“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf" -- Swami Satchidananda | Pakaka Nalu, giclée by Dietrich Varez

The news. OMG, how to deal with the news? The horrors in Ukraine, and the suffering of forced migration are just one of multiple national and world crises, many impacting people of color and the LGBTQ + disproportionately.

And yesterday the leaked draft U.S Supreme Court majority opinion that is likely to strike down abortion rights, which may even lead to the banning of contraceptives and inerracial marriage in some states.

What do I do with this anger at the obviously guileful testimony given by Gorsuch and Kavanaugh during their confirmation hearings? Feel betrayed, confused? Ignore it?

“Feel it” mindfully, but most likely get flooded again?

The Buddha referred to dharma practice as moving “against the stream” of society. These days it’s more like we're up against a tsunami of collective pain and confusion. It's so easy to become flooded by this tsunami of fears and anxieties.

I have great respect for the Buddha’s teaching on guarding the sense doors. The guidance he offers me is not to shut myself off from the world; rather, it's not letting myself be drawn out of my centeredness while scrolling my news feed, for example.

The Buddha gave the example of being a sentinel watching the doors of the citadel of the mind. You observe the comings and goings at the six senses, watchful for anything that can sneak in or leak out to bring about a surprise attack.

it’s not so much like having a content blocker installed in our mind. It's more about watching for the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion creeping into the mind on little cat feet.

By sitting in meditation and watching the comings and goings at my six sense doors (of hearing, touching, feeling, touching, smelling and thinking) I am fully present for what’s needed in the moment.

But over the past few months I have lost my game, being too eager to jump into my news feed unprepared. Naturally, I feel overwhelmed and exhausted.

I admit I need a lot more grounding and centering these days.

Our meditation is called a “practice” because it’s a way to practice meeting the fearful and confusing challenges of our times the same way I meet each breath, sound or distraction on the cushion–with gentleness and ease.

The late Swami Satchidananda, the founder of Integral Yoga, has a line, which was appropriated by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Meditation is learning how to surf the waves of the mind; no matter what they seem like to us, they are simply waves–of fear, confusion, or joy, appreciation, relief.

Meditation is also a laboratory for exploring the many paradoxes of our practice. I appreciate an important one in the words Carl Rogers used to describe his humanistic approach to psychotherapy:

When I find myself stuck in anger and despair, I reflect on these words. I accept I am flooded with despair. I don’t meet despair with inner aggression. But I also reflect that I need to take responsibility, nicely, for getting stuck in its tendrils.

I can do this because I have the agency of knowing how I got into despair in the first place.

If I give in to despair, which is easy to do–have you noticed?-- I’m not really responding to life, I’m wallowing in it.

The Buddha pointed out that whatever we frequently think and ponder upon will become the “inclination of our minds”.

My news feed, if I let it, can incline my mind toward fear, confusion and anger at all the crises we face. But I can also reframe my news feed to feel compassion for the suffering of others. This compassion is really the opposite of wallowing.

There is a path, and it is a process of discernment vs. distraction in each moment. The mature discernment of responses to each situation in our life, the Buddha taught, leads to the fading of attachment and the bliss of release.

I think the Buddha would have approved of Carl Rogers’ statement:

Reclaiming our attention, and using it for mature discernment, is the direction the Buddha advises us to follow.

It’s what we signed up for.

Take care,

Tom

Fruits by Michiel van Huysum (1714-1760). Original from The Rijksmuseum.

This weekly newsletter offers personal reflections on the Early Buddhist teachings. They are merely the stray thoughts of a lazy meditator, nothing more. Authoritative teachings and commentary are on our resources page. Forwarded from a friend and like to sign up? Easy sign up here. Thanks!