How do the Three Tenets inform your social engagement?
We have an open door that anyone is welcome to walk through, so there is always a sense of not knowing when someone struggling with homelessness and/or substance use disorder comes in or calls. Our Peers bear witness every day to their struggles, and have all been through similar things. Once our Peers know what issues need to be addressed, they take action by providing resources and support.
When we teach in law enforcement and corrections, we need to do so from a space of not knowing and bearing witness, because we have never been in their position. Law enforcement officers are present for everybody's worst day of their life. Corrections officers deal with the same things as LEOs, but behind the walls on a 24/7 basis. When they share the things they have to deal with, we need to respond with kindness, care and compassion. That is how we take action.
Our Eco_InSpire gatherings, which came out of One Earth Sangha's EcoSattva training, are based loosely on these tenets too: we bear witness to the ecological devastation humankind is wreaking on this planet, discuss it from a space of not knowing, and then take action locally in ways that are meaningful to us.