Women, spirituality and social justice in an age of economic rationalism.

Gale, Fran ; Bolzan, Natalie

Abstract: This paper is based on a scoping study which was prompted by a concern that current dominant policy discourse of the welfare state in Australia leads to the idea that religious institutions could be responsible for welfare on a case by case basis. The policy discourse is one of social order and individual self care, rather than one of social justice. Utilising a qualitative methodology and in depth semi-structured interviews we explore whether women, in established faith institutions, are offering resistance, through their spirituality, to these dominant discourses of social order and economic rationalism. The material presented in this paper is from the first stage of the study, from five interviews: those of women from Christian (Protestant and Catholic), Jewish (Reform) and Buddhist organisations. These initial findings suggest that the kind of spiritual perspectives and practices that women, such as those participating in this study, offer, open out possibilities for our society beyond short term concerns with profit and self interest, and, which may be essential for our survival as a civil and humane society.

'I am called to be fully alive; to live daringly as though I am part of the future. Being daring involves living with a passion to claim the ground within your own life for things we haven't yet seen in justice, compassion and love.' (Anna)

Introduction

In an era of globalisation, most social institutions (corporations, governments, academies and even religious organisations) bear the mark of economic rationalism and individualism. Policies, rhetoric and practices of the Australian Government and dominant political elites have reflected, for the past two decades, the ideology of liberal individualism and economic rationalism with its associated priority on short-term profit and efficiency rather than people in need.

Arguably also, men overwhelmingly shape existing and imagined societies because they continue to occupy pre-eminent positions of power in most major public institutions. Women have long experienced alienation and had reasons to be critical of the theology and practices of traditional religious institutions, particularly with regard to the lack of gender inclusiveness (see for example Kohn 2003 pp43-61). Women have had a diverse range of responses: either leaving these institutions; advocating a temporary focus on women's spirituality and communities; or staying within them and working for their transformation (Christ and Plaskow 1992:15).

Women who have stayed with their religious institutions, often do so, however, while developing and maintaining a critical perspective (Kohn 2003:199, Christ and Plaskow 1992:9-17). Orthodox Jewish feminist Green Bluberg, aptly sums up these women's position when she describes reading her tradition with a loving heart and critical eyes (1998).

This study was prompted by a concern that current dominant policy discourse of the welfare state in Australia leads to the idea that religious institutions could be responsible for welfare on a case by case basis. This discourse is one of social order and individual self care, rather than one of social justice. 'Decline of personal morality' is often viewed as the cause of social and personal problems, seen to be addressed by privatising welfare into the hands of larger religious institutions viewed as able to 'shape moral character' (Everingham 2001: 111). We wanted to explore whether women, in established faith institutions, are offering resistance, through their spirituality, to the dominant discourse of economic rationalism.

We are not, however, arguing that women's public vision is part of 'their natural, essential or biologically determined nature' but rather that it is grounded in a set of experiences and social practices that reflect a history of gender roles and social norms (Caiazza 2005:9), which, while there have been some changes, still exist in various forms, in many public institutions. Understandings of women's multiple identities has led to feminism's acceptance of women's diversity while identifying points at which groups of women can act strategically in coalition over shared concerns (Bulbeck 2004:59).

This paper presents findings from women with diverse faith positions; yet they share a surprising commonality. It is precisely their opposition to prioritising materialistic concerns, to values and practices of profit and self interest as primary, and their orientation to concern and care for the 'other' which unites them.

In this paper we briefly describe how we have conducted this research, identify a common feature of the women's spirituality and introduce the notion of the women interacting with their faith tradition as active agents, sometimes reconfiguring it, creating spaces where identity is fluid and individually negotiated. At the same time, in prioritising the interconnectedness of all, the interviewed women articulate a civic position in which, there is onus on all to engage with issues of social justice.

