The road to hell is paved with good intentions. People who believe they are helping “the less fortunate” can cause more harm than good. Is it enough that their intentions were good? Does it excuse the damage they inadvertently caused? What does that mean for social justice initiatives? If good intentions alone are not enough, how do we approach the many injustices in our world?
Social justice can be a tricky arena to navigate in. The biggest problem I see in the way we’ve engaged up to now is a lack of awareness. I’m not speaking about awareness of the situation you may be attempting to improve. You can do lots of research and speak with people affected to gain a deeper understanding of the many situations that need to be addressed in our world today. But you still risk doing damage if you don’t know yourself.
A Course in Miracles teaches that none of us is capable of judging another because we’re always projecting our unhealed parts onto others. Only the most spiritually evolved among us are aware enough to avoid doing this.
The rest of us are blissfully unaware of the fact that the things we feel most annoyed by in others are actually aspects of ourselves that we do not wish to see. This was observed by Carl Jung, arguably the most influential psychiatrist of the twentieth century.
Many social justice activists are passionately engaged in trying to fix things “out there” as a way to avoid dealing with what’s going on inside their own minds. The motivation is often an unconscious desire to prove that they are better than the ones they’re fighting against, or to prove their goodness in helping those they see as “disadvantaged,” because deep down they struggle with feelings of unworthiness.
In my experience, the healthier approach to helping others always comes back to doing my own inner work. If I can sit quietly and examine why I want to fix something in the world, I can learn what wounds it is triggering in me. Then I can bring compassion, which allows healing, to those parts of myself. Some call this the process of self-inquiry. It’s a tried-and-true approach to life that is gaining momentum as we evolve.
From there, I can still reach out in philanthropic ways, only now it will be with an ability to truly help because I’m not trying, unconsciously, to prove or achieve anything for myself anymore.
We have far too many examples of unaware people thinking they were helping others, with unfortunate outcomes. Good intentions don’t prevent you from doing harm. Start with your own mind and look for ways that you can be kinder and more accepting of yourself. You can’t teach others a language that you don’t speak, or are afraid to learn.
Be the change you want to see in the world. You can do good work, but know yourself first. Just look at what Gandhi achieved with this approach.
For more about Sita Rebizant, visit her website at www.iamsita.com.
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