Excerpted from a teaching by Jessica Britt
At any given moment, a person on the spiritual journey can be faced with a strong inner question of what is right action in terms of my spiritual life in relationship to my personal life, my creative life, my social life and, for some, my political life. It is a deeply personal question: Where does my inner work meet my outer life on the planet Earth? These kinds of inner questions can leave a person feeling torn or guilty, no matter what direction one is drawn to, leaving one in a limbo of inaction at any level. Sometimes certain planetary disasters, or political events bring these kinds of questions forward—whether a weather event, a war or a strongly polarized election cycle. Am I doing enough?
This type of question intensifies if these events are accompanied by a polarization that heightens the awareness of otherness and a perception of discord in the world fabric. What does this say about the view of the oneness of being? In the Diamond Approach, our ‘ethical’ stand is oriented towards supporting the unfoldment of the truth in each of our students, to support them to come to their individual truth, including their right action. In the Diamond Approach, we honor the view of totality, which acknowledges all inner views. We hold the open view of the open-open-ended inquiry for each being within our field of influence. We support each person’s inquiry into “What is right action in my spiritual life? Am I doing enough in terms of my own awakening? Am I doing enough for others to respond to a particular social/political need?” From a certain perspective, one could see the moral directive from Reality itself as an invitation to respond to the call to awakening into consciousness itself. What does this mean in terms of the world we live in?
No matter what decision we make or direction we take, from a spiritual view, the most aligned right action arises out of an awakened state, at whatever level one is awakened. Otherwise, our actions often end up being strong reflections of our own psychodynamic stuff. When our actions rise out of our reactivity, they tend to have an agitated sense to them, often giving our actions a feeling of incompleteness (i.e. Why aren’t they seeing what I am seeing? Doing what I see needs to happen?). When we come from reactivity, our consciousness is left feeling unsettled. Therefore, an important stage in finding one’s right action is to go into one’s present reactive feelings, to see if we can come to early childhood events that current events are a mirror for. Once we can own and unwind these early past events, our soul relaxes and can rest into its nature again. Our actions can now arise out of a true responsiveness, with a more aligned guidance of what is right action for you. If we feel angry and we can meet the source of our anger, strength can arise; if we feel sad and we can meet the source of our sadness, compassion can arise; if we feel anxious and we can meet the source of our anxiety, confidence can arise. If we feel judgmental and we meet the source of our judgments, discriminating awareness can arise.
Clarity about where our reactivity is coming from helps us see through our fixed mental images and assumptions regarding a situation. Each soul has their own karma around what right action is. For some, the aligned right action is an enhanced commitment to sensing, looking and listening. It is a radical social, political act to be truly present in each moment. It is a revolutionary act to be committed to awakening practices. For some there will be a clear call and direction to a wider involvement in social or political action; action nourished by one’s spiritual practices and spiritual community as this action is being supported by the deepening ground of contact with truth. For the Diamond Approach, right action is to support the truth of each being.