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David
Lemus believes that 'divine unity' is the key to direct action
At
23, David Lemus says he's "still figuring it all out." That's a modest
statement for someone who's learned so much about himself, and about
life, in so little time.
David lives with his mom, his uncle and his little brother in a beautiful
house on a hill in San Francisco. We sit in the backyard and he tells
me about losing his dad to stomach cancer when he was 17.
"The fact that he died made me realize I would die," he says. "I started
to explore what that meant. Why was there so much pain and suffering
in the world?"
David's questions led to a spiritual journey that continues to this
day. In his teens, he discovered Christianity and the realm of the divine
as his world unraveled at home and at school. It was a revelation, and
it came on strong.
"What I had was a psycho-spiritual crisis where I lost my personality
to my true self. I let go of my social mask in order to be an authentic
person," says David. "I was stigmatized by my social circle, and by
the behavior I exhibited. I was very agitated." He was institutionalized
for two weeks at his consent, fed psychotropic drugs, and misdiagnosed
as bipolar.
After graduating, David took a break before going to college and spent
a few years volunteering with places like the National Aids Memorial
Grove, where he tended plants and trees www.aidsmemorial.org;
doing Biodiversity Center reference services at the California
Academy of Sciences; spending time with patients at the local Laguna
Honda hospital and helping out at the Stern
Grove music festival.
He's also a Black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and competed in the 1998 US Junior
Olympics.
David
took time to read and think deeply about the state of the planet. His
work with environmental advocacy groups like Clean
Water Action and Forests
Forever led to new beliefs about activism in general.
"I would help raise money to fight a person or a system, when I was
no different from the person I was fighting," says David. "The real
problem we face isn't ecological, political, military or economic. These
are symptoms of the real problem . . . Before you can work to make a
difference, you have to take a look at the wrongs that you have committed
against each other and against yourself. I might point a finger at society,
but what kind of person am I?"
Until that question is answered, David thinks that even the best intentions
will fall short of their goals. "A person says, 'I want to make the
world a better place,' but then they're mean to their sister. Or they
discriminate against someone, or they go from one abusive relationship
to another," he explains. "All the energy they put into helping the
environment will be destructive."
He believes in direct action, but not the kind most people think about.
"There's lots of countercultural movements that I think are misdirected,
because what they do is demonize corporations. The corporation is not
inherently bad. It's the people who go into the corporate model and
then exploit the corporate model. That's a major distinction that people
have yet to make.
"When you revolt against something, you contribute negative energy to
it, and it just goes underground and resurfaces in the new world order.
The way to stop the cycle of revolution and counter-revolution is to
become the system. Like youth groups who are active in the political
process."
David envisions "community-level direct action—where I go to the
park and I help tend the gardens there, or I go to church and connect
with my community there. If that were to happen everywhere, it would
just be a matter of connecting those communities."
David has been connecting with students from international communities
in his work with the International Education Exchange Council and the
Student Government at San Francisco State University, where he's studying
History. He'll be off to Wales for a year abroad at Swansea University
in September 2003.
I ask him about two of his tattoos. One, on the underside of his wrist,
is the Hebrew word for "David." Another large one, peeking out from
the collar of his shirt, is the Aum Charya, a swirling ancient Vedic
symbol from India that symbolizes "divine unity."
"Divine unity" says it all, as far as he's concerned.
"If people were to connect with each other on a spiritual level, there'd
be no possibility for failure," says David. "If true spiritual awakening
were to happen on a national level, I think direct action would not
be necessary. The issue is communication."
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