Gray Wulf (2020) #2

Welcome to the lair of the Gray Wulf

A theme of these musings and one that I will no doubt regularly return to, will be the emptiness of the modern western orientated life style and the underlying sense of futility and unease. 

The underlying sense of uncertainty and insecurity that is seems pervasive around us.

(Dis)ease

I am increasingly gravely concerned about the alienation, dislocation and emotional isolation of modern life and it’s impact on our emotional and physical well-being.
I will no doubt come back to this theme
in future musings to consider causes, explanations and rationales
But I will start, more positively, by offering some challenge to this dominant regime of anxiety and I would like to offer some thoughts on fighting back in order survive the ‘distress’ of modern life.

It was interesting that during the week,  I was reminded of a term that keeps arising. The expression ‘toxic stress’, which I understand mental health experts define as stress that is “intense, repetitive or prolonged, particularly for children.

Toxic stress seems to have been mainly linked only to traumatic situations such as bereavement, natural disaster, extreme poverty, war zones, and refugee camps. It is claimed that experiencing toxic stress can change a child’s developing brain.
Well, indeed.
Intense, repetitive prolonged.
That was exactly the point I was considering.
This is modern life – an experience of on-going and underlying anxiety, that sometimes raises itself up to high levels of stress that become intolerably intense.
And because of our fractured, undermining life-styles  in this climate, as individuals, it does feel really hard to step forward at any time with unrestrained positivity and optimism or even just confident determination.

There is always a sense that one person cannot change ‘the game’ and that judgment, anxiety, and competition is everywhere, existing even with those so-called ‘caring’, ‘progressive’ and ‘spiritual spheres’ of modern society.

Therefore, I would like to look more at some of the benefits coming out of those values I have stated have stated previously;
collaboration, passion, and spirituality and in particular when these values are applied in real time and put into practice through engaging in effective forms of mindful and direct action.

The idea of full engagement.
It appears to me that committing yourself regularly to actions that have their focus (mindfulness) in the ‘here’ and ‘now’ and which can potentially lead in a direct way to change, either in yourself or the world around you provides a key to our dilemma.

I see this as the only viable counter to stress and anxiety. Committing yourself to these two aspects offers a means to creativity and expression and a means to generate optimism and self-value.

The intrinsic quality of such direct action is the focus on the here and now.
Being in the moment, making change is change in itself.
It is transformational in its effect; empowering, raising the spirits and intensifying your connections.
Acting meaningfully allows you to shift your mind out of your anxieties, preoccupations  concerns about success and self-esteem.

Not only is there the possibility of making some tangible change in the world, but I believe that on the  personal level there is clear evidence that direct action as a means of escaping the never-ending cage of worries for the future or regrets over the past, can herald the bringing of improvements and positive changes in both physical and mental health.

I would like to share three types of direct action that I have observed in recent past;

The first one is very individualistic and it can be seen from the prism of  ‘following your passion’
No one else’s agenda, no ulterior motives, nothing but a joy in absorbing application.
So starting close to home, within my own martial arts world, appreciating a new group of my students perform within their first grading session.
A challenging situation that requires complete dedication and commitment.
I saw in that brief span and process, a real shift in balance and self-belief. The act of achieving grading through visible performance is a technique of direct action in self-mastery, even if temporary.
Then there is direct action at a community level.
I have been repeatedly humbled by the modest bravery exhibited continually of the village members of my Cameroon self-help groups.
The solidarity and self-affirmation I see them gaining individually, as each of them use this group to personally survive, is astounding in the context of fear and threat that has come to surround their daily existence. They are vulnerable yet they open up to themselves and for each other when circumstances of fear would often drive you into a stance of hardness and self- protection.
From this perspective, if you haven’t already seen it, can I draw your attention to ‘Period. End of Sentence’.
A powerful and Oscar winning documentary film featuring a local group of women in rural Hapur district, outside of Delhi, India, developing themselves as entrepreneurs, producing low-cost sanitary napkins. 
In India, lack of information and access to sanitary products means periods are often a life sentence to most women. Through practical and direct action, this group has been mark the beginnings of a viable microeconomy and at the same time  also spare women the need to reuse unhygienic rags for their periods.
Now, through direct action, their periods have become an end of their sentence.      These are fundamental immediate ‘hands-on’  interventions where people in the grassroots are producing real solutions to community issues as opposed to vacuous, self-seeking of the vast majority of voluntary sector, in what Arundhati Roy refers to as the “NGO-ization of resistance.”

I will no doubt return to this particular subject in future Gray Wulf blogs.

On a wider scale, I believe we can also look to direct political action.
I have in the past been regularly inspired by accounts of the fight of Yezidi (Ezidi) women in Syria and how they organised themselves to avenge themselves on the ISIS rapists responsible for genocide against their community and their enslavement of thousands of women. 
These revolutionary women courageously
and consciously took direct action for systemic change, putting  their lives on the line in radical democratic, anti-racist and anti-patriarchal struggle.
Their militant and direct resistance Is an incredible example of real action in order that tangible and immediate change can be brought about.
Direct action may sound like a difficult concept initially and it is as simple as being mindful of the end result and in the process of working on it directly.
Direct action that enables your neighbours and community along with you is truly sustainable.