The Four Pillars of Creative Action

Keynote Speech for The Convergence, New Orleans 1/23/04 

I am gobsmacked.  Flabbergasted.  What an incredible gathering.  And, I’m deeply honored to have been asked to speak to such an amazing group of people.

 Now, first off, I have to say that I would talk about Lysistrata Project, but I only have five minutes for this, and I can barely say my name in five minutes much less talk about Lysistrata Project.  I think I’m going to have to bend the rules of time and space for this one no matter what.

I also realize that “The Four Pillars of Creative Action” is a little phallic, but during Lysistrata Project, my co-founder Sharron Bower and I (and I’ll talk about Sharron a lot) called our organizers “Spearheads.”  Which was also rather phallic, but we simply reclaimed it for ourselves.  So, we’ll just reclaim pillar as well, because quite frankly, “the four ova of creative action” sounds a little silly.

Finally, to conclude my preamble, I’m offering these brief ideas up as observations.  I’m not trying to be the Dr. Phil of the Artist/Activist/Educator – otherwise known as the Artivator – community.  I’m not trying to be Dr. Phil.  Yet.

Ok, Pillar 1.  Imagination/Love/Inspiration

Big ideas and emotions are great.  Inspiration is invaluable – utterly essential so that we’re not always reacting against bad stuff, but proactively working towards the world we’ve been dreaming of.  It’s why artists are so valuable – to show us the world as it could be. 

We need love because it’s a better long-term fuel than anger.

However, many projects fall prey to what I’m going to call the “This Little Light Syndrome.”  And it goes something like this.  Feel free to join in.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, shine, shine… 

(Long Pause)

Ok.  Now what?

Or they fall prey to my personal favorite: 

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Til it becomes a big, huge, titanic light

That washes evil from the hearts of men

Saves the world

And makes me rich and famous

And then I’ll finally get to redo the house

And backpack through Europe

Or, something completely different:

Wow.  Look at that injustice!  I’m feeling really pissed!!

I bet I could fix it.

But the bad guys always win.

So, I’m going back to bed.

So to get anywhere, we need Pillar #2 – Structure.

In many communities – artists in particular – the word structure has the same resonance as the word Castor Oil.  Or Republican.  But, we all know that in reality, that’s how you get anything done.  Small tasks.  Clearly defined roles and goals.

Sharron grew up in a hard-core Right Wing Texas military anti-abortion Eagle Forum family (as opposed to me, a lefty Jew from Oregon who now lives in Vermont).  And what she learned is that’s a big part of why the right is so effective.  They’re all willing to buy into structure.  They go over the top, but there’s a lesson there.

Lysistrata Project had loads of structure – we just redefined it.  Redefining structure is a big part of what I admire about the Dean Campaign.

Think Power With and Power Under as opposed to Power Over.  I’d define those, but I only have five minutes and I’m adhering to the structure.

Pillar #3 – The Self.

This goes back to that Marianne Williamson quote: As you liberate yourself, your presence automatically liberates others.

You have to deal with your own personal wounds and baggage because it has an effect on everything you do, how you interact with people, how you deal with stress and conflict – which is ALWAYS going to come up.

During Lysistrata Project, we kept telling people don’t serve your career, serve the cause, and we still had turf wars in Chicago, Seattle, and Minneapolis.  People forgot they were supposed to be preventing a war.

Sharron and I ran into all kinds of drama, plus we had an 11^th hour interpersonal conflict – two, actually, which could have ruined everything.  But because we were two people who’d been trying to do our emotional work, we kept communicating, served the project, got through it, and stayed friends.

Oooh!  Dirt!  Now don’t you really wish I had more than 5 minutes?

Plus, when you work on yourself, you cultivate your capacity for empathy and compassion.  So that when someone is having a temper-tantrum, caught up in their ego and fear, you can step back and be the adult in the room.

Pillar #4 – Faith.

Ecumenically speaking, it’s faith that anything is possible, and that everything counts.  Everything matters.  It’s faith that while you can’t control the outcome of your project (and really, you can hardly control anything), something will happen that will probably have a positive effect on someone’s life. 

You often don’t get to know who or what, but something.  And it counts, and it matters.

To conclude, here’s some proof that anything is possible:

Once upon a time, there was a ship captain whose job it was to sail his boat to Africa, load the boat with people, and bring them back across the ocean to be sold into slavery.

One day, in the middle of the ocean, he woke up.  He realized that those were people in the hold of his ship.  And he turned around and took everyone home and spent the rest of his life writing hymns.

He didn’t end slavery.  But still, what he did, that one act – that counts.  And his most famous hymn is Amazing Grace.  And that’s had a huge effect.

So, just remember: You are all acts of amazing grace.  And you all count.