Naming Ourselves
Many years ago, I listened as Reverend Wayne Muller challenged people to choose a name for themselves big enough to contain their entire life. He said that so many of the names we select speak to challenges we’ve overcome—cancer, war, abuse, addiction—but that these hard-won names aren’t big enough for the remainder of our lives. Over the years, I’ve added to his challenge by asking everyone to choose a name that draws us forward into the future, a name that requires us to be fearless.
I took this challenge personally and, as I began understanding where we are in the pattern of collapse, I began searching for a name to prepare me for the future I saw coming. None of my previous incarnations were sufficient. In fact, they were quite limiting. I had been a consultant, educator, advisor—good roles designed to fix things. I had been a writer and speaker—good roles for inspiring others to fix things.
When I gave up saving the world, I turned away from these professional tags and began to seek role models in those who had lived through terrible collapse. For grievous loss of life and the deliberate destruction of a culture and spiritual tradition, I looked to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. For the dedication, intelligence, and perseverance of a century-long struggle, I looked to Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu of South Africa. These are not minor role models, and I don’t mean to sound pretentious. I had the privilege to learn firsthand from the monks who fled Chinese destruction by walking for months over the snowy Himalayas to preserve their precious teachings. I learned from many South African colleagues of the price they paid—imprisonment, torture, exile—to claim their freedom. I am more intimate with the nature of their struggles than others and still keep close watch on what’s happening in both countries.
There were thousands of others I could have looked to for guidance, and I read many stories of heroism from the two world wars, the civil rights movement, the farmworkers’ movement, and current global work with refugees and women and children. I feel drawn to these stories because we need to learn from them. We need to learn that it is possible to persevere in very difficult conditions, and that the struggles reward us with deep relationships that offer us moments of joy and gladness even in hellish situations.
Who are the warriors in your own family? Soldiers, immigrants, those who experienced injustice and refused to yield, those who had strong values and embodied them. . . . Who are they?
I am not preparing myself or you for martyrdom, but I am intent on creating a different reference point for our work going forward. We are part of a noble tradition of people who, in every age, devote themselves to protecting and serving others. The costs of that service vary widely, as will ours. I just want us to be part of those who “raise the banner of duty and service against the flood of depravity and despair.”
And what is our cause? It is the unshakable belief that human beings are worth our last ounce of energy. We make the choice to be there to preserve, protect, defend, champion, encourage, honor the human spirit.
The name I have chosen for myself that calls me to be fearless is a Warrior for the Human Spirit. Perhaps it sounds a bit dramatic, but it has a simple definition:
A Warrior for the Human Spirit is a decent human being who aspires to be of service in an indecent, inhumane time.
Warriors remember what it means to behave decently, ethically. We remember the capacities that every human being possesses. We affirm and work with these forgotten qualities through our presence and our wise actions. And in all we do, we consciously try to refrain from adding to the confusion, aggression, and fear overwhelming most people.
The warrior tradition is found in many cultures, focused either on defense or peaceful service. In Tibetan, the word for warrior, pawo, means one who is brave, brave enough to never resort to aggression or fear to accomplish their purposes. In all traditions, warriors are a highly specialized group of people who are devoted to selfless service, who train with discipline and diligence to develop their skills, and who band together as a community. Warriors for the Human Spirit train in service to people, to support our best human capacities for generosity, compassion, altruism, curiosity, creativity, caring.
Movies are filled with images of warriors as relentless agents of violence defending helpless people. In real life, even when engaged in violence, warriors are not undisciplined actors of aggression. In the greatest warrior traditions, such as the Samurai and Special Forces in the military, warriors train with great devotion and discipline. Whatever their weapons—violence or peace—they are well prepared and in control of themselves. This is why they train constantly.
Throughout time, warriors arise when the people need protection.
There is a strong code of ethics that binds them together in honor to their cause and to one another. Honor codes and strong ethics characterize those in the Age of Conquest intent on using violent means to destroy the decadent culture. A sense of honor and strong ethics appear again among those few people who, at the end of the cycle, seek to alleviate the suffering caused by collapse, not with violence but with compassion and insight.
The Dalai Lama’s Principles for Ethical Strategies3
Ensure that compassion is the motivation.
Any problem must take into account the big picture and long-term consequences rather than short-term feasibility.
In applying reason, we must stay honest, unbiased, and self-aware, vigilant to avoid self-delusion.
Stay humble—know the limits of our knowledge and also realize we can easily be misguided in a rapidly changing reality.
The foremost concern is the well-being of humanity and the planet we inhabit.
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation Confederation4
The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans—which is to
say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions,
and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good
will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the
people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall
carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with
tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find
lodgments in your mind and all your words and actions shall
be marked with calm deliberation. In all of your deliberations
in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making,
in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion.
Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of
the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error
or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law
which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of
the whole people and have always in view not only
the present but also the coming generations, even
those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of
the ground—the unborn of the future Nation.