If you’re grateful, you’re not fearful, and if you’re not fearful, you’re not violent. If you’re grateful, you act out of a sense of enough and not of a sense of scarcity, and you are willing to share. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the differences between people, and you are respectful to everybody, and that changes this power pyramid under which we live.

Br. David Steindl-Rast

Welcome to Day Five of Awaken Your Revolutionary Spirit

In a world marked by violence, greed, and division, a revolutionary spirit must be rooted in principles that heal rather than harm — non-violence, generosity, and the respectful appreciation of differences. These essential aspects of living gratefully stand in stark contrast to much of public life, yet they align with what countless people hold sacred, even if those ideals have not yet been fully realized.

Br. David Steindl-Rast writes, “The ‘soul size’ task that faces us today is reorienting ourselves amid a disoriented society, through finding again our relationship to Mystery… But this takes firm conviction and great inner strength; it demands spiritual backbone.” His words serve as a reminder that a revolutionary spirit must be rooted in the sacred aspects of life, lest it cause more harm than good. 

The details of what we each hold sacred will differ, and “sacred” and “Mystery” may not be your go-to language, but some things must be collectively cherished, revered, and protected because our lives and the life of our planetary home depend on them. An end to violence and othering, equitable access to food and healthcare, sustainable stewardship of the earth’s resources — these sacred things are only possible with a revolutionary spirit rooted in principles of generosity not greed, cooperation not rivalry, respect not oppression.

Such a spirit may arise spontaneously but must also be cultivated. As Francis Weller writes, “We must build soul muscle to meet these times.” And this begins with the daily practice of rooting ourselves in life-affirming values and connecting those to our actions as seamlessly as possible. The greater the alignment between our values and actions, the more able we will be, as Br. David says, to “come alive on the highest level of our caring, of our caring for one another and caring for this planet.” This will liberate your revolutionary spirit to get to work in your life today — and to shape the unknown future that awaits.

Today’s Practice: Make Gratefulness Your True North

To set the stage for today’s practice, watch this one-minute clip of our founder Br. David Steindl-Rast talking about the kinds of values that come alive when we live gratefully.

Step One: Choose Two, Add Two

Of the gratefulness values Br. David talks about in both the quote and video above, choose two that are central to you in living your grateful life.

  • Non-violence
  • Generosity
  • Trust
  • Cooperation
  • Courage
  • Sufficiency
  • Enjoyment and respect of differences 

Next, add two essential values of your own to arrive at a list of four “true north” values that can “orient you in a disoriented society.”

Step Two: Fine-Tune Your Compass

As Br. David says in today’s introduction, we’re facing a “soul-size task” that requires “spiritual backbone.” The values you’ve listed, in other words, may bump up hard against the pressures of life, when it’s easy for us to slowly, imperceptibly, be thrown off course by the world around us.

With your four core values in mind, consider the following questions:

  • Are there gaps between what I value and how I’m living? This question is not about feeling bad; it’s about identifying opportunities for adjustments and growth.
  • Are there areas in my work, relationships, or community where I’ve been acting from fear, scarcity, or rivalry instead of the life-giving values that are essential to living gratefully?

Step Three: Exercise Your Soul Muscle

For this step, think of your soul muscle as a strength that is rooted in your core values, your heart, and your deep awareness of what is sacred in the world. 

  • Live Your Values: Use these four values as a kind of daily compass. Root in them each morning, and let them guide your interactions and how you respond to the day.
  • Take Action: Identify one concrete, life-giving action you can take (or begin taking) today that embodies one of the values you’ve named in a new or deeper way. Of all the overwhelming struggles in the world, choose one issue and one action you can take.

Step Four: Reflect

  • What new possibilities or insights emerge when you take time to reorient to your values and honor what you hold sacred?
  • What comes alive for you when you’re able to make your contribution, when you move from deep concern to courageous action?
  • What will you do in the days ahead to continue exercising your soul muscle?

Awakening Your Revolutionary Spirit Is an Ongoing Journey

As you come to the close of the Pathway, spend some time retracing your journey through the last five days and thinking about the road ahead. Here are five essential questions to guide the way.

  • What do you love about the world that you want to protect?
  • How can you activate your inner Galileo and look at an issue with fresh eyes and a sense of possibility? 
  • Where can you deepen your connection with others as a means of taking action and adding your singular voice to the collective?
  • How could you get a little more playful in your approach to an issue or concern? 
  • In what ways do the values of living gratefully overlap with your own and help guide the way forward?

Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice and the Pathway overall.

Deepening Resource

In 1966, the now famous and beloved Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh was exiled from his home country of Vietnam for taking a peaceful stance against the war between the North and South. In this wide-ranging and moving conversation between Thich Nhat Hanh and our founder Br. David Steindl-Rast, the two spiritual leaders discuss the aliveness that comes from embodying one’s values, the power of forgiveness and all-inclusive love, and the essential role of community in sustaining a way of life rooted in the values of peace, presence, and compassion. Listen closely for the monastic wisdom that inspires and nurtures your revolutionary spirit.

Uncommon Conversations: Thich Nhat Hanh and Br. David Steindl-Rast

Research Highlight

Drs. Joel Wong and Joshua Brown at Indiana University designed a “pay it forward” task to study the differences between people who contributed to a cause from a place of gratitude and those who contributed from a place of guilt or obligation. They found that the more grateful individuals were not only more charitable with their financial contribution (money from a “benefactor” was built into the study), but they also “showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making.” The researchers point out that this suggests
“that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude.” In terms of awakening your revolutionary spirit, it also suggests that developing a daily practice of living gratefully can lead to acts of care that are more generous, as well as discerning and thoughtful.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop


Pathways