Meet an innoFaither is our series to introduce the inspiring optimists in the innoFaith world and what they’re working on and thinking about. We hope it helps you find and engage with each other across the network to advance faith-rooted social innovation and interfaith collaboration for social impact. Or just meet some cool people.
Meet Vipin Thekk, Senior Director at Ashoka and amazingly curious, spiritual, reflective, and energetic human. From Krishna to Integral Theory to evolution to the Bodhisattva vow, buckle up for this one, folks. We can always count on Vipin to take us on a stimulating ride through head, heart, and spirit.
What faith(s), if any, do you practice? Is your faith or practice bringing special inspiration or insight for you in this current moment of pandemic and racial justice reckoning?
I was born into a Hindu family in India, and most of my religious memories from childhood are of temple visits. My dad was a devotee of Lord Krishna, so there were a lot of Krishna temple visits in my childhood. Then I went through a teenage stage where I resisted all these rituals that didn't make much sense to me. Very few people actually explained why we were doing these things, and whenever I asked, the answer was either "stop asking stupid questions" or "just do what I say." That triggered my rebellious streak. Now my faith is more of an orientation around spirituality and a belief system that all life is precious.
In looking back, I can see that Hindu philosophy has had a deep impact on me. For instance, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that life is a "Leela," it's a cosmic play. It means don’t take life so seriously, don't take yourself so seriously because there is so much more going on than just the surface level of what you see. Second, there is this question, why do Hindus have three hundred fifty thousand gods? It's not that we have three hundred fifty thousand gods, rather it's a philosophy that anything that has life in it is worth your respect. That has profoundly informed and influenced my way of being in the world - that life, whether in the form of a tree or a dog or a human being or anything with life in it, is sacred. All of this has influenced the spiritual qualities of my being, even though I don't identify as a Hindu now.
I do have daily spiritual practices. One is a meditation practice I've had for over 10 years. I'm currently drawing from a meditation technique called Mahamudra, which is of Tibetan lineage. I'm also influenced by Ken Wilbur's work around Integral Theory. The core philosophy is about how you work out mind, body, spirit, and shadow all through day. So not just meditation (spirit), not just physical exercise (body), not just learning (mind), or just looking at your blindspots (shadow). Integral Theory is about how you bring awareness to all of those on a daily level, and I have practices for all of those dimensions of my life.
These practices have strengthened my capacity to slow down, be mindful, present, and fully here in this moment. Especially in the current context of unimaginable chaos and cruelty which is happening in the world, it helps me to not completely lose myself in response to what is happening, to have a balance between taking care of the world and taking care of myself.
Where do you live?
I live in Alexandria, VA, with my partner and our new cat, Pepper, who is very opinionated.
What's your favorite pastime?
I love getting to geek out on adult development, designing experiences for people to experience the Sacred, and the whole Integral Theory world - just learning, understanding, growing. Sometimes Netflix. And trying to get Pepper to like me, which has been a futile exercise.
What are you working on currently?
At Ashoka, I’ve been building out a body of work around Parenting Changemakers – to support parents to enable their children to be changemakers. Additionally, we're exploring working with faith institutions to re-imagine faith in the 21st century, regarding how you unlock the inherent potential of religion to create an everyone a changemaker world. One way we think about changemaking is faith in action, people connecting their faith to be in service of what is happening in their families, communities, and societies. And the last part is that we are weaving together impactful partnerships with large institutions in education to break down their silos of work and think about education as a whole, rather than just through the lens of teacher preparation or teacher unions or government, etc. It's about bringing together influential people around impactful partnerships to support the next generation of changemakers for our country and our communities.
What question are you thinking about these days?
The question I'm most fascinated by is the question of human evolution. We came from chimpanzees. What are we evolving into? The process of life evolving to more and more complexity has led us to this moment. Now what's coming next? I find fascinating the belief that the next evolution of humans is the evolution of human consciousness. A lot of what's happening in the world - with the Black Lives Matter movement, Me Too movement, etc - is a reflection of consciousness waking up to itself, to ‘transcend and integrate’ previous levels of consciousness. What does it look like to be in service of that evolutionary energy of life unfolding itself? What's next in that evolutionary curve and how does it inform solutions to some of the social challenges today? Einstein said problems cannot be solved from the same level of consciousness that created them. So what does it look like to address some of the complex challenges we have from a new consciousness, from a new mindset?
We have a linear model of thinking about solutions in the non-profit world - let's fix racism and then let's move to the environment and then healthcare. I don't think we have the luxury of that linear model anymore. What is it that can not only transform mindsets but also encourage people to take action in the world for the well-being of everyone. It makes me think of the Bodhisattva vow in Buddhism, where Bodhisattvas, having experienced enlightenment, come back to help everyone achieve enlightenment. What is the equivalent of the Bodhisattva vow that can inspire people to see all life with reverence and see themselves as change agents toward that?
How can people find you?