{"id":2722,"date":"2023-11-15T12:10:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T12:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/the-radical-resistance-and-radical-acceptance-of-spiritual-exemplars\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T20:40:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T20:40:11","slug":"the-radical-resistance-and-radical-acceptance-of-spiritual-exemplars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/the-radical-resistance-and-radical-acceptance-of-spiritual-exemplars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Radical Resistance and Radical Acceptance of Spiritual Exemplars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Monica Francisco holds her fist up in the middle of a streat, surrounded by other Black Brazilian women.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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The Radical Resistance and Radical Acceptance of Spiritual Exemplars<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Arpi Miller<\/strong>\n \n November 15, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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How spiritual exemplars work to create a world befitting of our inherent nobility<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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A key question we are asked by consumers of our research on \u201cspiritual exemplars\u201d<\/a> is about the qualities of this group of extraordinary humanitarians. What allows them to do what they do? What makes them unique as a global peer group? Do they embody some special quality that others can learn from or emulate?<\/p>\n

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Though we\u2019ve grappled with lists of personality traits and qualities, and we have tried to identify key turning points within their life trajectories, the one thing that has dogged us throughout the project is the way that so many of our exemplars hold within them a special tension or paradox.<\/p>\n

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While our exemplars are extremely different, and they draw on different spiritual tools working in radically different contexts, this same paradox emerges in so many of them that it cannot be ignored. It is the coexistence of radical resistance and radical surrender.<\/p>\n

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On the surface, it seems like these two things should not go together. Our exemplars demonstrate a superhuman form of grit.<\/strong> In the face of extreme poverty, oppression or environmental destruction, their tenacity and commitment to the change they wish to see in the world is unparalleled. They are in so many ways unstoppable, acting in deep love for the communities they are a part of, refusing to accept the status quo, swimming upstream and taking immense risks that many of us could never imagine.<\/p>\n

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And yet, at the same time, they embody a pervasive spirit of surrender and acceptance.<\/strong> They seem to have the ability to simultaneously hold fast and to let go, to dig their heels in and to flow.<\/p>\n

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This tension within individuals parallels another: Our exemplars live and work in some of the most difficult contexts in the world, yet so many of them are effervescent in the peace and deep joy they emanate.<\/strong> It feels welcome \u2014 like a breath of fresh air \u2014 but out of place given their daily experiences and the struggles of the communities they work with.<\/p>\n

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To be certain, the toll the work takes on exemplars should not be minimized. They experience burnout, illness, strained family ties, vicarious trauma, and even torture and threats to their lives. Still, their ability to continue their work over so many years, to remain deeply committed to their communities, and to exhibit joy and seemingly limitless flows of love is mystifying.<\/p>\n

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Are they superior beings, or is there something that happens within their work itself \u2014 a clear relationship or process that unites these apparent opposites?<\/p>\n

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To understand the coexistence of radical resistance and radical acceptance, it is important to look at how exemplars experience their own lives and work, and how their spirituality operates for them on the inside. For example, Tom Catena<\/a>, a doctor working in Sudan, says people always tell him, \u201cGosh, you are a masochist!\u201d But, internally, he doesn\u2019t experience it that way at all.<\/p>\n

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\"Sisters
Sisters Pat Murphy and JoAnn Persch at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview Detention Center in Illinois.<\/em> (Photo by Heidi Shin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Immigration advocates Sister Pat Murphy and JoAnn Persch<\/a>, now in their 80s and 90s, embody that spirit of grit and tenacity over many decades of their lives: \u201cIt\u2019s hanging in, and being persistent….It\u2019s going back respectfully and peacefully….But we never take no for an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That perspective has landed them, and a number of other exemplars, in jail. Their response is to let go and to flow: \u201cThat would [be] okay if I stayed in jail for a while\u2026.We\u2019d just start a new ministry. We\u2019d know that\u2019s where we were supposed to be right then.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As exemplars describe this process of letting go even in the midst of their resistance, they use words across their different spiritual traditions like \u201ccomplete trust,\u201d \u201csurrender as a form of salvation,\u201d \u201cfreedom from the bondage of things,\u201d and \u201cletting go.\u201d So between radical resistance and release, what happens?<\/p>\n

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One dynamic we see clearly in their lives is a reciprocal relationship between their work and their spiritual practice. As spirituality and spiritual practice grounds our exemplars and gives them strength, so too does the hard work itself deepen the practice and their spiritual orientation.<\/strong> At some point, they become inseparable \u2014 in fact many exemplars could not articulate a separation between their work and practice.<\/p>\n

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Many of them take enormous time in their spiritual practice \u2014 from chanting, to prayer, meditation, rituals and even shouting into the void<\/a>. Some take month-long retreats, others rise at 3 am to begin their daily ritual. A key force that drives them into practice, and informs what happens in that space, is precisely the very difficulty of the work they are engaged in.<\/p>\n

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Badr Baabou in Tunesia (Photo by Priyadrashini Sen)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Badr Baabou<\/a>, a human rights activist in Tunisia, explains of his daily life, \u201cI\u2019m being chased constantly, my cell phone is always stalked.\u201d Others bury the children and youth they work with regularly. Sameer<\/a>, a peace activist, speaks of the difficulty of being in a space in which Palestinian homes are routinely demolished, there is pervasive killing, \u201cand all of this tension\u201d around him and within him.<\/p>\n

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That difficulty drives our exemplars into spaces that Julie Coyne<\/a> describes as \u201cforced surrender.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s put her in a situation where it is so far beyond her ability to fix that she will learn to let go,\u201d she jokes. Sameer explains that when things are so difficult, when he feels everything they are doing in the struggle for human rights is useless, he goes to the Wadi: \u201cI like to sit there and scream and hear the echo around me. It feels like letting go. It feels like releasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hear Sameer perform his ritual of screaming into the desert<\/h4>\n

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