Standing Together (in the rain)

It rained all day yesterday. The ‘Stand Up Against Hate’ rally was held inside city hall rather than on the front steps. Worcester Interfaith was the organizer and Melissa and I had signed on as supporters. A few clergy and a couple politicians stood in front of a small crowd and one TV camera. They all expressed deep concern about the current state of our nation and affirmed the importance of standing together. The Mayor of our fair city said: ‘It is a sad day when mayors across America have to stand up and reassure people they are safe.’

But isn’t this just an expression of the bubble we have been living in?

Many Americans have not lived lives of safety (and privilege). Both across the rust belt of grinding economic decline and in cities large and small, many American children have grown up in homes where instability, violence and abuse are woven into the fabric of their lives. Maybe it’s a good day when elected officials across the country stand up against hate and violence?

In the book HILLBILLY ELEGY, J.D. Vance recounts the story of his growing up in southern Ohio, in a family recently migrated from the hills of Kentucky. Now a graduate of Yale Law School, he reflects on the impact on repeated childhood trauma on his life and the lives of those around him. It’s a good read and a glimpse into a part of the America that received Trump’s message with enthusiasm and hope. A part of America that has been hidden from many of us.

The MC of the rally was a local minister who reminded us that showing up to a rally in the rain and signing on to support the declaration against hate* are not enough. In the weeks and months ahead, he said, we need to hold ourselves accountable.

But how do we hold ourselves accountable? And what are we accountable for? These are essential questions for every members of a democracy.

Most of us have been used to practicing democracy in a rather lax way. We may make sure to vote every couple years, but we have been too busy in our lives to do too much more. It seems clear that more is required of all of us now. What exactly that more might be is what we have to find out.

*STATEMENT 11/15/16 Worcester, MA   worcester.interfaith@verizon.net 

We stand in solidarity speaking directly to our neighbors, our co-workers, our sanitation workers, court advocates, store clerks and police officers. We stand in solidarity talking to all of the students and young people. We stand in solidarity speaking as mothers, fathers and parents, to the Refugee and Immigrant families who have fled pain-filled pasts to come to our city and also to those who count generations here; this city is YOUR HOME, it is OUR HOME. You are welcomed here, we are glad you are as a part of our community and grateful for the many contributions offered through your presence.  You are not only welcomed here you are appreciated & LOVED here! 

For years we have reprinted, emblazoned and trumpeted our City as the“Heart of the Commonwealth”. Today we are being challenged to make these words mean something. The events across our country and Commonwealth have challenged us to put our words into meaningful action.

As the heart of Massachusetts, Worcester must be a community committed to justice and ready to defend justice. We pledge today as community leaders, elected officials, community organizations and faith leaders to be voices that reject hate and racism.

We pledge to challenge and resist those attacking immigrants and refugees, our transgender GLBTQI brothers and sisters, Blacks, Latinos, and those who practice the Muslim faith. 

We pledge to rebuff those who seek to create discord and hate.

We pledge to denounce and challenge those who choose to demean and attack. 

We pledge to use our collective power to support and protect anyone who may be targeted because of who they are.

We know that many are fearful of the climate of animosity, racism, bitterness and hatred that has been stoked over the past few months.

We will not be part of going backwards. We seek working together to ensure that, as the Heart of the Commonwealth, the only BEAT you hear in Worcester is that of LOVE and not hate.

You’re Invited!  Come Help us Share in the HEARTBEAT of LOVE! Tuesday Nov. 15^th 6pm in front of City Hall. 

Day Seven: Bad News and Taking Action

I just saw an on-line petition* to ask the White House to demand that Trump disclose his personal finances and put his assets in a true blind trust BEFORE the electoral collage votes on December 19. Trump has bragged of his extensive international business operations that will certainly be impacted by his decisions as President. He has also said that he will be leaving his business interests in the hands of his children. Now these same children are part of the transition team that will be appointing the very people who will ostensibly be regulating their business activity over the next four years.

Reading the petition, I feel the rising of the now familiar fear and panic of the past week.