Methodology

This paper presents some initial data from a scoping study, which explored whether women within faith organisations are offering a resistance through their spirituality to dominant discourses of economic rationalism. The women interviewed were chosen because of their presence in a specific context; all were involved in some form of organised religious observance, such as church, synagogue, temple or Buddhist group, that was of their faith tradition. The material presented in this paper is from five interviews; those of women from Christian (Protestant and Catholic), Jewish (Reform) and Buddhist organisations. A qualitative methodology was employed, and an in depth semi- structured interview, lasting one to two hours, was conducted with each of the women. Interviews included topics such as the women's views of how their faith tradition affects their lives; their understandings of social justice within their faith tradition and ways this may or not be reflected in their own views of social justice; their opportunities to contribute or act in socially just ways; what the women see as their motivations for this engagement and barriers they identify to their social justice engagement. Interviews were taped. The women were selected through the 'snowball sampling technique' (Kvale 1996; Alvesson & Skoldberg 2000). All the women were given a pseudonym. A qualitative methodology enables the women's voices to be placed at the centre of analysis, an appropriate approach when exploring the beliefs and practices of women in relation to their faith organisations, as many such organisations have traditionally marginalised women's voices (Kohn 2003).

This small project was part of a larger one approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Ethics Committee. This is exploratory work and no claims are made as to the representativeness of this sample. The current tentative discussion flows from interviews with a small number of women who do not claim to be representative of either their faith tradition or of the women with whom they share their faith.

Critical spirituality

Although the interviewed women come from diverse faith traditions, all had developed what could be termed a 'spiritual autonomy' in relation to their spiritual life and their religious institution. All the women, for example, speak of the significance of being able to question and be self directing.

Lilly, for instance, self describing as a 'liberal protestant', explains that she places a high value on understanding intellectually what she believes in. She recalls that her mother's influence emphasised intellectual integrity and 'the here and now'. She taught Lilly to value her faith tradition but 'not to rely on the received language of the church in an unquestioning way'.

'We need to be able to question' comments Julia, who identifies as an 'evangelical Christian'.

'My church would say to evangelise, I think this is important but think it is more important to show care to those in need. I get frustrated with bible study because I can't see always how it makes a difference'. I know I appear 'heretical' but in our home study group I want to discuss questions we all face'

Struggles for 'autonomy', writes Gross, imply the right to reject conformity to expectations, and given standards and create new ones (1992:358). Autonomy, moreover, she argues, implies the right to see one's self in whatever terms one chooses ... which may mean an integration and alliance with other groups and individuals or it may not (Gross 1992:357).

The women were able to take what their tradition offered and re-configure it in ways which facilitated their practice of 'autonomy'. This included, as noted in the comments below, subjecting it to political critique.

'If you follow the Buddhist precepts this can lead you to social action, but I don't see it as explicit. My politics means my faith tradition can be critiqued. However, Buddhism can accommodate socialism and it is the 'spiritual aspect' of my social justice position' (Brigitte, a Buddhist).

'I believe in anti-materialism and the importance of living simply. I have no interest in a Vatican tradition of Catholicism which demonstrates wealth and hierarchy and I don't follow any Vatican rules if they don't seem spiritual'. (Kate, self described critical Catholic).

Autonomy, explains Gross, also conveys the right to accept or reject expectations and given standards according to their appropriateness to one's self definition (Gross 1992:358). This was strongly affirmed in the women's spirituality.

Lilly's (Protestant) belief in the centrality of the 'ethic of love' to her spirituality and as a yardstick which defines the choices she makes, accorded with the views of others interviewed. Lilly comments:

'My aim is to live out the ethic of love in everything. Ask what the loving thing to do is. The principle of love is the guiding one'.

Anna's spirituality, she says, challenges her, 'to keep grappling with what it means to love'. For Anna (who describes herself as a radical Protestant) this has been costly; she has at times, for example, been physically threatened and attacked by right wing racist groups, after publicly speaking out against racism.

