If Not Me, Who? If Not Now, When?
Planting Spirit in the Ground

By Robert Rabbin

When I was 11 years old, I discovered a restless soul that longed for missing pieces in the puzzle of life. A few years later I took to the road on a spiritual quest, traveling the world in search of answers about living, reality, truth, meaning, and purpose. I spent 25 years immersed in various non-dual wisdom traditions, including ten years studying with Swami Muktananda.

I experienced awakenings, epiphanies, and transcendent bliss beyond the scope of words. One day, I realized that I had found the missing pieces of my long-ago longing. My search came to an end atop a summit of eternal silence and pure being. I experienced deep peace marbled with constant inner joy. Yet in some unseen, unfelt place, a storm was gathering. Though there was no other mountain to climb for existential wholeness, there was more distance to travel-the path back down the mountain. Without guide or map, I began my descent from the summits of transcendence to the town of my beginning.

Embodied Mysticism

About 15 years ago, I was a consultant whose clients were mainly senior executives in corporations. My role as a "clarity coach" was to enhance their awareness of themselves and their relationships. I enjoyed my work yet felt a malaise within my true heart. Something was out of kilter with either the what or the how of my work, because I was leaking life force. I was becoming spiritually depressed. I did what I always do when feeling blocked, conflicted, or out of alignment: I went inward. I went on a week-long vision quest in Mexico.

On the fourth day of meditation, the voice of silence spoke wordlessly and unequivocally: Teach the mysticism you know to leaders. My initial reaction was terror. 15 years ago words like "spirit" and "soul" had barely found their way into the business lexicon. I felt this would be too hard and that I would die of ridicule and starvation. I said so. Do it, said the voice, and you will be guided. It is your path. Teach the essence of hamsa to world leaders. Don't worry.

Hamsa is a Sanskrit word which means "supreme transcendent wisdom." Hamsa is a mantra that signifies our unity with that consciousness which pervades every atom of this universe and connects all living beings. I was supposed to talk in corporate boardrooms about this?? I knew that it would require me to encounter my every fear, insecurity, doubt, pretense and delusion.

Shortly after my return from Mexico I delivered a talk, agreed upon beforehand, to the legal affairs department of a billion dollar pharmaceutical company. As I was unpacking my briefcase, the head of the department asked for my card. Returning to his seat, he looked at it, now with the word hamsa on it, and asked, "What the hell does hamsa mean?"

This is it, I thought. They're going to throw me out on my ass. I actually began putting my notes back in my briefcase. "Hamsa," I said, "means supreme, transcendent wisdom." The attorney's face tensed and his head fell forward into his hands. He shook his head back and forth. I closed my briefcase and prepared to leave. He looked up.

"My God," he sighed, "do we ever need that around here."

Making It Real

Thus encouraged, I spent the next decade instigating conversations about spirit, soul, and wisdom with corporate clients. Then came the shattering morning of 9/11/01. It was as if the planes had crashed into my soul, leaving it wrecked, sad, and sorrowful.

I wrote a long article, "A Call for Peace," giving voice to my grief and my hope for a response from our government that would not precipitate more violence and destruction. A deeper awareness of the connection between spiritual awareness and social events opened within me. I found myself at an unexpected beginning with a new passion-a deep hunger to fully engage the world that I had neglected during years of inward-focused meditation. I began to understand how I belonged to this world and it to me-the practical implications of becoming one with everything.

I began writing more articles of a "political" nature. I was dismayed at the militaristic responses of America, saddened that the wise legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi went unheeded. During Baghdad's bombardment, I felt as if the missiles were exploding in my own body. Suddenly, every cell of my body awoke to the true meaning of what I had first learned decades ago in India: tat tvam asi, Thou Art That—all of existence is connected. Every spasm of violence, each shattered life and moments of horror were happening inside me. It was not something I could hide from or ignore. My being, my body, had grown as big as the world.

My transcendent wisdom and spiritual insights were tested in this new feeling of the world "out there" becoming part of my own being. I realized how I had felt an urgency to heal the pain out there in the same way I had, years before, sought to heal inner, personal pain.

I began to write and speak about engaged spirituality, about taking responsibility for the condition of our world and carrying spiritual wisdom from the meditation halls into the world. I realized that we risk a kind of social apathy in our search for personal enlightenment. The journey to the top of those summits is not the final destination. We must add action to insight.

My new beginning is summed up in these words from the Kabbalah: "First we receive the light, then we impart it. Thus we repair the world." Imparting the light requires great things of us: authenticity, honesty, courage, determination, empathy, personal responsibility, and commitment. Repairing the world requires that we make love an action.

Last year, I wrote an article which received worldwide distribution through the internet, "Mr. Bush: I'm Coming for You." I received hundreds of emails in support, but one in particular touched my core. He wrote: What are you going to do?

A year later, I have my answer: TruthForPresident.org. I created this project to elevate the political dialogue and consciousness in this country. I created this project to influence the coverage of the national media, to inspire the American public, to spotlight people, policies, and events that will help renew our world through principles of universal wisdom.

The world is begging to be healed of violence, brutality, and greed. Let this be our project. We cannot use our spirituality as a shield from social life and responsibility, nor be afraid to put our spiritual hands into the earth of politics. Let us come together as one and work with our whole being, with all our power, beauty, and tenderness; with all our heart, strength, and resolve.

Let us start now, right now, this very minute, to heal our world. If not me, who? If not now, when?

Robert Rabbin is a writer and speaker with a passion for radically engaged spiritual wisdom. He recently created TruthForPresident.org, a revolutionary news service whose purpose is to elevate the political consciousness and dialogue in America. For details, visit http://www.robrabbin.com. Robert will be speaking at the Wisdom and Wellness Expo in Lansing, Oct. 9. Call 517-487-6821 for details.