Meaning, Spirit and Activism

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Meaning, Spirit and Activism

• David Legge

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• It is hot and noisy in the make-do shack which
  'A' shares with thee other young people, also
  from the country. He gets occasional casual work
  pushing the hand cart but it is hard find the
  energy to do more than just survive. It is hard
  to see the point of it all. Alcohol soothes the
  pain but also releases the anger commonly it is
  'E' and her kid who feel the brunt of his anger.
• Is meaning/ meaninglessness a determinant of As
  health?
• How will the peoples health movement reach out
  to A?

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• 'B' is driving his new motor cruiser to the quay
  for the launch. The cabin is the latest in luxury
  but he has had to take out a mortgage on the
  house and borrowed from the special account he
  has put aside to pay for the boys' education to
  pay for it. He doesn't mind working 11 hours a
  day, six days a week, if it means he can meet the
  needs of the family but it is a bit risky with
  rising interest rates. The killer is the recent
  increase in land tax on the beach property. It
  wouldn't be so bad except that so much tax is
  directed to various do-gooder social engineering
  projects such as housing for so-called refugees
  and so-called 'aid' for other countries, most of
  which are corrupt.
• What are the values which give meaning to Bs
  life?
• Bs political views, which reflect his values,
  are a barrier to Health for All
• How will the peoples health movement approach B
  in the course of the struggle for Health for all?

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The search for meaning

• The need to make sense of our experience and to
  find guidelines for practice is deeply human
• The alternative is meaninglessness
• a flick in time a speck in the universe an
  inevitable end
• frightening and depressing

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God is the source of meaning for believers

• There are many conceptions of God
• only one is the intelligent, loving but
  judgemental father who created us whose
  purpose provides sufficient explanation of our
  existence, and who provided us with guidelines
  for living
• others have a much less personal God who
  represents the aspiration for a more joyful and
  loving world
• There are many conceptions of God which, in their
  own ways, provide guidance regarding the good and
  bad, the oughts and the ought nots
• Clearly this source of meaning and these roots of
  spirituality do not have the same authority for
  non-believers

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Culture, spirituality and commitment

• Yin and yang the self and the other. Love and
  fear, generosity and selfishness, empathy and
  heartlessness, fairness and deviousness are all
  rooted in our genetic make up
• But culture has a powerful effect on how our
  genes are expressed. Culture, the stories and
  directions which we collectively create, help us
  to build on the generous, the empathic and the
  sense of fairness and to steer our more fearful
  impulses into socially useful directions
• The spiritual traditions of many different
  cultures, including various religious traditions,
  share many common values and precepts they help
  us to build constructively on our humanness
• These traditions provide personal and collective
  disciplines which can help us to become the
  people and communities we hope to become
• For some people, some communities, these
  disciplines have the force of commandments, from
  God
• For others, both individuals and communities,
  such disciplines are taken on as an act of will,
  a choice to take a path which may enable joyful,
  loving kindness to flourish and which may help us
  to deal constructively with our fears, wants and
  our deafnesses

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Spirituality - the practices we build into our
lives which

• reinforce our appreciation of joy and love,
• strengthen our commitment to working for the
  social conditions in which joy and love may
  flourish
• help us to live in ways which help to protect and
  cultivate these conditions
• help us to grow ourselves in ways which make us
  better able to do so

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Meaning, spirit and activism

• Meaning as a social determinant of health (...
  not by bread alone)
• why am I here? where shall I go?
• searching for and creating (or finding) meaning
  is part of well being
• health for all depends on achieving conditions
  where meaning can be found in joy and love and
  where the impulses which give rise to fear, lust
  and greed are usefully directed
• Meaning in analysis and strategy
• the search for certainty (against the threat of
  meaninglessness) is a powerful social dynamic for
  both good and ill (examples great art and
  various religious and political fundamentalisms)
• the search for meaning is one of the drivers of
  social change with which the PHM must engage
• eg, working in ways which affirm the
  meaningfulness of peoples lives and support the
  search for and the finding of meaning
• The life and practice of the activist
• affirming (and re-affirming) the values which
  generate outrage and commitment in the face of
  suffering and injustice, both generally and in
  relation to health
• finding the reference points against which to
  navigate ones way past the seductions of
  ambition and withdrawal

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Small group work

• Group discussion
• Case 1. Competitive individualist materialism as
  a determinant of health?
• Case 2. What keeps me going?
• Discuss and suggest (report back)

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Case 1. Competitive individualist materialism as
a determinant of health?

• In what ways does competitive, individualist
  materialism impact on health?
• What are the dynamics which reproduce competitive
  individualist materialism?
• What can the PHM do to confront the negative
  impacts on health of CIM?

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Case 2. What keeps me going?

• The seduction of the activist
• disappointment, fatalism, withdrawal (to our
  private lives)
• being diverted by the rewards of mainstream
  institutions (PHM as a good career move)
• Managing the seductions of activism
• maintaining my commitment despite disappointments
  and occasional envies
• building disciplines into my life which help me
  to manage the seductions and maintain my
  commitment
• building a culture into our collective practice
  which help us collectively to manage the
  seductions and maintain our commitment