Tikkun Magazine, March/April 2008

Open-Heartedness and Generosity

NSP National Programs 2008

by Nichola Torbett

We outline below the programs our national office will focus on this year. The goal in all our programs is to stimulate new ways of thinking that emerge from a worldview of open-heartedness and generosity rather than cynicism and fear. Our efforts will be successful to the degree that we generate new conversations and new thinking, so please don't be disappointed if you get involved and don't "win" in the conventional sense.

A contact person is listed for each program. We would be happy to coach you and provide you with resources to do this work. You can also find more information on our website at www.spiritual-progressives.org.

Strategy of Generosity and Global Marshall Plan Campaign

THIS PROGRAM HAS TWO GOALS:

1. To raise consciousness about the potential effectiveness of, and ethical mandate for, a new approach to homeland security that is based in open-heartedness and generosity rather than domination and control.
2. To propose and eventually implement a plan that would once and for all end poverty, homelessness, and hunger, and improve healthcare and education worldwide, as well as provide funding for healing the global environment.

Tactics:

• Religious services and petition drive on Generosity Weekend, April 11-13
• Advocate for support for a Congressional resolution
• Fundraise and run full-page newspaper advertisements
• Host house parties and forums
• Introduce city council resolutions
• Solicit endorsements by key individuals and organizations (faith communities, antiwar and anti-poverty organizations, etc.)
• Bird-dogging at political candidate appearances, asking candidates whether they would support replacing military domination and control with solidarity and generosity in our homeland security policy

To get involved, contact David Hart, Director of Advocacy and Outreach, at david@spiritualprogressives.org

New Bottom Line in Politics

OUR GOAL IN THIS PROGRAM IS TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE political conversation so that it challenges the "common sense" view that our highest goals are unlimited economic growth for the United States and personal prosperity for Americans at all costs. We need a president who is unashamed to talk and act from a commitment to a new bottom line of solidarity, love, caring, kindness, compassion, generosity, cherishing of the planet, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. These are not the terms one usually hears from a politician, but we desperately need prominent leaders who can inspire us to believe that there is enough, that we can afford to share, and that slowing down and acting from love, gratitude, awe, and wonder is actually more satisfying than the frenetic material consumption and competitiveness that is currently taken for granted in American life.

Tactics:

• Recruit, support, and train delegates to the nominating conventions of the political parties
• Host inspiring, spiritually rich events at the national conventions (visitors welcome: the Green convention will be July 10-11, the Democratic convention August 25-28, and the Republican convention September 1-4)
• Work through state processes to introduce platform resolutions for a strategy of generosity in homeland security and a Global Marshall Plan
• Create spiritual caucuses within the political parties
• Distribute our Voter's Guide far and wide
• Host debate-watching parties with discussion questions from an NSP perspective
• Fundraise for and run full-page ads in major newspapers

To get involved, contact: Nichola Torbett, Director of National Programming at Nichola@tikkun.org.

Chapter Network

OUR NETWORK OF LOCAL CHAPTERS IN MORE THAN EIGHTY towns and cities serves:

1. To provide a place for spiritual progressives to meet and support each other and to deepen their practice of spiritual activism
2. To cultivate a group of people who are more involved with our work and who give feedback and advice to the national office via monthly conference calls and regular emails.
3. To teach people to think in terms of worldview change and to frame issues with that shift in mind.

Tactics:

• Hold monthly chapter leader conference calls
• Maintain a chapter leader listserv to facilitate conversation and idea-sharing throughout the network
• Provide rich resources on our website, including a detailed organizer's guide
• Provide resources for organizing more informal local "meet ups"

To get involved, contact: Nichola@tikkun.org.

"Meaningful Life Now": Ongoing Consciousness Raising

1. CREATE SUSTAINED BREAKTHROUGHS IN WHICH PEOPLE become fully conscious of their own longing to live in a different way: more mutual recognition, more meaning and purpose, more connection, more love, more joy, more awe and wonder and in which people engage in mutual recognition and connect deeply with each other.

2. Raise consciousness about the ways in which we have each been shaped by a culture of greed and materialism that urges us to ignore those longings. Awaken the possibility of choosing another way of being. Make different choices starting now and also work for systemic changes that open up greater latitude for people to choose differently.

3. Invent new ways of doing activism that rejuvenate burned-out activists, invite people in who have been turned off by or disinterested in conventional activist methods, and capture the imagination of the media and the country at large by tapping into widespread longing for a different way of living.

4. Catalyze changes in people's personal lives that will eventually change the culture.

Tactics:

• Develop a rich social networking website and other mechanisms through which people can connect with others and share the ways they are choosing "meaningful life now," what the challenges and rewards are, etc.
• Possibly develop an optional pledge through which people pledge to make changes toward a new bottom line in their lives right now
• Encourage local meet-ups where people can connect with others who are trying to choose "meaningful life now" and talk about the joys and challenges of that.
• Work with our subgroup, Psychologists for a New Bottom Line, to create and field test materials that will allow people to overcome their fear and "old bottom line" consciousness; these materials could range from discussion guides to twelve-step programs to street theater
• Coordinate a conscious-consumption campaign at holidays and possibly other times

To get involved, contact: Nichola@tikkun.org.

Progressive Renewals

THROUGH INSPIRING EVENTS AND MEDIA APPEARANCES, WE WILL create breakthroughs in which people engage in mutual recognition and connect deeply with each other, gain a felt sense of interdependence and oneness and the love that comes with that, and commit to live in a new way and to work to make it possible for others to do the same.

Tactics:

• Attend our Spiritual Activism Training near Washington, DC, over Memorial Day Weekend; see our website for more information and to register
• Invite our staff to speak to audiences in your area
• Help us break into the media in meaningful contexts
• Host one-night "Meaningful Conversation" evenings using the resources on our website
• Help us organize interfaith progressive "Renewals" in your area
• Plan to attend our next national conference, either in August or January; stay tuned for details!

To get involved, contact: Nichola@tikkun.org.

Source Citation

Torbett, Nichola. 2008. Open-heartedness and generosity: NSP national programs 2008. Tikkun 23(2):13.