We Can Not Afford To Be De-Radicalized

Being radical in selfless empathy, in a world that rewards selfish apathy.

Photo by Frances Barcelo on Unsplash

There has been a feeling deep within me since I was young, that I have not been able to escape as I’ve grown older. It is an insatiable need for reform, revolution, and radical empathy for the marginalized & oppressed, both who are like — and unlike — me. It is the understanding that humanity can not be fit neatly into little boxes, like the privileged often try to pack us into. It is the mind-altering and world-opening view that diversity is not just the “spice of life,” but the main ingredient of the whole dish.

I often reference this feeling as “the knowing within my bones.” It has guided me through every major life event and turning-point, even if at times it was just a faint hum in the background of my ever-crowded psyche. This “knowing” is coded in my DNA, through bloodlines of both the colonized, and colonizer. It is a compass that I feel divinely blessed to have, but more importantly, blessed with the wisdom of how to use. For what service do I bring my community by not being educated in the ways of the Soul?

One of my youngest memories is of a dream I had when I was little. I was standing on top of a table, preaching to a small group of people that had congregated around me. I do not remember what, or why I was preaching, only that it felt like my calling, my divine purpose; the most important thing I would ever do with my life. Not in some white savior-esque type way, but in the sense of belonging to the people who were giving me their time, their ears, and their eyes. This was for our collective liberation. This went beyond my ego and into the realm of the unknown — the liminal space that the Great Spirit resides in.

These people that I dreamt of, to the hate-riddled heart, would seem significantly different from me in their robes, sandals, and stone-and-mortar houses, but to me; we were a united entity. Our differences were skin deep, but our similarities went down to our marrow.

In this dream (as if to solidify the knowing within my bones into the physical realm) the skies opened above me and the hand of God came down. It was a dream that produced such a physical response within me that I woke up feeling changed as a person. And I have been painfully aware of my purpose ever since. It was similar to the first time I took a psychedelic: It brought me closer to “God,” and thus closer to myself.

When you are brought closer to yourself in this way, you are brought closer to nature and its ways. And when you are brought closer to nature, you are brought closer to others. The final realization is thus: We are one.

This is radical empathy.

It shouldn’t be seen as radical, though. It should be the baseline understanding we all have as humans. It should be a fundamental belief that we all hold. Ego, nationalism, culture, religion, etc. have all played a hand at skewing our human behavior so far away from empathy, that apathy has actually become the new normal.

For the privileged people of the world that can afford to turn a blind eye, the excuse for self-preservation is often used as a way to distance themselves from the suffering of others deemed “less-fortunate',” not realizing that we are all connected. The privileged are not safe just because they are across the ocean on a different continent. Nor, because they reside in a gated community rather than the slums on the outskirts of town. They have an illusion of safety. But as nature teaches us, wildfires can spread rapidly. And winds can carry change in the form of major destruction.

When the privileged ignore the suffering of others, they reject their own humanity. The use of excuses to distance yourself from the Congolese people being r*ped and enslaved so that we can have the latest tech — or the attempted silencing of Palestinian voices who’s lives have been uprooted, thrown into the fire at the whim of colonial powers — is not a sustainable solution. Your apathy solves nothing, not even for yourself. The horror will always reach back home like a Molotov thrown through your front porch window.

Photo by Josephus Bajo on Unsplash

My position as a half-white, half-Filipino American is not unique. Many mixed minorities are waking up to the fact that we have a responsibility to not only right the wrongs of our colonial blood, but to defend and protect the blood of our ancestors who died, or were assimilated, into cultures that were responsible for trying to wipe us out.

This, is the difference between us and the privileged.

The privileged stand to loose nothing hiding away (or so they think) living under the systems that were built for their bourgeoisie. But we fight for our very survival. We fight for the “knowing in our bones” to be passed down to the next generations, our ways of life preserved, yearning to live in former harmony off the lands that we’re here to protect, while the privileged mock, shun, and demonize us; putting us into boxes neatly labeled “The Others” when all of our blood runs red.

Mother Earth doesn’t discriminate.

This understanding we have of our purpose brings us closer to the people who have, and still are, experiencing oppression. It is in our best interest to stand in solidarity with the marginalized of the world. Because all liberation is mutual liberation. More are waking up to the illusions that we currently live under. And more are questioning their beliefs and realizing that those beliefs are not their own.

We are waking up to the fact that the system is designed to tire us out, so that they can continue to control us, extracting every ounce of capitol that can be squeezed out.

Someone dear once said to me, “As you get older, you’ll start to care less about what happens in the world. You’ll turn off the news. You’ll look out only for yourself.”

I tried imagining a world where that could even be possible for me — someone who’s authentic existence challenges the machine — and I couldn’t see that being a plausible future. Having the option to ignore the sorrows of the world comes from the power achieved by exploiting it. And our ruling class has decided that we don’t get to be free. They have decided that we will make them filthy rich so they can build their doomsday bunkers, and the rest of us will burn with the Earth they set on fire.

The only option we have is to fight for change.

The only hope we have is to seed our minds with radical empathy.

And the only thing I want is to sprout a world where we water justice & strive for the collective liberation of all.