(Written in October 2008)
Reading Jack Kornfield yesterday I came across a passage on Activism, and the need for sanctuaries where activists can rest and renew. I found it very validating. He writes about Quaker friends who were working as activists in Laos and Vietnam who came to Ajahn Chah’s monastery near the border of Laos. “They were appalled that we forest monks were not politically active. … They had come to the monastery tired and burned out. Working in a war zone is fierce practice. … My friends came needing a respite. When they spoke passionately against the war, Ajahn Chah told them that stopping the war was essential. … ‘We will never succeed outwardly until we also learn to stop the war inside. That is our work here.’
“As the days passed, my activist friends’ opinions began to change. … After a week, my friends began to understand. In difficult times we humans need sanctuaries and images of the sacred to remind us of who we really are.” The Wise Heart, pp274-5
This is why it’s important to keep Neskaya open, it’s a sanctuary where people can come and be refreshed and reconnected with what’s really important, and go back out strengthened for their battles with modern western civilization.