Fierce Light: What happens when Spirit meets Action?

What do the American civil rights movement, an exiled monk's return visit to Vietnam, and a community of people trying to save an urban farm in L.A. have in common? According to Canadian documentary film-maker Velcrow Ripper, they are all examples of what he calls spiritual activism, and they are just a few of the inspiring stories featured in his latest film, Fierce Light. (See trailer here.)

"Spiritual activism," Ripper explains in a recent phone interview from his Toronto home, "comes from the heart. It's beyond polarity. It's coming from a place of compassion, of hope. It's based on what we are for, rather than what we are against. It's what Ghandi called soul force, and what Martin Luther King called love in action."

He says, "I wanted to find that hope in the world, to interview the people that were doing that work -- activism with a spiritual basis, a sense of interconnectedness."

Fierce Light includes interviews with former civil rights movement leader John Lewis, exiled Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn, Dalit lawyer/activist Leela Kumari, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, eco-philosopher and Buddhism scholar Joanna Macy, and actor/eco-activist Daryl Hannah, among others.

From Review: Fierce Light - Spiritual Activism on film -  Reality Sandwich

Fierce Light is now available on DVD and online: http://www.fiercelight.org/