Mystic activist how they dealt with anger

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When you work for justice

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you have to see
the world as it really is.

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And there's a lot of horrible
things happening in this world.

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And that if you are a living
breathing human being,

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you should be angry about that

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and angry about the fact
that there's injustice.

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But the challenge is, is to not
let that anger consume you.

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In the same way you could get
depressed about the realities

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that we face and that
depression could paralyze you.

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The mystic activist that
I studied were human beings

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who had to deal with
their anger, their depression,

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their struggles to continue on.

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What I discovered is that's where
their faith first is important.

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They could take this anger
and put it into their prayer life.

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But also most all of them
also had a community

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of other people of faith
that they were connected to

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whether it was a church community or mosque

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or just a group of other folks
that they got with regularly.

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And so they did not feel alone.

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Because the moment you begin
to feel alone in this work

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you can be overtaken by your
anger or your discouragement.

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And so, but we have to
realize that we're all human.

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They were human beings.

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They struggled with anger

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and they struggled with
depression and they struggled

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with all the challenges
that we all face.

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But that religious faith a rooted
religious faith built in community

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usually through spiritual
practices like maybe fasting

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or worship as well were what
sustained these activists.

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It was oftentimes though
because their activism would be

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the lead, they had to have
others around them

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who would hold them accountable
and say you need to step back.

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You need to go on retreat for
a few days, you need to rest.

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Martin Luther King's staff

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often would just take
him off the streets,

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take him down to the islands

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to get him to rest
for a couple of days

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because the activism was so strong.

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The anger even when fueled in
appropriate way in nonviolence

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still can be all consuming.