There are hundreds of thousands of passionate workers for change in the progressive/idealistic movement.  Most every progressive issue, from environmentalism to media reform, is represented by anywhere from several to thousands of groups working hard to raise awareness, get out petitions and convince institutions to adopt more effective policies. So when looking for opportunities to make political progress or do good works, there are countless options available -- to feed the hungry, to house the homeless, to end poverty, to stop abuse and violence, prevent crime, clean up the environment, cure diseases, and reform politics.

But however much we’d like to help them all -- or however much we feel obligated toward certain causes -- it is important to pick the one or two causes which most stir your passion and inspire your commitment.  Volunteer work cannot be sustained through an attitude of “I should.”  It has to be fueled with a personal burning desire to make a very particular difference.  

Look how much Al Gore has done through his singular, determined effort to increase public awareness of global warming.  Or look at Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who, at the age of 90, spent a year walking cross country for campaign finance reform and then spent another two years hounding Congress until a reform bill was actually passed.  Focusing on a single passion is vital to effectiveness. 

We can boost our effectiveness even further if we keep in mind that our particular cause does not stand alone, but is related to others in the context of the whole.  Many progressive groups -- forced to compete against each other for grant dollars, volunteers and the fickle attention of the public -- develop a myopia which blinds them to all other issues. They become so focused on their own agenda that they will even push away organizations which are working on the very same issue.

I saw this firsthand while working on a peace event in 2007.  I contacted numerous peace organizations on both the national and local level, and while many agreed to my simple request of passing along news of the event to their members, I was ignored by many more, and told by more than one group leader that they were too “busy” with their own stuff.

This competitive scattershot approach has drained our collective ability to solve any issue at all.  Case in point:  With literally thousands of peace groups working across the nation over six years to end the war in Iraq, their efforts were largely ignored by the mainstream and created only a tiny blip on the cultural radar.

I have also been at the opposite end of the spectrum, and seen what happens when people of different groups cooperate. While working to launch a non-profit youth mentor program in the early ‘90s, I was part of a cooperative effort supported by the local progressive media, progressive members of law enforcement who believed the program could help prevent crime, along with health care workers who believed the program could help prevent drug abuse -- plus many others interested in child issues.  Even though we were starting from scratch, the level of cooperation between people coming from different areas to serve a common goal helped us form a board of directors, raise the necessary funds, hire a caseworker and open an office, all in less than a year. 

We must always keep the whole context, and common goals, in mind.  As John Muir said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” If you are working on creating peace and ending the war in Iraq, then supporting alternative energy development to reduce our dependence on foreign oil will do more to keep our military out of the Middle East than anything else. If you are working to protect public education from continual budget cuts, then helping to end the war in Iraq, or reform the budget-gobbling prison system, will help free up dollars for public education. 

Please devote yourself to whatever cause most calls to you.  But as you work on it, you’ll be able to serve your cause better if you stay aware of its connections to the whole.  All issues are interrelated symptoms of a bigger problem -- the twin shadows of dualism and the corporate brand of materialism.  We need to begin with a transformative vision of unity -- and support the assembly of every piece of that puzzle.

If you need a boost of motivation to get you off the couch:  Watch the DVD, What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire.

Detaching from outcome

I have worked for social change on and off for years, both on a paid basis and as a volunteer, and I know firsthand that when you pour time and effort and heart into your cause, you expect those efforts to pay off.  If you do get your desired outcome, you feel happy  (at least until you realize there is so much more to do).  But if your efforts don’t pay off -- your candidate loses, you don’t get the grant, no one shows up at your event -- its can be such a devastating blow that we head back to the couch and the numbing comforts of primetime television. 

If we want to be effective in the world, we simply cannot be attached to outcomes.

The manifesting wing of the New Age would have us believe we are supposed to envision a particular future -- but this takes our focus away from the journey and all the riches that might be discovered on the way. 

 “If one sees that kind of visionary space in which ‘the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere,” wrote William Irwin Thompson, “then one’s mode of being in time is quite different.  You no longer… have to get a feel-good hit immediately, a sense that little you is making the world better.”

Of course, we should certainly set goals, and lay out the steps to reach them.  But we would help ourselves greatly if we keep in mind that change is not a linear process; it is an unpredictable dance of three steps forward, two steps back.  The important thing is to keep taking steps, keep making the effort.  And to remember that even in failure there is always something worthwhile to learn, something to fuel the next effort. 

Gandhi spent 20 years in South Africa trying to win rights for his countrymen there, then he went home to India and it took another 30 years of devoted effort in order to help free his country from foreign rule.  He was able to withstand many setbacks along the way because he viewed his work not in terms of his goals, but as a way of life.   Making a difference, said Gandhi, is a process of “unflinching faith, great patience and incessant effort.”

Or as one translation of the Tao Te Ching says, “The master never plans for greatness, or the one big thing.  She just pays attention.  She is just with what’s right in front of her.” 

Go to The Opportune Moment .