One of the things about spirituality is that without some effort, it can become a bit…navel-gazing.
It’s not a failing, nor anyone’s fault. What we do through our religious paths helps us to grow, heal, and cultivate joy, all of which are internal things. They help us to build community, too, which adds to happiness and contentment in life.
All great stuff, really important.
I have always said, though, that Atheopaganism isn’t one of those paths that thinks that politics and activism “aren’t spiritual”. Working to make the world a better place isn’t some sideline or secondary concern in Atheopaganism–it is important, just as the rituals and Sabbaths and sense of belonging are important.
But it can be hard, in a busy life that many of us struggle simply to survive, to find something we can do to help. Many of us do not have the luxury of lots of time and energy to devote to activism and advocacy. Although at previous times in my life I have eaten, slept and breathed political effort, I can’t do that any more either. Like many of us, I am scraping by and must focus my attention on survival.
So I have a proposal. I call it “Atheopagan Action Day”.
What if one day a month–say, the 13th, since we love that number–all of us who wanted to participate agreed to do something substantive, like make a call to an elected official or write a letter to the newspaper or, if we can, spend the day volunteering?
It would be like a monthly tithing of effort and energy towards a kinder, better world.
We could pick collective actions on a common topic or theme some months; others, people could act on their personal areas of concern.
So I’m going to put Action Day in my calendar as a repeating event, and start doing my part. I’ll post about it on Facebook and Discord every month, too.
Please join me!
