial abuses. They’re not concerned with violence against children and women, with poverty and the attacks against nature. I describe the activist stance that explores spirituality’s social implications as “spiritual activism”– an activism that is engaged by a diverse group of people with different practices." 

-Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark, 19

Explore our resources, including:

• Interactive Modules: Engage with thought-provoking content and courses that blend spiritual reflection with practical strategies for activism and personal transformation, designed to inspire political involvement through aesthetic practices.
• Educational Resources: Access a rich collection of materials on spiritual activism, social, animal, and environmental justice, and systemic change through critical self-reflection and educational acquisition.
• Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Creative Works: Stay informed and inspired by discussions, stories, and art from other scholars, artists, and activists who are reshaping themselves and the world.
• Connections to Social & Activist Movements: Join like-minded individuals, communities, and initiatives dedicated to dismantling systemic oppression and fostering a more just and equitable world.

Join us on this journey of reimagining and rewriting our relationships with ourselves, each other, other species, environments, and the planet. Together, we can create a more just, interconnected, and harmonious world. Our site is designed to help you identify the injustices and issues that matter most to you, while cultivating both personal and collective resources to get involved. Shift away from daily habits of entertainment, endless and mindless consumption, and self-serving career-oriented objectives, and transform your identity and life’s purpose by reorienting your values to serve greater calls to action on real-world justice issues.

The issues facing our world today:

Environmental Injustice & Degradation 

1. Deforestation: Every day, approximately 80,000 acres of tropical rainforest are destroyed, leading to the extinction of around 137 species of plants, animals, and insects (WWF 2022).
2. Land degradation: Each day, about 50,000 square kilometers of arable land (approximately the size of Costa Rica) is lost due to degradation from human activities such as deforestation and urbanization (UNCCD 2020).
3. Food waste: Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally every year, which equates to nearly one-third of all food produced for human consumption. This waste significantly contributes to methane emissions from landfills, exacerbating climate change (FAO 2020).
4. Ocean pollution: More than 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year, equating to 22,000 tons of plastic waste daily, significantly harming marine ecosystems (The Ocean Cleanup 2021).
5. Coral reef loss: Coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate, with 50% lost in the last 30 years. If current trends continue, 70-90% of remaining coral reefs could be gone by 2050 (IPCC 2021).
6. Air pollution: Globally, 92% of the population lives in areas where air quality exceeds the World Health Organization’s safe limits, with air pollution contributing to approximately 7 million deaths annually, or 19,178 deaths per day (World Health Organization 2021).
7. Global warming: The planet's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2°C (2.2°F) since the late 19th century, with 2020 tying with 2016 as the warmest year on record. This warming is primarily driven by increased carbon dioxide emissions and other human activities (NASA 2021).

Animal Injustice & Harm

1. Extinction rate: An estimated 150-200 species of plants, insects, birds, and mammals go extinct every 24 hours, primarily due to human activity (WWF 2022).
2. Marine animals: An estimated 100,000 marine animals die annually from plastic entanglement, while pollution and overfishing contribute to the displacement of thousands of species daily (National Geographic 2021).
3. CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations): Over 150 million land animals are slaughtered globally each day for food production, contributing to suffering, pollution, and habitat displacement (FAO 2020).
4. Animal suffering in CAFOs: Over 70 billion animals, including chickens, cows, pigs, and fish, are raised and slaughtered annually in factory farms worldwide. More than 50 billion of these are chickens, confined in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, often living in spaces no larger than an A4 sheet of paper, with their beaks sawed off. Pigs and cows endure severe confinement and stress, often leading to self-mutilation and the cannibalizing of companions. Additionally, over 2.7 trillion fish are killed annually in aquaculture and wild fisheries, frequently suffering from overcrowding, disease, and painful slaughter methods (Compassion in World Farming 2021).
5. Habitat destruction: Approximately 1,000 species face extinction every year due to habitat destruction from logging, mining, and urban expansion (WWF 2022).
6. Meat industry’s environmental impact: The livestock sector is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to methane, land use changes, and deforestation (FAO 2021).

