As a professional advocate for twenty-plus years, I can say people of my ilk don’t know we do our jobs in two separate but simultaneous realms. First, advocates work in what is called the “historical” realm—this is the every-day world where we commute to work, sit in meetings, draft emails, lobby, educate, and demonstrate. We define issue-allies and opponents, compete for limited resources, and leverage power to create change as best as we can. Crisis’s arise and demand we implement holding actions to stop harm. But caught in Us-Them battles where agents of change meet force with force, we find ourselves in dead-heat contests that cannot be won because every time we push others push back in equal or greater measure. We grow weary and depressed. Despite our best efforts, we rarely transform situations.
But advocates need not live lives of frustration. We can wake to a second level of awareness: the “ultimate realm.” We can recall in any moment our personal motivations to create well-being, bring happiness to others and ourselves, and avoid future suffering. When we do we discover our volition to bring joy and ease pain is nourishing and healing to ourselves and those around us. What’s more, in the ultimate realm we can bring about the transformations we long for instantly when we exchange our habit of discriminating between allies and enemies with our deep aspiration to help everyone—without exception—find true happiness. We can take in the fact that the people we traditionally fight suffer greatly; they too need our help and we can respond in new, beneficial, and transformative ways.
Work in the ultimate realm is no longer limited to simply dismantling a nuclear plant, achieving gender equality, providing universal healthcare, or the smaller steps of meeting the promises of the next grant. Mindful Advocacy in the ultimate realm is nothing less than an expression of our love. Awareness of our deep motivation to create a world in which all beings thrive shifts in large and small ways our aim, methods, goals, and outcomes.
Mindful Advocates operate in both the historical and the ultimate realms. Looking deeply, we see ordinary misperceptions cause us to forget our aspiration of love. For example, our craving for things to be different can grow strong and be a source of frustration and blame; so we put impatience and intolerance in check. We also stop ourselves from enemy-making and look instead to see the capacity for wisdom in all people. We know an inflated sense of importance; feelings of isolation, or beliefs we are inferior or powerless are delusions of the mind, the churning of ego. Compassion and a determination to help everyone steady us and help us regain the wisdom of acceptance, love, and understanding.
Mindful Advocates do not need conditions to change in order to be happy. Instead, we grow skillful at cultivating our own well-being and our happiness transforms the happiness of those around us. We do our best not to harbor anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, greed or other negative thoughts and emotions. When unhelpful ideas or feelings pierce our consciousness, we acknowledge them and cut them off before they gain momentum. In their place, we invite kind and nourishing thoughts. Throughout, we speak truthful words delivered in ways that respect others and protect relationships.
Our work get’s really interesting when we discover we can transcend the limits of political and economic power with spiritual authority. The Mindful Advocate cultivates spiritual authority in simple ways by:
- Learning how to be there for ourselves
- Giving up multi-tasking and calming our minds
- Caring for strong emotions and unhelpful thoughts as they arise
- Taking care of our beloveds, our precious well-springs of energy
- Living ethically—not because someone says we must but because our own insight illuminates ethics as a way to short circuit difficulty
- Choosing to be kind and generous
- Spending time looking deeply into situations to determine the most skillful and compassionate way forward.
Spiritual discipline transforms the Mindful Advocate’s professional life so we act in ways that reflect true power: the peace in our heart that no one can take. The driving motivation of love gives us spiritual authority to look deeply into the situation, establish good communication, and act with confidence from the strength of our highest intention. Ultimately, spiritual authority unwinds stress, melts obstacles, and brings deep and lasting happiness.
