Creating Your Constructive Program

Mahatma Gandhi launched a comprehensive, detailed program of social, political, economic and spiritual uplift for India and called it a constructive program. It was a program that called all to embrace practical steps to improve not only themselves but also their community, country and world.

Joanne Sheehan, in Gandhi's Three Elements of Nonviolent Social Transformation, shares, "We are quick to identify and protest the things we don't like in our society, but we are often asked 'so what are you for?' As revolutionaries we need to start building a new society in the shell of the old. Gandhi said we should not wait for one to crumble before starting the other. Constructive program brings people together to do the kind of community work that is empowering, bringing them to a point of self reliance and being ready to develop a new society. To outline a nonviolent campaign involving all these elements, we need to begin to identify where the change is needed. Gandhi identified 18 elements of constructive program in India that included removal of untouchability, developing village industries, sanitation, basic education, national language, spinning cloth as a symbol of economic freedom, labor unions, involving students, and caring for lepers. These are not a specific model for us, but ones that we can begin to get help from as we look at the changes needed in our society to begin to build a new one."

In this spirit, I invite my students in our Social Justice and Peacemaking course at NYU to create their own constructive program. I challenge them to consider the practical steps they need to take with respect to their lifestyle and personal choices and disciplines in order to connect to their deepest desires and truth, and to create the community and culture they want for themselves, their family and for future generations. I ask them to think about practices that can build and discipline their body and biology, i.e. diet, nutrition and exercise. I ask them to think about what will help them develop their intellectual, psychological and mental health and well-being, i.e. reading, writing, counseling and study. I ask them to consider actions that will better their social, relational being, i.e. joining community organizations and doing service work. I ask them to think about spiritual practices that will help them move toward deeper truth, compassion and deep peace, i.e. prayer, meditation and creative expression.  The purpose of this exercise is not merely to encourage personal growth, but also to challenge students to consider, as Sheehan says, "changes needed in our society to build a new one."

So, my invitation to you is to take the time to create your own constructive program, to join in the liberating labor of love that is our sacred duty, to develop and use the gifts we each have been given to build Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "beloved community." May you know yourself to be a beloved child of our Creator.  May you live your constructive program in the world.  In the process, you will not only become the person you want and were created to be but also you will help others, and all of us become who we were meant to be as well.  Peace and blessings to you.