Social Injustices & Classism

1. Extreme wealth disparity: The wealthiest 1% of the world’s population owns 45.8% of global wealth, while the poorest 50% hold just 0.7%, illustrating severe global inequality (Wikipedia 2022).
2. Racial inequality in violence: In 2020, Black Americans were more than twice as likely to be killed by police as White Americans, with a rate of 34 per million for Black people compared to 14 per million for White people.
3. Racial inequality in the U.S.: In 2020, the median wealth of White households in the U.S. was 7.8 times greater than that of Black households, highlighting persistent racial wealth gaps (Federal Reserve 2021).
4. Gender-based violence: Globally, about 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, equating to 736 million women worldwide (UN Women 2021).
5. Class disparities and poverty: Nearly 10% of the world’s population, or about 770 million people, live on less than $1.90 a day, struggling with extreme poverty and lack of access to basic needs (World Bank 2022).
6. Banking industry corruption: The global banking industry has paid approximately $321 billion in fines since the 2008 financial crisis. These fines have been issued for violations such as money laundering, market manipulation, and misconduct in mortgage and securities sales (Reuters 2017).
7. Prison-industrial complex: The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.3 million people currently in U.S. prisons and jails. People of color are disproportionately affected, as Black Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of White Americans (NAACP 2021).
8. Homophobia: Globally, around 69 countries still criminalize same-sex relations, with many LGBTQ+ individuals facing violence, imprisonment, and even the death penalty in certain regions (ILGA World 2021).
9. Transphobia: In 2022, there were 375 documented murders of trans and gender-diverse people, an average of 1 per day (Transgender Europe 2022).

And much more...

Works Cited

Compassion in World Farming. Factory Farming: Global Impact and Animal Suffering. 2021, www.ciwf.org.uk.

"Distribution of Wealth." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 June 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Animal Agriculture. 2021, www.fao.org.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Livestock's Long Shadow. 2020, www.fao.org.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The State of Food and Agriculture: Food Waste and Loss. FAO, 2020. www.fao.org.

Federal Reserve. Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. 2021, www.federalreserve.gov.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. 2021, www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/.

ILGA World. State-Sponsored Homophobia Report 2021. 2021, www.ilga.org/state-sponsored-homophobia-report-2021.

Mapping Police Violence. "Police Violence Report 2020." Mapping Police Violence, 2021, https://mappingpoliceviolence.org. Accessed 23. Sept. 2024.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Global Temperature. 2021, Home – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)

National Geographic. "Marine Animals Threatened by Plastic." National Geographic, 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution.

NAACP. Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. 2021, www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet.

Reuters. "Banks Paid $321 Billion in Fines since Financial Crisis: BCG." Reuters, 2 Mar. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/business/banks-paid-321-billion-in-fines-since-financial-crisis-bcg-idUSKBN1692Y2. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

The Ocean Cleanup. "How Much Plastic Enters the Ocean Each Year?" 2021, www.theoceancleanup.com.

Transgender Europe. Trans Murder Monitoring. 2022, www.transrespect.org/en/trans-murder-monitoring/.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Global Land Outlook. 2020, www.unccd.int.

UN Women. Violence Against Women Prevalence Estimates. 2021, www.unwomen.org.

World Bank. Global Poverty. 2022, www.worldbank.org.

World Health Organization. Air Pollution. 2021, www.who.int.

World Wide Fund for Nature. Living Planet Report 2022. WWF conserves our planet, habitats, & species like the Panda & Tiger | WWF.

About Me

My name is Andrés Ayala-Patlán, and I am a PhD student in the English Department at the University of Washington, specializing in English, Language, and Literature with a focus on Literature and Culture. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Cal Poly Pomona, a Master of Humanities with an emphasis in Philosophy and Theory from CU Denver, and a Master of Arts in English from UW. I’m from Southern California, one of five siblings, and an uncle to six wonderful nieces and nephews. My research explores the interconnections among identity, spirituality, decoloniality, and justice. More specifically, I focus on the intersection of environmental humanities and decolonial thought in contemporary Latinx, Black, and Indigenous literature, contributing to the growing field of decolonial planetary ecologies.

I am the founder of spiritual-activism.academy, a platform dedicated to addressing deep systemic issues within Western culture through the transformative ideas of Gloria Anzaldúa. Anzaldúa’s works, particularly Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro (2015), have profoundly influenced my approach to understanding and harnessing spiritual power, often overlooked in many academic circles. Her contributions to critical theory, continental philosophy, Latinx studies, social justice, environmental justice, and gender and sexuality studies, among others, resonate deeply with my research, sense of self, and understanding of activism. 

In Light in the Dark, Anzaldúa delves into the complexities of identity, spirituality, and social justice, blending personal narrative with theoretical insight. The book also explores the concept of nepantla, or living in-between worlds, to highlight the transformative potential of embracing contradictions, complexities, and hybrid identities. Anzaldúa offers a visionary framework for healing and empowerment, emphasizing creativity, imagination, and spiritual activism as tools for both personal and collective change in order to build a more just society.

This website serves as both an homage to Anzaldúa and the growing practical applications of her theories, focusing on emotional and psychological healing and self-reinvention as a means of resistance, justice, and decoloniality. My goal is also to build and connect with communities dedicated to global justice broadly defined, using my skills as a researcher, writer, theorist, and educator to highlight significant issues and promote educational initiatives and modules that can lead us toward a more equitable world.

