SUBTLE ACTIVISM

I met the author last summer while we were both doing introductory week at the Tamera Community in Portugal, certainly a centre of activism on every level. This new concept of subtle activism is defined as 'spiritual or consciousness-based practices intended to support collective transformation' (p. 31), with a welcome counter emphasis on inner rather than exclusively outer focus. The emphasis here is on the collective process in which individuals can take part as a challenge to 'the dominant paradigm of global capitalism and mechanistic materialism.' It is not intended as a substitute for direct action, but rather as complementary. The five chapters cover the inner dimension of social and planetary transformation, relations of subtle activism to spiritual traditions and science, foundations across various disciplines, and its role in the emergence of planetary consciousness. All this is informed by wide reading and scholarship.

Pioneers in the first chapter are Teilhard de Chardin with his notion of planetisation, Thomas Berry's integral earth community, and Richard Tarnas' re-enchantment of the cosmos, each of which contributes to the larger narrative and spectrum of social action. The survey of spiritual traditions includes shamanism and connections with the landscape, the Vedic tradition with a special emphasis on the Maharishi effect, then Buddhism where there are some extraordinary examples from the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka where some massive gatherings endeavoured to shift the 'psychosphere' towards unity and peace - the largest involving 650,000 people. The section of Christianity could have mentioned the significant role of the Quakers in social change along with well-known figures like Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day discussed. On a more esoteric level, the author discusses the work during the Second World War of Dion Fortune and the silent minute initiated by Wellesley Tudor Pole.

Science provides an important element of background to subtle activism, but not in its current form with its fundamental assumption of separate minds. There is an excellent analysis of resistance to parapsychology, which the author likens to an immune response based on a limited ideology and resulting in 'an epistemological impasse' despite 130 years of serious research, not to mention the significance of spontaneous cases. A particular challenge is the experimenter effect in relation to a belief in objectivity – the sceptic is unable to acknowledge his own role in the overall process. As David points out, there is an inescapable tension between the objectivist epistemology of modern science and a new participatory epistemology implied by psi research: 'the investigators themselves are not separate from the phenomenon being studied… the very issue in question is whether human minds are nonlocally connected' (p. 100). He goes on to explore the implications of distant healing research in relation to the extensively documented Maharishi effect which he gives many examples and discusses critiques and responses; after discussing the Princeton random number generator studies and the Global Consciousness Project, he advances a more general theory of non-locality as an explanatory principle, which makes sense to me and has also been elaborated in the work of Dean Radin.

The next chapter on foundations of subtle activism discusses the history of the scientific study of consciousness, bringing in a Vedic perspective on quantum fields, the work of Rupert Sheldrake or morphic fields, and Christopher Bache's model of collective healing by individuals in non-ordinary states of consciousness, all which imply a general field effect - the work of Ervin Laszlo could also have been mentioned in this context. David also brings in parallels from the work of David Bohm and Jung, both of which posit an underlying unitive order. This allows him to formulate (p. 153) a general hypothesis of subtle activism involving a common underlying ground and creative source of all reality, social units as collective organisms with collective minds constituting a social field in which we are embedded; then morphic resonance as a key principle and the need to cross a minimum threshold in order for influence to be felt. Here the work of David Hawkins also provides an interesting slant with his postulation that the influence of developed people is orders of magnitude stronger than the ordinary level (see Power versus Force).

The final chapter reflects on the emergence of planetary consciousness, again a central theme in the work of Ervin Laszlo who uses bifurcation and chaos theory as metaphors for impending breakdown and breakthrough. There is no doubt in my mind that this planetisation process is underway at a number of levels, including online activism, not mentioned here, which surely finds a place along the spectrum and which allows large numbers of people to express their view in attempt to influence policy. However, there is equally no doubt that there is considerable establishment resistance to change within our materialistic and consumerist society, even though increasing numbers of people realise its intrinsic connection with ecological destruction. One model based on David's own experience is the Gaiafield, allowing 'the emergence of deeper levels of the group's collective intelligence and creativity.' Just yesterday I was reviewing a book of writings by Rudolf Steiner on social threefolding (see books in brief) and his thoughts on the relationship between the spiritual and the social could have been useful here, especially his distinction between culture, politics and economics. There is no doubt in my mind that a transformation of worldview is an important component of any shift, but organised action will also be required and we will as a whole need to overcome the time-consuming distractions to which we are subject and which divert us from much more essential concerns covered in this significant contribution. It is as if we are collectively fiddling while Rome burns.