I have signed the petition and will also post it on my Facebook page. This evening (11/15/16) I will attend a community rally at City Hall in Worcester. I am glad to do something, but these actions feel so feeble in response to the daily bad news of Trump’s appointments. I am happy the RNC guy will be chief of staff, but deeply disturbed that a racist who has spent his career stoking the fires of otherness and hate will be a senior advisor in the White House.

I oscillate between catastrophic thinking and a more measured, even hopeful, response. Sometimes I have faith in the better traditions of our country and the founder’s intentional constraint of the chief executive’s powers. But then I see evidence of the forces of greed and disregard of common decency that Trump proudly embodies and I fear the worst. Are we just going through a time of difficulty or are we in danger of moving toward a totalitarian society?

Whatever is happening, it probably doesn’t do too much good to get lost in the place of fearful imagining. On the other hand, when we are fearful and discouraged, it doesn’t help to pretend we are some place else. So how do we find a middle way that acknowledges and respects whatever is arising in the moment, but doesn’t get carried away in the intensity of it all?

The truth is, we can’t really know what is emerging here because it has never happened before. We (always) live in unprecedented times. We can, however, be certain that our actions and our inactions will be a part of the reality we are moving into.

*Thanks to John Wark for forwarding me the petition – originated by aimee.wagstaff@andruswagstaff.com and available on-line at https://wh.gov/ie80r

Thanksgiving as Existential Encounter

http://www.theatreinboston.com/saint-joan/940/

A dear friend of mine has written to the host of his traditional Thanksgiving gathering to request that certain family members be disinvited because of their political persuasion. When I suggested the possibility of another approach, I was informed: ‘I’m not ready to forgive the people who took my country from me.’

It’s only day six and the shock, anger and pain are still strong for many of us. But Thanksgiving is coming up and this may mean intimate exposure to ‘those people’—the other half of the country who voted differently from us. What can we do?

Some useful perspectives on this question are offered in a Ted Talk* on the possibility of healing after the election with social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt. Listening to the talk helped me understand some of the natural human mechanisms underlying the wild polarization now manifesting in our country.

It turns out that humans have a natural tendency toward tribalism. Who knew?

Haidt offered a folk saying for the definition of tribalism: “Me against my brother. My brother and me against our cousins. Me and my cousins against the world.”  Growing up with a brother who was my best friend and occasional mortal enemy, this was a particularly vivid description. One of key factors in how we perceive our world is the size of the circle we draw around our ‘tribe.’

Trump supporters focused on the wisdom a smaller circle—our first duty is to take care of the people already here in America before we let others in. The Clinton supporters are proposing a larger circle—we are all human beings and the world is our tribe, we have a duty to those who didn’t happen to be born in this country.

Another researcher uses the image of a drawbridge. At any moment and on any issue, we can divide people into ‘drawbridge uppers’ and ‘drawbridge downers,’ depending on whether their inclination is to expand the tribe (in good times) or contract the tribe (in times of threat.) Before the election, when I thought my side would win, I was already preparing to let the drawbridge down and reach out to ‘those people’ who would be hurting. Now that I find myself on the side of the ones who are hurting, feeling betrayed and confused, I notice that my first tendency is to want to pull the drawbridge up.

Both the drawbridge uppers and the drawbridge downers are right.

Over this past week, I have found much comfort in being with people ‘like me’—people who voted for Clinton and are angry, sad and uncertain how to proceed. Being in the presence of ‘our tribe’ is one way to feel safe enough to go through the many feelings and thoughts that are here. In the presence of each other, we can begin to make sense of the shock and trauma of a world that we thought we knew that has suddenly changed in profound and disturbing ways.

But if we want to go forward, at some point we will need to reach out to more deeply hear the truth of ‘the others.’ This does not mean giving up our own values and convictions, but rather it requires that we also acknowledge the humanity and wisdom of those people who initially appear to be wholly other.

*thanks to Bob Waldinger for alerting me to this  https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_divided_america_heal

Day Five: The Water Settles Again

I took an unintentional news fast yesterday and spent the day in community, meditating and teaching Zen. As part of ‘Buddhism 101’ course here at Boundless Way Temple, we were looking into the teaching of the Third Foundation of Mindfulness.

