Birthing the new

I’ve been observing the public’s response to current events. What I’m finding is that most of our ideas, symbols, and courses of action evoke the past. These were all effective during the Marcos era and, to some degree, the Erap era, but now something new is needed. We are going to war in the future armed with weapons of the past.  What are our chances of winning?

I don’t claim to know exactly how the new power of the people will take shape, though I know it must begin with inner transformation. But I worry that I am seeing old solutions being applied to our present problems. PAGASA (Peoples Assembly for Genuine Alternatives to Social Apathy) was in the streets in 2005. That was during the height of the “Hello Garci” issue; no one came. People were tired, cynical and apathetic and they did not want to do the same old thing that obviously did nothing to effect change. It was then we realized there was a new power of the people wanting to be born and we needed to go deeper — beyond problems and systems — to effect change.

Companies that are stuck in their past successes are often killed by the same. They lose steam because they can’t move beyond their original victory. Their identity is tied to the very thing that brought them to the top once, so they fail to see how the world has changed around them, making their past success very ineffective in the present.  If they insist on using tools from the past to create success today, they are merely walking down memory lane; they are not addressing what the present and future call for.

I can see this happening around us. Though it’s significant that the youth are active now when they were silent before, I feel that we haven’t engaged them enough in ways that might be meaningful to them. Perhaps we are speaking in the language of martial law; our symbols are totally foreign to them. They are ready to be and do more and I fear we are falling short in meeting them.

During a recent gathering, ideas for new symbolism were brought forth by veteran activists. One idea was met with collective excitement. Then someone who
works closely with the youth remarked that when people from this era start high-fiving each other over such ideas, she knows it won’t fly with her group. That’s what got me thinking about how we are meeting problems in general.

Jun Lozada’s decision to come out with the truth was enough to inspire the youth to act. His stand resonated with them. But that very gesture is now in grave danger of losing its inherent brilliance because it is being sucked into statements and protests that are reminiscent of past battles.

Seven years ago today, I gave birth to my second child, Jose Andres. At that point in my life, I was already beginning an inner journey towards authenticity. It was for him and his brother that I resolved to live in truth. A few days ago, my birthday boy was pretending he was a soldier at a military checkpoint. (We went through one last weekend and the experience has stayed with him since.) He scanned me with a piece of wood before letting me into my room, making me realize that he has synthesized his experiences in malls and at the checkpoint into one picture. These are not the soul images I want my children to carry. They deserve better.

The significance of my son’s birthday and the battle we face today are not lost on me. Indeed we are birthing something new. To be proper and worthy vessels, we have to be open to the Highest Will. In that dynamic space, we are most creative. We have to act from the future rather than the past. 

In his editorial, “New People Power” (www.truthforce.info), Alternative Nobel Prize awardee Nicanor Perlas rightly points out that the new people power is not just a movement against something. It will also have to be a movement for something. That’s why the youth came and joined the cause this time. Jun Lozada made a decision in favor of truth. They responded to an energy that is going forward. That really moves them. It is a language they understand.

Truth is the new activism: campaigning and fighting for it, aligning with it, speaking and living it. To be effective today, we must be willing to step out of the past. We need to pay attention to emerging forms and leave our comfort zones behind. The battle today is very different from the battles of the ‘70s and ‘80s. We have to be open to be totally creative and free of the web that holds us firmly behind. Aligning with Divine Truth and listening, feeling and sensing what it is telling us will help us get rid of past symbols and actions. To create a new and vibrant country of truth, new tools are needed. We can harness them not by recreating the past, but by sensing and manifesting what the future holds.

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