Interfaith and activism: a place where mystics meet

Sous-titres

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.001 --> 00:00:04.896
As we look at these activists
many of them are connected with

2
00:00:04.921 --> 00:00:08.289
people from other religious faiths
and their work for activism.

3
00:00:08.314 --> 00:00:12.898
One thing that struck me was that

4
00:00:12.923 --> 00:00:17.443
where people tend to unite
is two places

5
00:00:17.468 --> 00:00:21.281
when you're talking about activists.
Activists around the cause.

6
00:00:21.306 --> 00:00:24.343
So if you've got a shared cause
that'll bring people across

7
00:00:24.368 --> 00:00:26.695
many different lines and boundaries
and different religious.

8
00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:30.898
And then mystics find each other

9
00:00:30.923 --> 00:00:35.305
and tend to speak of God
in terms that don't have

10
00:00:35.330 --> 00:00:39.867
a sort of tradition language
or denominational language.

11
00:00:39.892 --> 00:00:43.688
King was always,
you look at his marches,

12
00:00:43.713 --> 00:00:47.914
you see Jewish rabbis involved,

13
00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:53.977
clergy as he began to talk about
the Vietnam War

14
00:00:54.002 --> 00:00:56.789
and the evil of that
you see connections more with

15
00:00:56.814 --> 00:00:59.484
with Buddhist monks
and particular like Thich Naht Hanh

16
00:00:59.474 --> 00:01:01.711
who was involved with him.

17
00:01:01.736 --> 00:01:06.297
He was quietly in the last years
of Malcolm X life

18
00:01:06.322 --> 00:01:09.975
the last year of his life was having
conversations with Malcolm X

19
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.594
about the possibility
of working together.

20
00:01:12.619 --> 00:01:16.709
And their ability to do this as
religious leaders was

21
00:01:16.734 --> 00:01:20.006
because they really framed their
religious understanding

22
00:01:20.031 --> 00:01:21.616
in many of the same ways

23
00:01:21.641 --> 00:01:24.420
that it was a mixture
of justice and prayer.

24
00:01:24.445 --> 00:01:27.216
That's what Bonhoeffer said is
the only true religion really

25
00:01:27.241 --> 00:01:28.568
when you get down to it.

26
00:01:28.593 --> 00:01:30.616
It's taking action for justice

27
00:01:30.641 --> 00:01:32.444
and being a person of prayer.

28
00:01:32.469 --> 00:01:36.514
And that's kind of what brought
all these folks together.

29
00:01:36.539 --> 00:01:40.279
And even as King, in his last days,

30
00:01:40.311 --> 00:01:43.842
some of the Mystics like Thich
Naht Hanh and Howard Thurman

31
00:01:43.867 --> 00:01:46.530
and Thomas Merton were
gathering around him to try

32
00:01:46.555 --> 00:01:50.031
to bring him on retreat,
an interfaith

33
00:01:50.056 --> 00:01:53.491
interracial group of spiritual guides

34
00:01:53.516 --> 00:01:56.140
to help King continue
to move forward.