22 September
Every moment is a miracle, a blessing, a little taste of love. It may not feel like this is true, so that’s where the juicy work abounds.
What is our path forward? Let’s start with remembering skills we use for difficult conversations. I remember from when I was young: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Turns out that’s incorrect, as noted here:
And…
But what do these two memes have in common? They point to children, at ages when their worldview is still being formed. Once we are older, once we are adults, we might be grounded in the truth of our spirit, our being-ness, in which case what others might think about us or say to us is not our problem. Or we might be stuck in a pre-formed Hell of experience, unable to see how to change and become grounded in reality, and experiencing a worldview where what others think and say about us seems to matter a lot. The drift towards ‘hate speech’ as a reason to censor is classic divide-and-conquer. Calling anything hate speech justifies violence, supposedly ‘in self-defense’. How might we foster our amazing innate human ability to cooperate? How can we depolarize the hard conversations and regain tools that help us share and care?
We can create a container large and flexible enough to hold more than a few perspectives without having to agree with any one in particular; without false agreement, chaos, meaningless chatter, or anger. Sameness feels safe; difference feels dangerous. It is useful to ask “why”? Am I my mask, or am I authentic? A mask, used to present an image to the world that is what we hope to be, not what we are; is a survival mechanism. If our words are the words of the mask we are avoiding what needs to be said. Instead of hiding, may I speak from behind my mask, to you behind yours? This hinders stereotyping. I am complex, dynamic, and often contradictory to the extent I am reacting instead of knowing my true self. I remain, at least to some degree, a child able to express without shame or guilt…until others shut down “that kind of talk”. We have to untangle truth from the tactics that lead to lies. It is difficult because truth is a social construct within a dominant narrative much of the time. We tell stories of our experiences as a way to define “my truth”…but is that valid?
Change is tightly controlled. Only an encounter with the Sacred will let me step out of the cultural imperative, the dominant story of how things work. Sacred is raw, naked Truth, uncluttered by dogma, feelings, or rules. Sacred means explicitly no masks. Even ‘The Science™’ is a falsity; it is a make-believe worldview that fails to explain fundamental aspects of reality. That reality is not changed by the pronouns we prefer. It won’t be impacted by making all vehicles electric (a physical and mathematical impossibility, by the way). It won’t be affected once we accept that skin color is meaningless, or that money is also smoke and mirrors. These are all lies we have told the mainstream in an effort to…what exactly? Wouldn’t we have more fulfilling lives if we opened our hearts to reality?
We are not solid. We are waves, frequencies of sound and light, vast voids of inter-atomic space; all resting on an infinite plain of possibilities that can only be described with awe and wonder. Whatever we say ‘exists’ only exists from the point of view of an observer that observes it. If I don’t observe, nothing exists for me. Observation comes first, existence second. Consciousness first; observation second. Consciousness is what observes and makes visible, but consciousness itself is not a thing to observe. Consciousness is not inside looking out; it is everything. We don’t need a theory of creation, only a mechanism of awakening. That mechanism is inherent in the nothingness before observation manifests the Universe, before it creates any thing. Consciousness is not, itself, a thing. No Big Bang; just a waking up and looking around.
Coincidence: Buddhism in the media
This is an excerpt from a news report I saw this week. It presents a different take, but one that coincides nicely with what I had already written above, emphasis added.
“The term "mindful communication" sparked the most heated discussion. If I understood the forum's organizers correctly, they define "mindful communication" as an ethical approach to media reporting that prioritizes compassion, love, and respect for individuals as the key elements of journalism. In other words, it's about applying Buddhist principles to traditional journalism and blogging.
“Today, when many countries are involved in war and each nation answers the eternal questions "Who is to blame?" and "What should be done?" in its own way, Hindus and Buddhists offer an alternative path to resolving conflicts. The experts who gathered at the conference in New Delhi believe this approach can be embraced by everyone, not just Buddhists and Hindus. The principles of 'Dharma' and 'Dhamma' could significantly influence modern media practices, which currently focus more on sensationalism or manipulation than on individuals and their problems.
“In other words, the pursuit of sensational stories needs to retreat into the background. Of course, this is easier said than done. To do so, we need to fundamentally transform the entire media system, reevaluate its economic policies, and adjust its tools and engagement with public consciousness. It's a tall order. However, Buddhists are in no rush. India, which positions itself as a fitting platform for these changes, boasts great human resources, financial capabilities, and religious potential – and so, anything is possible.”
The Wild in me applauds, because substitute any other institution in America today: government, education, health care, military production, and so on…for the word media and the last paragraph remains true. The transformation we seek is comprehensive and demands we all participate. This is not about replacing the top 1% (measuring money and power derived from that money) with different people; this is about transforming everyone and seeing everything with new, wild eyes. Imagine what this life could be…we could be Wild