Sister Giant: From "Fight or Flight" to "Tend and Mend"

MW: It wasn't obvious to some, but to me, it was totally reasonable! I published a book in 1998 called Healing the Soul of America about the intersection of spirituality and politics. Politics without spirit lacks soulfulness, and spirit without politics lacks a wide enough circle of compassion. The two greatest political lights of the 20th century were Gandhi and MLK Jr., and both of them based their politics on the spiritual philosophy of nonviolence. All the great social justice movements in US history have emerged from a spiritual base. Abolition emerged from the Quakers; many of the Suffragette leaders (such as Alice Paul) were Quakers; and the Civil Rights Movement was led by the Baptist preacher who headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

As a student of A Course in Miracles, I have always understood that the goal of spiritual practice is practical application. That's why I was so active during the AIDS crisis, among other things. We can't just talk about love and not DO anything about it; nor should we apply love to only our own personal sphere. No serious spiritual or religious path gives anyone a pass on addressing the suffering of other sentient beings. For decades, larger economic and political systems have been operating in this country in ways that make the suffering of so many people inevitable (not to mention animals and the earth itself), and I wanted to try to make a difference. Obviously, I didn't succeed at winning, but I like to think that every campaign has some level of success to it. We harnessed a lot of energy and helped articulate a conversation that in fact is very much alive today. We were a little bitty Bernie campaign before there was a Bernie campaign!

JB: Cool! Yes, Bernie has continually hammered away at the need for all of us to move outside our comfort zone, get off the sidelines and put our principles to work, up to and including running for office ourselves. The spin-off from his campaign, OurRevolution.com, supported progressive candidates and actively encourages progressives to run for office. In fact, over 50 progressives endorsed by Our Revolution won their races in November. I didn't know that. So, we are making progress and that's encouraging news and important to remember and spread far and wide. The Our Revolution website has already posted a number of their 2017 candidate endorsements. [2016 race results here and 2017 endorsements here.] What else would you like our readers to take away from this conversation?

MW: I just hope they feel encouraged. We're all in this together, and every time we see someone else doing something meaningful, then we have that much more reason to think we can do something meaningful ourselves. I hope this interview held meaning for someone. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do it.

JB: My total pleasure, Marianne. Before we wrap, I wanted to ask: Where did the name for this conference come from? It's unusual and I bet there's a story behind it.

MW: It just came to me. Nothing more esoteric than that.

JB: Okay. Well, I'd been looking forward to interviewing you for a long time. This turned out to be just the right moment! Thanks again.

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