This third foundation points to the possibility of paying attention to the state of our heart/mind. (The language in which these teachings of the Buddha were recorded, these two were not yet separated.) While it is obvious that there are many different qualities that arise in the mind, we are often so focused on the content of our mind, that we don’t notice the changing quality of the field in which the thoughts and feelings appear. In the sutra which contains the original teaching, there is a lovely list of different states of mind that sounds familiar today, nearly 2,500 years later: shrunken (constricted) mind, scattered mind, enlarged mind, collected mind, released mind, the mind of ill-will, the mind of desire, the mind of lostness.

Many of us have experienced the range of these states and more over the past five days since the election. The teaching is that all of these conditions of the heart/mind come and go like the weather. Though we would like to control them, we cannot. The invitation is to begin to see them as they are. So in the constricted mind-state of fear, we can know we are in the constricted mind-state of fear.

This awareness does not necessarily change what is present, but it does give us just a tiny bit of perspective on what is happening. One of our teachers yesterday referred to these mind-states as rooms that we pass through. Each room of the heart/mind has a particular quality to it and all the thoughts and feelings that arise in the room have this same general sense. Knowing this, we can perhaps not struggle against what is here.

When we can begin to be conscious of the arising, abiding, and passing away of states of mind, we may find a new freedom—right where we are. In the shrunken state of mind (my current favorite) we can know we are in the shrunken state of mind. In this awareness, there is the possibility of not being carried away by what is appearing. We can be with what is happening as what is happening. We can even begin to get curious about this particular state of mind. What is it like to be here? What are the contours of this landscape? How can I act wisely as I pass through this state of being?

This awareness of the impermanence of the state of my heart/mind is not, however, a call to relativism and quietism. The purpose of being present with our own experience is not to call everything a passing state of mind and proclaim there is nothing that needs to be done.

The Buddhist teachings are clear that we are interdependent and each called to honor our connection by acting in some way to relieve the suffering and injustice we see around us. As Melissa said yesterday, each one of us is called to do something. You may not yet know what it is that you are called to do, but don’t doubt that what you say and do in the coming weeks and months and years is important and will be necessary.

Four Days In: Disturbance

Four days into the reality of Trump’s victory, I thought I was doing better. After all, this is not the Weimar Republic of the 1930’s. We live in a country with strong democratic traditions. We have a government and social institutions of checks and balances to guard us against authoritarian takeovers. A vote for Trump was a protest vote from the many who feel the country is already broken and needs to go in a new direction. Trump may chose to surround himself with people who bring a wisdom and consideration to issues that he himself has not exhibited to date.

Then, last night, a friend alerted me to the news that Trump has appointed Myron Ebell a ‘climate change skeptic’ to oversee the transition in the Environmental Protection Agency. Ebell’s job will be to oversee the necessary steps toward Trump’s stated goal of removing as many environmental regulations as possible.

This is how the Washington Post described the new appointee: “Ebell, who is not a scientist, has long questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is fueling unprecedented global warming. He also has staunchly opposed what he calls energy rationing, instead arguing that the United States should unleash the full power of coal, oil and gas to fuel economic growth and job creation.”*

This news terrified and disheartened me – though it is just what Trump promised he would do.

Then, even worse, last night I dreamt I was a young man in Austria in 1938. I was in the army. I was scared and confused—was trying to find a way of obeying orders and doing no harm. I knew what was going on wasn’t right, but didn’t know what I could do.

In the dream, I was attracted to a young Jewish woman who wasn’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything. She too was trying to follow the rules and not get into trouble. I knew I was dreaming but I couldn’t find a way out. And then I had to tell another young woman that she was going to be sent away. I was ashamed of myself and terrified.

Now awake, I am still scared and ashamed.

I had thought I was doing better. I was thinking that, after getting over the initial shock, we could perhaps go back to a smoothly running, mostly benign country. But with Trump beginning to act on some of his destructive policies I see this is not so. And even in my dreams, not only are we back in Weimar Germany with Jews and women being singled out for violence, but I’m sitting on the fence still trying to be a good boy.

*https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/11/meet-the-man-trump-is-relying-on-to-unravel-obamas-environmental-legacy/