Esteemed Reader of Our Magazine:

Regardless of where we stand on "the issues"; whether we support the war(s); whether we are pro-labor or pro-business; whether we care about the environment or think education and social programs are important—we must agree that the situation is desperate.

So what can we do about it?

The modes of activism are many. If we subscribe to the political system, we vote in the elections, write letters to congresspeople, send money, attend demonstrations. We may contribute to environmental organizations and do our part to recycle and take steps toward sustainability. We may make efforts to disseminate alternative viewpoints.

These are all more or less valid steps toward change. But there is one mode upon which the success of all these others depend.

Inner activism.

Looking within we see that just as the world is in conflict, so are we conflicted. Just as the world is squandering its resources, we also are wasting our energy. The same impetus that brings a government to wage social, economic, or military violence against another nation or its own population is present in us.

We are microcosms, "small worlds," that comprise the larger body of our society, and so it follows that effecting peace and truth in the larger world necessitates bringing peace and truth into our own persons

To be clear, I am not referring to self-improvement or changes in behavior. True self-knowledge comes from self-observation in the moment.

The fruit of this effort is not data—it's insight.

To know ourselves is to behold the conflicting impulses; to apprehend monkey mind, the fidgeting body, and the self-involved emotions. Like the child that requires only a sharp look from an adult to heed her knowledge, our parts are affected by being seen.

To be the Witness is to make peace—first within our own body, heart, and mind, and then in the world. Truly this work on ourselves is the ultimate activism.

—Jason Stern