In light of the personal and global impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, our team has been drawing on wisdom from the archives to anchor us and help us to navigate this new reality. We understand that while society appears ripe for transformation, we are also being inundated with information that may feel paralyzing and that also perpetuates a culture of fear. As a response, we offer this series that explores physical, emotional and spiritual preparedness, self-reliance and community sovereignty.

In today’s Homebound encore, which originally aired in January, 2016, Andrew Harvey gives us a map of mystical teachings to help us navigate the dark night of the soul and to emerge empowered.   According to Harvey, the economic, political, spiritual world crisis that we currently find ourselves in, is a call to action. It is an opportunity for us to understand the realities around us and to rally together to do something different.

Harvey believes that we have before us the possibility of using crisis to empower ourselves, and each other. Embracing an uncertain future, he urges us to support leaders who are inspired, courageous and effective to rise up, to renew the energy of people who are burnt out and apathetic in institutions, and for us as individuals to rediscover an inner compass that renews and inspires creativity.   He believes that when the deepest and most grounded spiritual vision is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all existing political, economic, and social institutions, that what Harvey calls a “holy force” – the power of wisdom and love in action – is born. This force is what underscores his concept of Sacred Activism.   Andrew invites us to remember that we have seen throughout history, that in the very heart of chaos, an extraordinary lineage of ordinary people, who have fused deep spiritual knowledge, experience, and practice, with wise, incessant action for justice and peace, rise up. Emerging against all odds, to accomplish the unimaginable and that we can too. Especially if we’re willing to ask ourselves:

Where are we feeling small and helpless right now?
How can we creatively renew our spirits to ward off fear and/or apathy?
What is one thing we could do today to let our spirits lead us into positive action?

Andrew Harvey is Founder Director of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective, and practical agents of institutional and systemic change, in order to create peace and sustainability.  Born in India, Harvey studied history at Oxford, receiving England’s highest academic honors. Over the last forty years he has explored spiritual traditions with the heart of a mystic, the world over and he has synthesized these explorations with a deep environmental and humanitarian ethic in the practice of Sacred Activism. He is the author of over 30 books.

We invite you to continue to join us on Fridays to hear seeds of wisdom from the weavers of transformation and mobilizers of personal and cultural shift featured in Homebound, as we all traverse through the grief and fear that accompany this perplexing time.

♫ Music by Bad Snacks and Kate Wolf

Featured

For The Wild Podcast

For The Wild is a slow media organization dedicated to land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. We are rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth, and consumerism. As we dream towards a world of grounded justice and reciprocity, our work highlights impactful stories and deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times.

Homebound: Confronting Crisis with Divine Dignity with ANDREW HARVEY /178