If you were a Whistleblower… what truth would you expose?

Last summer, I was a tad obsessed with Bernie Madoff and the deserved toppling of Titans, not to mention my *not* uncle Conrad. Well, the revolutionary inside me is still alive and well.

WikiLeaks. Whistleblowers everywhere. Wildly intriguing to me: people living full-out with positive intention based on their own inner compass. In the case of Whistleblowers, at great risk.

“It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

Julian Assange has my respect. In my view, he creates a critical tension between those that have power and those that don’t. Tension that I believe is essential to preserve institutional integrity.
 
As an astrologer, I ponder trends. For the next thirteen years we’re in what’s called a Pluto in Capricorn transit. Pluto is about death and re-birth. It loves ferreting out the dead wood and taking out the trash. Especially around the abuse of power. Capricorn is about the structure of government and business. In its highest form it’s the integrity-driven father to us all. I can’t and won’t predict. But with what’s going on right now, I have to say: the revolutionary in me is kinda charged.

“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.” – John Adams

I watched an incredible documentary this month called The Cove which won the Academy Award for Best documentary in 2009. Maybe you’ve seen it? You may also have received an email photo from the film that went viral last year: gut-wrenching stuff.

In The Cove, I was quite taken with 60-ish dolphin activist Ric O’Barry. He has these translucent eyes that convey deep emotion and conviction. He spent the first ten years of his career working for the sea-world industry (caught and trained the four dolphins that played ‘Flipper’) and the last 35 years working to undo the damage that industry has done. Each day, his beliefs guide him.

He was inspiring and magnetic to watch. I began to wonder: is there anything that I feel that strongly about? Would I? Could I? I don’t know, I’ve never been tested in the same way. I haven’t been called to be an activist. But I hope that up against a wall: I could.

“Action expresses priorities.” – Mohandas Gandhi

A humanitarian-minded friend who was re-shaping his career said once that he hoped that he would have the capacity in his heart to get down on the street and look into the eyes of a homeless man who needed his help. I understood what he meant.

It’s one thing to work in a windowed office, organize a fund drive and throw money at a charity. It’s another to work in the trenches, to feel what’s really going on. And to ensure that the money that’s given gets to the people who really need it – instead of getting stuck in a massive ball of red tape or used to pay the bonuses of windowed office people.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln

Now not everyone’s here to be Julian Assange, or even work on the streets with the homeless. If you have the heart of an activist, you likely already know that about yourself. The questions for the rest of us become:

What *do* I feel strongly about?
What am I sick of swallowing in silence?
What sacred cows are begging to be slayed in my company, my department, my family, my relationship?
Have I checked in lately with my inner compass of integrity?
How does it jive with my reality?

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein

Imagine if we all befriended our inner revolutionary. What small shifts could be made in each of our lives… to usher in a new collective experience for the planet? Like asking tough questions. Like acknowledging the elephant in the room. Like being accountable and demanding accountability, too.

How can we use that revolutionary inside us all to put gadzllions of small energetic shifts out there so that it’s harder for those scary power-abusing folks to thrive? Tiny shifts that will accumulate like a tsunami, increasing the probability that here on earth, an increase in Power most often Aligns with an increase Integrity and Compassion.

Crooked Titans, self-interested institutions and sick systems will at first  fight harder to survive and in the end will go the way of Pluto, collapsing and re-forming.

Quietly, we’ll remember that it all started inside our hearts: a collective song buoyed by our inner revolutionaries.

- Karen M. Black  BSc, MBA
Award-winning writer, karmic astrologer
Moondance: an addictive spin on life, love and the nature of reality
Toronto, Canada

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