Service Grounded in Spirit
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 00:46:41 -0700
Subject: Re: What's happening with Y2K activists?
From: "Paul Andrews" <paul@united-religions.org>
To: Tom Atlee <cii@igc.apc.org>
Dear Tom,
Thanks very much for your last e-mail. There have already been
some conversations around the country with folks from the religious and
inter-religious communities about Y2K -- not only what these communities
could do, but at a deeper level, discovering some context, some deep stories
from which to approach it.
I don't think this showing up of the spiritual is by accident. Look
at
the New York Times best seller list. Every other book has the word
spiritual
in it. Ditto book stores, magazine articles, etc. This is where many, many
people are right now (at least in the USA). It's a big part of the context
within which the Y2K discussion will happen.
Our group (United Religions Initiative) has a whole peacemaking project
scheduled around the 72 hours 12/31/99 through 1/2/2000. Y2K is going to
be
a guest at our party, ready or not, invited or not, and a few of us have
begun to talk about how to incorporate this concern into the project. The
question for us is precisely the one you have raised. More bluntly -- if
Y2K
is just about fixing a whole lot of computer code so we can go back to being
overworked, so the 21st century can be a more intense and efficient version
of the 20th, then it's hard to rally our very best energy to do this work.
Remedial energy, while maybe vital in an emergency (and God knows we do
have
an emergency) isn't sustaining over the long haul-- we have to be acting
FOR something ( not just against something, or to fix something) , for what
(and whom) we hold dear.
I'd be interested in being part of that inquiry, particularly in terms
of spreading the news globally through religious networks. There's been
an
awful lot of unedited abstract "everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink"
rants
about Y2K flying around, a lot of replowing of familiar ground. Can we
imagine and formulate together a vision where we get leaner in our thinking,
more focused on the things that are essential at this point?. So many people
are yearning to live a life of principle and service from a place grounded
in depth of spirit -- if Y2K is a place where that opportunity could occur,
and if even a small number of people are seen living that way as a genuine
example, then it will draw energy and commitment from many others.