![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/257\/2014\/06\/plant_growing_through_concrete-300x199.jpg\" "\\"plant_growing_through_concrete\\"")
<\/a>In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly.<\/p>\nAs people became more engaged with the Centre, they would often come to me and ask why we weren\u2019t involved in certain initiatives within the community. Sometimes they wanted the Centre to get behind a march against war. Other times it might have been protesting a particular government bill.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the request, my answer was always the same: we are never against anything, we are only for something.<\/p>\n
This is a hard concept for some people to accept. I recall one person telling me: but isn\u2019t identifying what is wrong with the world a way of making sure that we change it?<\/p>\n
In my experience, identifying wrongdoing rarely leads to action. More often it leads to more of the same, which is really complaining except on a larger scale.<\/p>\n
What I see is the action that is channeled into making ourselves known, rather than being channeled into something productive.<\/p>\n
Recently a friend told me about a protest that has been going on outside a retail clothing store for the last five months in Vancouver, B.C.. About 10 people turn up every Friday night, sometimes on Saturday afternoons too, and for about two hours yell and wave signs about animal cruelty. What they\u2019re protesting is the sale of leather belts and coats with fur collars. The protest has resulted in irritated neighbours, regular interactions with the local police force, and disruption of a legal business.<\/p>\n
Animal cruelty is a terrible thing \u2013 and whether or not the store is engage in that I won\u2019t be the judge. But protesting outside one store once or twice a week is not taking action. It\u2019s illustrating ego \u2013 and result is the spread of more negativity.<\/p>\n
In other cities it might be commonplace for anti-abortion protesters to show up with placards outside a hospital. Here too, this is protest for the sake of display, rather than taking action. The protesters could make their point by advocating for improved support for young mothers, greater sex education or any number of other actions.<\/p>\n
What I see is that when people protest, they get caught up in the negative emotions and it spirals down from there. It isn\u2019t long before a victim-mentality takes hold, and there is no hope for anyone.<\/p>\n
In comparison, when we are \u201cfor\u201d something, we demonstrate positive action. We gain momentum, and we move the agenda forward.<\/p>\n
Every great social change has been on the side of the positive. Martin Luther King was \u201cfor\u201d the freedom of black people to live and work as equals. He worked to open doors, rather than close them. And more recently, those advocating for gay marriage where \u201cfor\u201d the equal rights of people from all sexual orientations.<\/p>\n
Sure, life isn\u2019t fair. But as long as we remain on the side of the complainers, we isolate ourselves from everyone and ultimately advocate for no one.<\/p>\n
Being \u201cfor\u201d something gives us a positive focus. It reframes our concerns into something that has the backing of hope. And when we have that, everything conspires to support us.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they would often come to me and ask why we weren\u2019t involved in certain initiatives within the community. Sometimes they wanted the Centre to get behind a march against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[6,125,129,48,61,24,26],"class_list":["post-748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-living-2","tag-centers-for-spiritual-living","tag-choosing","tag-integrity","tag-kenn-gordon","tag-peace","tag-science-of-mind","tag-spiritual-living"],"yoast_head":"\n
What are you for?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are you for?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Principles of Spiritual Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/files\/2014\/06\/plant_growing_through_concrete-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kenn Gordon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kenn Gordon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/\",\"name\":\"What are you for?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/720c26c309bea6c61701192a88b8340c\"},\"description\":\"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What are you for?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/\",\"name\":\"The Principles of Spiritual Living\",\"description\":\"Centers for Spiritual Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/720c26c309bea6c61701192a88b8340c\",\"name\":\"Kenn Gordon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c72fb44fa8d4015c9d19305edef3fc7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c72fb44fa8d4015c9d19305edef3fc7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kenn Gordon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/author\/kenngordon\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are you for?","description":"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are you for?","og_description":"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/","og_site_name":"The Principles of Spiritual Living","article_published_time":"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/files\/2014\/06\/plant_growing_through_concrete-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"Kenn Gordon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kenn Gordon","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/","name":"What are you for?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-05T17:05:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/720c26c309bea6c61701192a88b8340c"},"description":"In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly. As people became more engaged with the Centre, they","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/06\/what-are-you-for\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What are you for?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/","name":"The Principles of Spiritual Living","description":"Centers for Spiritual Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/720c26c309bea6c61701192a88b8340c","name":"Kenn Gordon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c72fb44fa8d4015c9d19305edef3fc7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c72fb44fa8d4015c9d19305edef3fc7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Kenn Gordon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/author\/kenngordon\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/257\/2014\/06\/plant_growing_through_concrete.jpg\" "\\"plant_growing_through_concrete\\"")
<\/a>In the days when I was building my Centre I noticed there was something that occurred quite regularly.<\/p>\n