World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 183

sense of peacefulness. A right wing fundamentalist religious group was feeding sweets to women from the right and left, who had previously jousted on the streets. The sweets, rich milk chocolate with an almond in the middle, left me with a memory of overwhelming sweetness. Political correctness was superseded by the feelings of nurture and sustenance. Here difference was not to be a war cry but a contribution, no matter how briefly, to solidarity. This old fashioned word describes best the feminist spirituality of that day. Activist spirituality is based on the notions of song and connectivity, a telos of bodily care and immediacy, an Eros of sentiment that arose from the field of combat. Agape, love, pathos were the rasas of the day. This collective opening into the other world, a hard won descent and ascent of spirit is what, as activists, we best carry into the next millennium. An assemblage of parts and fragments, these aspects constitute something greater than the whole. The evolving tradition of activist spirituality is based on the life of the earth. This movement transcends religion and feminist activism. This "Other Revolution" is detailed in other publications, yet it is this spiritual dimension that I wish to capture in words here.
In contrast to this spirit of action and co-operatively, at a Women's Coordinating Conference funded by the Ford Foundation ib Amman, Jordan, NGOs were invited to give representatively to the WCRP (World Council of Religion and Peace) in token form. This effort to constitute the concept of Religious NGOs (RNGOs) seemed somewhat contrived as women from within the chapters of the WCRP attempted to take on the guise of an NGO action dedicated to spirituality. In the ensuing political racketeering for positions on to the inaugural committee the NGOs were seen as token representations of action. In the ensuing discussions among the NGOs present, it became clear that the honor of NGO action had been hijacked for political reasons.. The NGO group orchestrated, in small groups, a counter attempt to feminize and spiritualize the process, to listen with the soul rather than logos or as handmaidens. In small groups the emotions of exclusion were danced, sang, and written in verse. The draft document for the WCC was created by this group, who were left with the task while the rest were busy within the political structure.
The WCRP, the largest interfaith organization, was left with a position statement from the most radical group of NGOs present! This again reflects the power of the subversive site of activist spirituality as distinct to the religious women's groups that can be ahistorical and apolitical within tradition religious structures. The appropriation of activist spirituality by elite women's groups from within religious structures is to be defined and resisted. As the WCRP move towers over the formation of a women's wing at the turn of the century, reflecting the exclusion of women within the voting structures, we are reminded again of the slowness of religious groups to take on board the necessity of women's representative as many other groups began to do from the mid 70's onwards.
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