An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
– Gandhi

Conscious activism is enlightened activism. It is acting from love. As long as I sense hatred in my heart towards the people or system I am fighting, I need to heal myself first.

What always helps me is The Work by Bryon Katie:

First, list your thoughts about the issue (who do you resent and why, how do you suggest they should change).

Then, for each thought, answer the following four questions:

  1. Is it true? Yes or no.
  2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? Yes or no.
  3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
  4. Who would you be without this that thought?

Now, find three turnarounds for each of the thoughts. For example, state the opposite or state “I” in stead of “them”.

What we see in the world is actually what is (unconsciously) alive in us. This is called projection. In order to really bring wholesome change, we need to first embody it. This is what is meant when we say ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’.

I may find that some of my convictions could use some nuance, stem from a deeper pain within myself which needs to be addressed first, or that I need to be applying some of my own advice in my own life before judging others.

And so after having done our own inner work, we are free to act strongly, from love.

A good person will resist an evil system with his whole soul. Disobedience of the laws of an evil state is therefore a duty.
– Gandhi

Conscious activism acts from love. If you are serious about bringing real change, start with The Work. Then act. Or, in the words of Marianne Williamson: “Love hard, pray hard, kick ass.”