In Buddhist philosophy, the “three poisons”—that is, the
three underlying causes of all the distress and suffering in the world—are identified
as Ignorance, Greed, and Hatred. These are common tendencies within all of us—though
with practice, these tendencies can be brought to our awareness, seen for what
they are, and let go, leaving space for our innate capacities for benevolence,
compassion, joy, and equanimity to flourish.
Ignorance is the root of our problem—but ignorance of what? Above
all, it is ignorance of the plain, readily observable fact that, in the words
of Martin Luther King, Jr., “we are caught in an inescapable network of
mutuality… [where] whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” In
simpler terms, whatever goes around, comes around—especially on a finite
planet! And this goes not only for our
use of resources, but for our concern—or lack thereof—for others.
Greed arises from ignorance—it is simply the toxic belief
that we ourselves are more important than others, that more is always better,
that there is no such thing as “enough.” Unfortunately, this toxic ideology is embedded in our economic system, for
money is nothing but an arithmetical transform of information about the
relative value of commodities—of things that can be separated from their matrix in
order to be bought and sold. And the money system operates according to only
two basic rules: (1) more is always better; (2) what is mine is not yours. On an infinite planet, an unregulated
free-market economy would work exactly as those on the right claim that it does—fostering
innovation and creativity, rewarding the most talented, and causing a rising
tide of affluence that lifts all boats. But on a finite planet like the one we
inhabit, where “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly,” the
money game behaves exactly like a monopoly game—wealth and power are
concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, until finally one player has
everything and the rest—nothing.
When Greed and Ignorance combine, they create Denial—which is
willful ignorance, a refusal to acknowledge facts that threaten one’s self-serving ideology. Denial takes many forms, such as racism—the belief
that one “race” is superior to, and therefore entitled to rule over, enslave, exploit,
or oppress another “race.” Another form
of rampant denial today is refusal to accept overwhelming scientific evidence
that threatens your interests, such as the reality of climate change, or the simple
fact, validated by every law of physics and confirmed by irrefutable evidence, that on September 11, 2001, the sudden and catastrophic collapse of
the Twin Towers and Building 7 had to be caused by controlled demolition
charges planted in advance, not by terrorists hijacking airliners.
The other spawn of ignorance, greed, and denial, of course,
is hatred, especially of those who hold the mirror up to our ignorance and
greed—like black people who refuse to play the subordinate role to which they
are assigned, environmentalists who reveal the horrific biological consequences
of my greed, or “lib’ruls” who would
take my money away to provide food,
health care, and education for the poor and destitute, or even “terrorist
sympathizers” who question the ongoing policy of invading and brutalizing the
Muslim world (and therefore are unpatriotic because they don’t “support our
troops”), or who realize that the official story of 9/11 is arrant,
unscientific nonsense.
Today’s Republican Party, with the aid of their corporate-funded propaganda
machines, Fox News and Clear Channel Radio, has therefore adopted Greed,
Ignorance, Hatred, and Denial as their party platform, and is busily sowing these
poisons into the minds of ignorant, resentful white people everywhere, spawning
the insurgent, neofascist “Tea Party” movement that has hijacked democracy
itself in order to enforce its will on the rest of us.
So what can be done about this appalling situation? First—and
whenever necessary--breathe, observe, let go, and abide. As equanimity is restored, remember that our nation and world order, just
like our bodies, are impermanent, and are of the nature to get sick, grow old,
and perish—that we will lose everything we cherish sooner or later, including
our democracy, our freedoms, our security, the topsoil that grows food we eat,
the water we drink, the biodiversity that sustains us, our families and
friends, the beauty that surrounds us—all
are impermanent.
By embracing impermanence fearlessly, we embrace and
transform our despair and rage, regaining the equanimity, hence the courage, to
practice Satyagraha—the discipline practiced by all the great Gaian Bodhisattvas
of our past century—Gandhi, King, Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Aung
San Soo Kyi, Wangari Maathai, Vandana
Shiva, and many, many others. Satyagraha
begins, as Gandhi said, with renouncing the fruits of action—doing what needs
to be done, without worrying about success or failure; that is, letting go of
the illusory future and focusing on the present moment, which is all that ever
exists. Satyagraha consists of three strands of discipline:
1.
Swaraj,
or self-rule. This means beginning with ourselves, casting off the ignorance,
greed, and hatred in ourselves, and cultivating the health, competence, and
resilience of ourselves, our communities, and our planet, through
relocalization—growing gardens, growing communities, and progressively
withdrawing our money from Glomart (the corporate
order that thrives by promoting Greed and Ignorance) and re-investing it in
Gaia (a healthy garden, healthy local economy, and healthy planet).
2.
Satya,
or truthfulness. This means the ability to speak truth to power, and do so mindfully,
strategically, and relentlessly—calmly and skillfully, without hatred or
resentment. This is easier said than done, but when done, it can be immensely
effective. It demands a high level of self-discipline, which means constant
practice, honestly investigating our own motives before we say anything. All of
the great Bodhisattvas have cultivated the patience to master this difficult
art of speaking truth to power until power could no longer resist the truth
they spoke.
3.