Carol Lee Flinders writes of love as 'attentiveness'. "It (attentive love) implies and rewards a faith that love will not be destroyed by knowledge ..." (1993:8) "Attentive love does not give place to self serving fantasy; it stays focussed on realities" observes Sara Ruddick in her book 'Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of Peace' (1989: 119). Anna, in particular, draws attention to the significance, for her spiritual practices, to the attentive aspect of love:

'My faith tradition gives me permission to sit with the loving energy at the heart of the universe which calls me onto a vivid life which engages with others ... sitting with the silence, we find who we are and what we have to do' (Anna).

All the women irrespective of their faith traditions, regarded their connection with God or 'the ground of their being' however that is understood (Canda & Furman 1999: 9), as the key to a sense of interconnectedness with others. This is not to naively gloss over differences in the beliefs of their faith traditions around universal connectedness, however, the interconnectedness of all beings was a uniting theme. Indeed, in speaking of understandings of 'interconnectedness' in Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama observes 'Buddhism does not accept ... God as an almighty or as a creator ... but at the same time, if God means truth or ultimate reality, there is a point of similarity to shunyata, or emptiness'. Shunyata, for Tibetans, is also the interrelatedness and interdependence of all living things and beings (Kamenetz 1995: 85).

Spaces for connection with the 'ground of one's being', however that was understood, was given a priority in the women's busy lives. The metaphor of the 'Forest of Arden', or 'Island time' has considerable resonance for the women interviewed (Flinders 1998:180).

Into the forest of Arden ... out of the forest of Arden

The Forest of Arden, in Shakespeare's play As You Like It (Act II Sc i.), is, for its visitors, a place of strengthening and a haven of revitalization.

However, at the same time, it is a transforming medium for its visitors; a 'space' where identities shift, dissolve, and get re-formed or re-constructed. Rosalind, Celia and Phoebe, characters in 'As You Like It', flee to the Forest of Arden where they take risks around identity; and form multiple identifications.

Each of the interviewed women's 'Forest of Arden' was different; for some it was a literal space of retreat. Julia (evangelical Protestant) spoke of: 'watching the birds, sitting in a park and watching trees and grass; it is renewing for me and I am re-connected to the world, through the trees and garden, birds'.

Sometimes the' forest' was provided by community ritual; as Rachel (who identifies as Jewish reflects:

'The religious events in Judaism provide moments of space and silence where you step back and reflect'

and Kate (Catholic):

'The contemplative tradition, the sacraments especially involving self reflection and a dialogue with God throughout one's life journey, this encourages not 'opting out' but staying with what might be uncomfortable'.

For Lilly (liberal Protestant), one time in a senior position with an international human rights advocacy group the gifts of optimism and hope for social change, important in a social change worker' s tool kit, are renewed and nourished through engagement with

'all the rich things of our culture that provide 'spaces' in a busy life--especially music and poetry. I am able to be fully in, connect totally with and relish the moment ... God means 'now' and is love, we are on a pilgrimage, a journey. It is like the Quaker notion of the 'inner light', we also relate to God within. God is the ground of our being' (Lilly)

However, Lilly also indicates that this connection is not always a comfortable space or process as it means: 'Answering to the best in one's self, (which) is a way of answering to God, if you keep pushing the boundaries of that it grows'.

Shakespeare sagely points out that in the Forest of Arden there are often more challenges than sure 'answers' and we are challenged to respond:

 Peace, ho! I bar confusion;
 'Tis I must make conclusion
 Of these most strange events ...
 (As You Like It, Act V, scene iv, 119-138.)

This dialogue with one's tradition and with 'the ground of being', leads, for these women, to the transformation and transcendence of the self.

