What is the spiritual meaning of Occupy Wall Street?

Like many, I have been inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Now heading into its 5th week, the movement appears to be gaining momentum and may be the start of a movement that finally creates meaningful reform and change in this country. Increasing thousands of people have been gathering at Liberty Square, next to Wall Street and hundreds of sympathetic events have sprung up around the country. The mainstream media which at first ignored the protests is now covering them extensively, celebrities are joining in and politicians are noticing.

What is the meaning of these protests? Initially, the demonstrations started as a protest against the financial greed of Wall Street, the big banks and corporations but as they grew they began to draw lots of other issues under their umbrella. People are angry at the lack of jobs, the lack of health care, the costs of the wars and the increasing disparity of wealth in this country. They are concerned about the environment and they are tired of governments lack of leadership. Seeing the government increasingly in the hands of corporate America they are realizing that they themselves have to become the change so many voted for in 2008. 

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been criticized because of a lack of focus and because they seem to have too many issues. But there does seem to be a central theme. It made me start to wonder, what is the unifying issue behind the whole movement and does it have a spiritual meaning?

I researching online, reading articles and watching videos. I didn’t find much to answer my questions until I came upon this video about the Meditation Flash Mob that happened in New York a few days ago.

I found the video inspiring, showing people creating change by being deeply grounded in themselves. As one of the meditators said “We are bringing a grounded, peaceful energy. Meditation helps us to acquire a space within ourselves, a peace in our hearts, where we can have clarity and from this clarity we can share our visions and our intentions.”

But what inspired me most about this video and answered my question about the spiritual meaning of the protests was the simple wisdom given by one older lady. She said “a protest can be about many issues and all are the same… the people are starting to realize that we’re all connected.”

That nailed it for me. This is what it is all about. People are increasingly realizing that we are all connected, that we share this small planet and its resources and that we have a responsibility to each other. Their anger comes because the old system doesn't recognize this but instead promotes greed and accumulation of wealth. When profits are the only consideration, people suffer and the planet suffers. Behind people's anger and frustration is the desire to live in a world that recognizes and supports our connectedness. All issues point to this, whether it has to do with social justice, economic fairness, political accountability or environmental sustainability. 

You can see this in the protests, in the signs and banners of so many, in the inspiration of young people and the growing amount of support for the protests around the country and the world. It is so encouraging to see the Occupy Wall Street movement building strength. I support the protests and hope they help lead us to the free, just and sustainable world that we all desire, at least the 99% of us. 

This is what I see. What do you see as the spiritual meaning of these protests?