My first article, "Self-Change as Global Change: Spiritual Activism and Its Place in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Legacy" (University of Toronto Quarterly 2024)(email me for a free copy!), reflects the intellectual and emotional labor that has shaped this project. I am committed to combining academic work with real-world social, political, and environmental issues and bridging the gap between personal transformation and broader global change, seeking avenues that align with peaceful and decolonial visions.

Beyond academia, I aim to create and expand on platforms where I can express my critical, authentic, and philosophical thoughts—something that has inevitably led to this site. Academic writing is rewarding, but I desire an open and creative space beyond the confines of academic conventions, self-serving metrics, and career-centered objectives to explore and share ideas more freely through independent research, self-inquiry, and various writing styles, such as poetry, speechwriting, journal writing, and blog posts. This site is designed to offer guidance on spiritual activism and provide examples of how it operates both within and outside academic contexts.

The site is a resource for those who envision a world united in diversity, valuing the Earth, animals, and each other above profit, self-promotion, and other proprietary mechanisms that shape modern identity. By challenging separatist thinking, hyper-capitalistic culture, and self-centered Western identities, I embrace interconnectedness as central to achieving peace, sustainability, and respect for all beings—a decolonial act in itself, as I see it. Through journaling, writing, meditation, reflection, and other creative works, the developing modules are designed to help individuals address and transcend the colonized aspects of the mind, soul, and heart that have contributed to our current world and imaginary order.

We need not strive for perfection, but for progress toward peace, sustainability, and respect. This site is for anyone who resonates with these goals and seeks to understand and nurture personal, mental, and spiritual health in connection with broader social, environmental, and planetary issues. It is designed for those dissatisfied with the destruction of the world around us and the current state of affairs, who are looking for ways to change themselves and the world in sustainable and politically meaningful ways. Together, we can embody and promote these values, creating meaningful change, one collaborative act at a time.

To confess, however, this site is also for me. It’s meant to help me stay on this transformative path and discover the artistic and political outlets that allow me to pursue these creative goals and visions. As an instructor, I am my own first student. The modules are designed around what has worked for me, and I believe they can help others who share similar values. This is my small attempt at spiritual activism: continuously exploring myself and the changes I can make, to first be the change I want to see in the world—through creative work, research, and connecting with communities and organizations I hope to support.

I am always open to feedback and reformulations and would LOVE to hear from you with suggestions, feedback, or ideas. I hope this project grows and helps uncover deep commonalities that link people together through their personal passion projects that engage in justice work and foster a sense of global community—one in which we feel connected to others, animals, lands, oceans, and planet while making a genuine attempt to bring about that world. 

I am committed to continually updating this site with resources, modules, ideas, blogs, articles, journal entries, podcasts, documentaries, films, poetry, art, creative works, etc. that align with the academy's mission. The time for change is now. The 21st century is ripe for transformative action, and I look forward to supporting you on your journey toward healing, self-growth, and self-transformation.

Awakening the Spirit

The time is now—
to fearlessly seek our true selves,
to map the ways we’re bound,
to the voracious hunger of a system
that consumes all, including our souls.

We breathe like kelp in the current,
anchored, yet swayed by a tide
that erodes land, air, and ocean,
devouring all in its path.

Listen—
to the whispers of the land,
the murmurs of the sea,
the call of creatures,
our kin, our companions.

Animals—
our brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends,
they speak in a language of survival,
a plea for harmony
as they face the darkening storm.

No more time to waste,
no more dalliance with capitalistic mirages,
no more embrace of the Global North’s consuming fire.

Reject, resist, revive—
let the heart’s cry pierce through,
pain is a path we must traverse,
towards a deeper truth.

Call upon your better nature,
for the change begins within,
a transformation of self
for a healthier world, a balanced planet.

Products, services, governments,
they’ve severed our spiritual ties,
reduced us to mere cogs
in their relentless machine.

The spiritual task—
to reconnect, to mend torn fibers,
to stitch ourselves anew,
like the rainforest breathes
life into the weary earth.

Breathe deeply,
listen to the silence between breaths,
plan your steps with purpose,
activate the essence of your being.

Declare it—
a stance of resistance, a reclaiming
of soul, determination, freedom,
a reinvention of humanity
in harmony with all life forms.

Activate spirit,
transform yourself,
and with that change,
transform the world.

AP.

"Through the act of writing you commence the arduous task of rebuilding yourself, composing a story that more accurately expresses your new identity…building spiritual, political communities that struggle for personal growth and social justice…forg[ing] bonds across race, gender, and other lines, thus creating a new tribalism…And when that happens, you change the world." 

-Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark, 155-6