Paradoxically, rather than viewing 'fleeing into the forest' being an 'opting out', a number of the women said their 'spaces' enabled them to confront the uncomfortable, to 'stay' with the uncomfortable in themselves, and in their multiple communities including their faith communities. 'Forest space' facilitated attentiveness and a sense of interconnectedness with all; ultimately, all the women described an encounter with 'love'. As Kate (Catholic) recounts:

 On bush walks--I find if we still ourselves enough we can find
 the divine within ... my experience of the unity and oneness of
 creation gives rise to what Christian writer Matthew Fox has
 called a 'spirituality named compassion'. This entails a focus
 on the inherent goodness (and Godliness) of creation, and of all
 living things. An acceptance of this engenders an approach to
 living illuminated by connectedness and compassion.

For the women identity is not only a narrative of being but a narrative of becoming. 'Forest space' is a catalyst around identity and, indeed, multiple identifications. Canda and Furman describe how spiritual perspectives and compassionate love are in dynamic relationship, and through this, identity can transform and multiple identifications form. There are 'many ways in which spiritual perspectives can contribute to ... genuine compassion ... (which) means we meet the 'other' to the point where there is no other ... it's an encounter with diversity' (1999:115)

The women's social justice work and concerns actively demonstrate engagement with 'the 'stranger' or 'other' to the point where there is no 'other'. Like Rosalind and Celia in the Forest of Arden (Shakespeare: 80 Act 111,scene ii) the women assumed 'multiple identifications' and thus they could discern and attend to a common humanity.

The women's 'communities of identification' were broad and encompassed minority groups such as indigenous Australians and refugees; those often marginalised or seen as 'the other' by the dominant society. Brigitte (Buddhist), for example, brings to her Buddhist practice a social justice perspective which leads her to organise events in her non sectarian Buddhist organisation, to which all in the wider community are invited. She has developed activities and seminars to address issues such as raising awareness of the plight of asylum seekers; ageing and spirituality, which she believes is an area overlooked in the broader community; and also organised a series workshops on indigenous issues which indigenous Australians were centrally involved in running.

Similarly, with guidance from Indigenous Australians, Rachel's Havorah group has re-written its Haggadah story for Passover, to reflect the 'exodus' experience of Indigenous Australians. Rachel (Jewish) previously comments:

 most important is valuing those seen as 'other' for who they are
 and welcoming them and accepting them into your home, social group,
 local community and country without trying to change them

Writing of Quaker visionaries, Orlie noted, that they claimed 'to have transcended their identities and the visible social order'. She writes that with this they freely assumed multiple identifications and so sought to constitute alternative orders (1997:104). As a transforming medium, the 'Forest of Arden' or 'island time' as Carol Lee Flinders refers to it, loses its meaning if 'we stray there forever.... the insights gained are to be applied' (1998:180)

'The public/private is a social construction and one has to live both looking inwards and outward . If I feel outrage, the question has to be 'what do I do?' the answer is not only prayer and meditation' (Lilly)

According to Higgins, 'spirituality approaches the sense of transcendence in which the practitioner acquires a sense of his existence as part of a universal whole, a universal interconnectedness. Personal worldly welfare and survival move to the periphery. In this way, spirituality is tremendously subversive' (Higgins 2001: 5). Thus, spirituality can be positioned within a social justice framework (see also Moss 2005:13).

 My Jesus says: 'walk towards the things that stand between the world
 and justice and love'. This is not about being self indulgently
 romantic--there is no opting out--change has to happen'
 (Anna, Protestant)

The insights of the 'forest' are to be applied in 'real time' (Flinders 1998:180). For the women interviewed their faith provided them with the space and imperative to working towards socially just outcomes. The women made very clear links between their spiritual lives and the social world in which they were situated.

Social justice and spirituality

The answer provided by the rhetoric of liberal individualism and related ideology of economic rationalism, on what to do in troubled times is 'competition' i.e. as Edwards points out, the answer is that we need 'to struggle against one another, outdo one another' (2002:91).

Adam Smith, whose work is seminal to Liberal Individualism and the free market, argued:

 our greatest interest in ourselves first, our nearest and dearest
 afterwards, and strangers little at all, is not only unavoidable,
 but 'natural' (1976:48).

