To regain perspective on life, we might take a break from our work and family, to reflect, and — if we're religious — pray. Usually we'll go somewhere quiet, away from people. That's because it's our continuous and often rushed and unsatisfactory contacts with others that invariably disconnect us from the core of our being.
But it's just possible that doing the opposite — becoming part of a crowd — can achieve the same end of making us whole human beings, and consequently more effective contributors to humanity.
That, in a way, is what those in the Occupy Wall Street movement are doing. As Jewish activist Jake Goodman says, 'all people who share a love of humanity should actually make the effort to disrupt the routine of their own lives and take the time to put their feet on the street'.
Fordham University theology professor Tom Beaudoin compares the protests to religious ritual, as if Occupy Wall Street is a large-scale spiritual retreat, albeit one that is loud rather than silent.
In other words, the practical outcome is arguably less important than the process of renewing the humanity of the participants. If Occupy Wall Street ends with the protestors appearing to have achieved nothing, it's quite likely they will have achieved a great deal.
There is a pretend 'Detailed List of Demands and Overview of Tactics' published on the Occupy Wall Street website. The demands are unrealistic, and even the document admits that their actual purpose is to create a 'crisis-packed situation' that will open the door to negotiation.
The 'crisis-packed situation' is an ingredient of what Beaudoin calls the ritual, and is intended to create the spirit and conditions for change, rather than try to force change. Beaudoin says:
'Whether or not this action is immediately politically effective, such protests can have long-term spiritual and political effects, when they embody visions of a possible future that influence the larger social imagination, and when they sculpt the desires of the protestors themselves for the better.'
In a traditional religious retreat, we make a temporary exit from our regular existence in order to put ourselves right with the world, for the good of ourselves and humanity. Goodman believes the protesters are doing much the same thing, 'philanthropising with their feet'.
Those who are not so wealthy 'engage in their own type of philanthropy, which they are doing with their feet on the street' rather than with large