The search for silver bloody linings since the election debacle has so far, with ongoing contemplation and conversation with wise-hearted friends, brought me here.
It is true that those with values so at variance with mine and so many others — indeed, the majority of citizens who voted — have achieved great institutional power and we did not succeed in denying this to them. I do not in the slightest attempt to mitigate the dangers.
First and foremost, the immensity of this catastrophe that was this election must be faced. Yes, recovery is possible. But as anyone who has contended with overwhelming devastation and survived to affirm the goodness of Life writ large can attest, for recovery to be sustained no steps can be omitted. And step one is admitting how dark things are at the darkest hour, and that recovery, while possible, is not guaranteed. So being with this crushing reality is step one.
Step two is to discern what powers they do not have and reserve these for ourselves, affirm them, and cultivate them more consciously than perhaps ever before. And we have plenty.
They don’t have power over our thoughts, our feelings, our spirit of hope. We must not cede any part of this to them. As the song goes, “They will take your soul if you let them. Don’t you let them.”
This is easier noted than accomplished in the toxic media stew in which our collective consciousness is marinating. So, recognize this addiction and disengage from it.
Meditate more, commune with nature more, embrace family and friends more, listen to life-affirming great music more, read inspiring poetry more. You will have your own ways of finding your way back to your inner home. Pursue them.
Do not let their hateful animus obscure the small yet constant voice within that is there whenever we withdraw from the cacophony and listen for it, reminding us that we are children of Life, we have an equal right to be here, we are all in this together, and our connection to the world and to one another is inseverable. It is in the soft moist soil of our inner being where the seeds of engagement with the outer struggles must be deeply rooted. Cultivate them.
Third, another power reserved to us is that of commiseration with good-hearted, open-minded friends, offering comfort and insight and receiving it.
Fourth, we have our sense of humor and our boundless creativity, and these exceed theirs. We will need the former to sustain us and the latter to devise ways to resist them.
Fifth … “If your breath to you is worth saving, then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changing.”
We must identify our social and economic positions of privilege, such as they may perhaps be, and use them to be of help to those who lack them. The era of complacency for those of us who have enjoyed such luxuries is over.
With humility and generosity, hearts and wallets must be opened. Reach out first to the most vulnerable around you. Bear active witness to oppression and hostile discrimination, whether personal or systemic, and resist and oppose it, offering every form of support to its victims that we can, first and foremost by acknowledging any burden of complicity we may bear and doing the work of healing ourselves.
If someone is being oppressed, ask them how we can help, and listen when they tell us. Then, listen more deeply.
Sixth, engage the collective process however we can. Better inform ourselves about crucial issues before us. Look for opportunities to participate. Each of us has gifts. Identify them and actualize them. Speak out for justice, and peace, and equity, and tolerance, and environmental sanity. There will be collective actions you support. Join them.
But be prudent. If you are moved to participate in nonviolent direct action and have scant experience with this, seek the counsel of those who are veterans of street protest and learn how to avoid conflict and be a peacekeeper. Peaceful street protest is serious business. and can be met with violent opposition and militarized repression to compromise its effectiveness. Stay focused with a kind heart.
Run for any office you think you can win and serve effectively in, and bring your values into the public sphere. Support others who are doing this. Volunteer in helpful, heartful organizations meeting human needs in your community.
Finally, mistrust the motives of the plutocrats. Resist their efforts to reaffirm their power, including within the Democratic Party. Tell them to get out of the way because the times they have changed.
Gandhi encouraged us to be the change we wish to see in the world. The time is now.
We grapple together with our shared trauma and strive to discern effective ways forward. I encourage thoughtful augmentation of this gesture in the direction of healing and activism as we stumble on, together. This is a work in progress, as am I, as are we all.
Jonathan Klate lives in Amherst and writes about the relationship between spirituality and political ideology.