The women's practice of trust in, and connectedness with those constructed by the dominant society as the 'other' or the 'stranger', means these women's 'answer' of what to practice in 'troubled times' is oppositional to and challenges the rhetoric of the dominant political institutions of our time.

In the women's practice of welcome and acceptance for the 'other' or 'stranger', in their social justice work, there is an underpinning assumption that the 'stranger' can be trusted: these women's 'multiple identifications' allow them to transcend processes of 'othering'.

Lilly's beliefs demonstrate this when she comments that: 'Engagement can't be just with nearest and dearest but has to be with wider society' and therefore rebuts and stands in sharp contrast to the comments above of Adam Smith, the 'founding father' of the free market.

Kate (Catholic) moreoever, argues that 'disconnecting ones' self from the other can lead to oppression'. She further observes:

 Being a 'doer of the word' for Christians can mean taking on
 struggle, and finding strength in connection with the
 other--providing a drive and ambition for working for a new,
 non-violent world that is different from the ego-focused ambition
 that drives modern Western dominant society.

These women's social justice practices are 'communal'. They endorse Arendt's view that action for social justice is collaborative not sovereign (Arendt 1958:222-223). For example, for Lilly, a social welfare work educator, students are an important part of her community and she encourages them to examine issues critically, to engage with the world, and to think in socially just ways. Lilly comments on the tiredness she feels that is coming with ageing, her sometimes dis-organisation when the time could be used more valuably: 'When you are unable to be all you wish to be that's alright too'. Her trust in others, including future generations, to continue to work for social justice was a trust shared by other women, like Anna, who states:

 I, Anna, can't take on the world and so I focus on a few things I
 care most about and try to do them well. I leave the rest to
 history, other people and my God. My faith puts me in appropriate
 perspective--I am not God.

Anna holds out a vision of a 'just community', a view endorsed by all the women interviewed:

 I am invited to dare to be human, to be true, rather than
 righteous and to share a humble journey and be safe in that.
 Living my 'true life' is deeply interconnected with the capacity
 of others to live in justice and true community. (Anna)

The women interviewed, in the small study reported here, articulate beliefs that are universally relevant but grounded in local social justice practice. They interacted with their faith tradition, sometimes reconfiguring it, to create spaces and vocabularies to give their social justice activity legitimacy (i.e. they are active agents). Their primary emphasis on a shared humanity and the interconnectedness of all, leads them to articulate a conception of civil society in which advocacy and practices of social justice are a communal responsibility.

Conclusion

In an increasingly threatened global environment and with a shrinking global future, women and women's spirituality are crucial to imaging an alternative, new global citizenship that resists trends of male domination and individualism. Their multiple identifications mean they seek to constitute alternative orders to those based on mistrust of the 'other' and the competitive ethos which is fostered under liberal individualism and economic rationalist rhetoric and practices. The social justice work of these women, within their communities, therefore, is able to challenge the policies and practices of established elites. This issue is taken up in the larger project which will explore women's spirituality in other faith traditions such as Hindu, Islam and Taoism.

The kind of spiritual perspectives and practices that women, such as those participating in this study, offer, open out possibilities for our society beyond short term concerns with profit and self interest, or as Brady describes 'money making, money having and money spending' (Brady 2006:4 forthcoming), and may be essential for our survival as a civil and humane society.

Unlike the women of Babylon who lay down their harps upon the willows and wept by the waters of Babylon, these are women who may weep but have not and will not lay down their harps upon the willows (Holy Bible 665 Psalm 137).

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* Fran Gale, Research Fellow, Social Justice Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney. Email: fw.gale@uws.edu.au

* Natalie Bolzan, Associate Professor , Social Work, School of Applied Social and Human Sciences, University of Western Sydney. Email: n.bolzan@uws.edu.au