Ahimsa,
or resolute nonviolence. This is the
difficult art of resistance without hatred or attachment. Contrary to the
opinions of many, nonviolence is not simply a tactic to be abandoned for guns,
knives, or rocks when it no longer works.
Rather, it is the foundation for effectively subverting the three
poisons—Greed, Ignorance, and Hatred—both in ourselves and others. In political terms, nonviolent direct action
campaigns are always a last resort, after all efforts at negotiation have
failed. And their purpose is to create
pressure on those in power so they have no choice but to negotiate. Any other
purpose is futile and self-indulgent. To be successful, a nonviolent direct
action campaign involves four distinct steps, outlined by Martin Luther King,
Jr.: Investigation, Negotiation, Self-Purification, and Direct Action.
Investigation establishes both the existence and the nature of the harm being
done; Negotiation is the good-faith effort to persuade those in power that it
is in their self-interest to right the wrongs that have been revealed by
investigation. Only when negotiation
fails do the latter two steps become necessary. Self-purification, through
meditation or collective spiritual practice, is an essential prerequisite to
leading an effective nonviolent direct action campaign. Without it, rage and
frustration can quickly set in, leading to hatred and self-defeating acts of
violence or sabotage. And Direct Action
should violate laws only when absolutely necessary, for there are many forms of
direct action, such as sit-ins and boycotts, that do not violate any law, but
still apply the needed pressure for negotiation.
But above all, Satyagraha
direct action campaigns must be
disciplined and strategically intelligent in order to be effective, and they
must be conducted mindfully, strategically, and relentlessly. However, most of us are
not called to such courageous activism, nor do many of us have the courage to speak
truth to power—for power can and will bite back when threatened. Nevertheless, the rest of us can do our part by
practicing Swaraj or self-reliance through three simple practices:
·
Good Buy—assuming responsibility for the social and
ecological consequences of the money we spend. Seeing money for what it is—a
transform of information about the value of commodities—of information about
what we actually value. With this knowledge, we start to see the dollars we spend
as a vote, and we start “voting”—every day--for locally produced, sustainably
grown food, local enterprises that recycle our money into the community in
order to create jobs for our friends and neighbors, and sustainably produced,
fair-trade merchandise—whenever possible. Remember that a dollar invested in
Gaia is a dollar denied to Glomart; that
every time you spend money in a socially and ecologically responsible way, you
make it easier and more cost-effective for everyone else to do likewise.
·
Good Work—assuming
responsibility for the social and ecological consequences of the money we earn
and the work we do. This is the
next step—it is what the Buddhists call “right livelihood”—finding ways to earn
a living in ways that regenerate the health, competence, and resilience of our
community and the planet. The Benefit Corporation concept, for example, is an
excellent approach to this, but Good Work can be any livelihood that involves
learning, teaching, healing, or creating a better world. If the work you do
does not involve these, and if it merely enriches the super-rich while despoiling the planet, it is a form of slavery to Glomart—and you should
emancipate yourself from it as soon as possible, no matter how little or how much you are paid.
·
Good Will—assuming
responsibility for the social and ecological consequences of your attitudes
toward others—including those you resent or despise. In Buddhist theory, there are four adaptive
attitudes we can cultivate toward everyone, all the time: (1) Benevolence and
gratitude; (2) Compassion or caring awareness of suffering; (3) Sympathetic
joy, or quite simply, a good sense of humor; and (4) Equanimity, or the ability
not to let people or situations “get” to you.
You can practice these at any moment on the four parts of any breath,
using the following guided meditation:
o
Inhale (“Breathe”—with
benevolence toward all you see and gratitude toward all who have made your present living moment
possible);
o
Pause (“Observe”—with
compassion and understanding, realizing that all bad behavior originates in
inner suffering of some sort, so both perpetrators and victims need your
compassion and understanding);
o
Exhale (“Let
Go”—with joy and humor, “breathing out” good will toward all around you.)
o
Pause (“Abide”
in equanimity—the “peace that passeth all understanding.”)
You can also use these four adaptive attitudes as a
repertoire of behavior toward anyone you encounter:
1.
Your default mode is benevolence and gratitude—simply
smiling quietly and authentically—without any agenda--toward everyone you
encounter.
2.
If the person you see is obviously suffering, do
what you can to alleviate it with active compassion—initially, just by
listening and acknowledging their humanity, but then by seeing what you can do to help.
3.
If you see someone who is beautiful, happy,
overjoyed, or full of fun, smile again, this time participating in their joy
and validating it—again without any personal agenda (especially sexual—it is
important for men especially to keep a mindful oversight on their own
testosterone!).
4.
If someone gets in your face, snarls at you, or
otherwise offends you, maintain your dignity and go back to your breath
immediately, so you resist the temptation to lash out, and abide in equanimity
until you have let go of your hurt or anger, so you can resolve the issue peacefully, if necessary. Don't repress your anger or seethe in resentment; rather, observe it, acknowledge it, and let it go, one breath at a time.
None of these practices are easy—they all require continual
reinforcement and scrupulous honesty with ourselves, to prevent self-deception or
self-aggrandizement. But our larger agenda—triggering the Spontaneous Remission
of the Cancer of the Earth—makes it all worth it, no matter how long it takes.
