spirit and politics

Last Spring, I made a promise that I would devote most of September and October (I left it a little vague) to the presidential campaign. I had felt, on retreat and in more ordinary forms of reflection, that the Bush administration was, not to mince words or exaggerate, evil. They were leading to more constriction of the self, more cruelty to others, more destruction of the Earth, and the growth of the corporate superstate that comes at the expense of civil liberties, free thought, and fairness. I still feel that way, without reservation.

So, for the last few weeks, I have been marinating in the muck of politics. Writing a lot, volunteering in various ways, dedicating the whole October issue of Zeek to the election, etc. I didn't get some of the positions I wanted, but I got some others, and I am doing my best to fulfill my promise, even though I also feel sure Kerry is going to lose.

What I didn't realize was how disgusting this whole business is, and how pronounced the effect would be on my soul. I believe what Reb Zalman says about the mind: it's like tofu, and takes on the flavor of what it marinates in. Surround yourself with affirmative, spiritual stuff, and your mind will shift in that way. Surround yourself with crap, and that's what you become.

Well, I'm in a position where I can take steps about my own soul. What I really find worrisome about this is that all politicians, on all political sides, are stewing in this crap all the time. All this adversarial talk, half-truths, and "skillful speech" to convince a dumb electorate to do the right thing. Meanwhile, all these oblivious, stupid, cow-like voters are being swayed by the most obvious and false television advertising.

It's a toxic environment. I think that most conservatives do believe that they are doing the right thing. They think that people ought to keep as much of the money they "earn" as they can, that we need to be strong against the forces of evil in the world, and that there are bedrock values without which we are all lost. They also, in general, have a great blindness: they just can't see how real cruelty actually is, how narrow their "values" actually are compared with the breadth of human potential, and perhaps most of all, how they have constructed selves out of a pile of evasions and avoidance techniques, selves which may serve to shield the ego from hurt but which, in their "toughness," are apt to promote more and more suffering. Those selves are both barely human and all-too-human.

I care deeply about these political issues. But, at the end of the day, only because they relate to religious issues: the importance of nature, compassion, suffering. If the natural environment were not being harmed by the Bushites, I would care much less. If no one suffered and died because of them, hardly at all. In short, if they would just do no harm, I really don't care about the rest.

Being around these constricted and limited people, who are so sure they are right, and who are convincing at least half of Americans that they are right -- it brings up a lot of anger, and a lot of self-limitation. I'm not allowed to say what I really think, because that's too wacky, too weird. Too Kucinich.

This will never change until people learn to open. The task is to find people on the edge, and open them -- really, it's to bring them into conditions where they can and want to open themselves. Where is that margin - the folks who are considering spiritual practice, or who do it, but could deepen it in a way that would really bring them over to our side - the side of the awake. Find that margin, and work with them.

For some, art works. For others, being involved with social action -- I wonder how many conservatives volunteered at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter for more than, what, a month. For me, of course, it's meditation and spirituality. Two different things, by the way.

At the same time, I have to not instrumentalize my own meditation, for many reasons. First and foremost, I am not a meditation teacher. I have taught meditation, and I probably do okay, but I am a student, not a teacher. I have spent only a tiny amount of time on this practice and on retreat. I do not belong in a teacher's role yet, no matter how much some people may like what I do, which, actually, isn't really all that much anyway. Second, to instrumentalize meditation is to undermine it. No goals, no particular result, no "dictating the outcome."

Conveniently, in the Buddhist tradition, we have a gentle intention at the end, or at the beginning, of, "we are doing this not for ourselves but for all sentient beings." That's correct in a number of ways. First, there is no self; "we" are doing this as part of the One. Second, as above, there has to be faith that, if we just all do this, more people will start to do this, and gentleness and compassion will spread. Maybe not in time to stop the catastrophe, and it's no substitute for more immediate action, but -- just a gentle confidence, coupled with, when not on retreat, skillful action.

Meanwhile, I am putting these thoughts here, not on Zeek, because the thought is that, with Zeek now a bit more popular than it was before, it gets read more than it did before, and so, we're putting a more reasonable face on, to convince "reasonable" (i.e. insane, neurotic) people to think about certain important issues. Like, don't vote for a cruel and destructive bigot.