A Revolutionary Spirit Is the Only Way Through the Wilderness of Our Times

By learning to listen, we can find ourselves engulfed in such happiness that it cannot be explained: the happiness of being at one with everything in that hidden ground of Love for which there can be no explanations.

Thomas Merton

Welcome to the wilderness. Artificial Intelligence is nipping at reality as we know it and threatening greater disruption than the likes of mobile phones and social media. 40% of the S&P is currently tied to tech, and the “conflict entrepreneurs” of big tech have taken us hostage for personal and corporate gains, all while society remains addicted to this new norm. 

As the abhorrent gun violence that plagues the United States perpetuates beyond homes, sidewalks, playgrounds, and schools and into the political sphere, some are starting to recognize that we are now so deep into the forest that the way out seems untraceable. There is great reason for hopelessness, but to succumb to the emerging powers of our time would allow what’s going on around you to consume your inner world, and your inner world is far too precious to abandon. 

In the 13th Century, the son of a merchant with great means transcended his times. His first biographer said he was a “zealous imitator of foolishness” and that he “surpassed others in his flamboyant display of vain accomplishments.” This is a man who sounds like he would have had a large social media following if he was born into our times. But, despite his ambitions for glory and fame, he managed to transcend his status and society by experiencing the world anew. That is because Francis of Assisi had a revolutionary spirit.  Prior to the birth of his revolutionary spirit, he feared lepers or, what we might symbolically call, the “other.” But, during a period following his recovery from military wounds and then time in solitude where he confronted himself, St. Francis was transformed by recognizing his dependency on others. He was no longer the kid who had it all, but a man who knew he needed everyone and every being. Far from a sweet garden gnome, St. Francis transcended his circumstances to eventually see himself in the leper and the leper in him.

A revolutionary spirit is what we all need in order to traverse through the wilderness of our times, and living gratefully is a map to the other side. The revolutionary spirit that is developed through living gratefully invites you to change your perspective and take action.

Five Ways to Build a Revolutionary Spirit

1. Seek cooperation where you see conflict and rivalry

Conflict and rivalry fuel fear, and fear fuels conflict and rivalry. This cycle must be disrupted by cooperation, where our togetherness allows us to trust one another again. As a wise species, we can recognize who among us is sowing discord and hate and who is nourishing us with love, harmony, and possibility.

2. Sow love in fields full of hate and greed

We must seek and be sowers of love because to be human is to be put into a precarious situation. Today you may be at the top of the ladder and tomorrow you could be the one marginalized, disenfranchised, or oppressed.

3. Embrace the vulnerability of humanity with outrageous empathy

Vulnerability is ultimately a gift. It is a place where humility dwells within us and why we must tend to each other. At a time when empathy is under attack in both theological and political circles, having a revolutionary spirit can help us recognize the foolishness of such thinking. We cannot be fully alive if we are unable or unwilling to recognize the complexity, suffering, and challenges that every human faces. Without empathy, a revolution of the spirit — transformation and transcendence — is beyond possibility. Instead, we harden and our spirit decays. We rot.

4. Acknowledge your dependence on others

A revolutionary spirit is gained when your heart changes by opening up to life and to others, as St. Francis of Assisi and countless others have done. 

5. Choose nonviolence instead of violence

With a change of heart and perspective comes the knowledge that one’s inner awakenings and rumblings must be lived out and embodied through nonviolent action. There is no room for violence in a wise, compassionate, cooperative, and empathic heart. Also absent is stagnancy.

We cannot be transformed — we cannot find our way out of the wilderness — by remaining the same as we were. A revolutionary spirit is gained when we live gratefully by giving attention and care to each moment. This reveals truths about the goodness and love that can and does exist in our midst.

Feature image by Sebastian Unrau

Joe Primo, Grateful Living

Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. A student of our founder since his studies at Yale Divinity School, Joe is committed to advancing our global movement and making the transformational practice of grateful living both accessible to all and integral to communities and places of belonging. His TED talk, “Grief is Good,” reframed the grief paradigm as a responsive resource. He is the author of “What Do We Tell the Children? Talking to Kids About Death and Dying” and numerous articles.

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