Spiritual Empowerment IIa-- Shifting Away from the Need to Fight
As we see so many challenges in front of us---in
1. Apathy: “There’s nothing I can do about it. I do not have the power.”
2. Denial: “It’s not really happening, and if it is, it’s no big deal.”
3. Distraction: Unconsciously: “Ice cream, beer, drugs, TV, romance novels….
Which of these can I numb myself with today?”
4. Confrontation or Fighting: “I gotta get angry. I gotta show ‘em I am upset. I am fighting mad.”
Let’s take these one at a time. Apathy is “I don’t know and I don’t care.” It’s provocation is the simple sense of powerlessness. Deep down, there is a sense of caring, but if one doesn’t feel empowered to do anything about the problem then to avoid pain, the egoic mind pretends nothing challenging is happening.
This is no solution. It is avoidance, a state of pretending not to care in order to avoid the potential pain of facing a reality.
Denial is just another way of avoiding reality. If one pretends something difficult is not happening, then for the moment, pain is avoided. The tricky thing is that when challenges are ignored, the potential lessons keep on getting projected to us until we face them.
This brings us to the “solution” of distraction. People want to numb the pain that comes with challenging realities. As a result, record numbers of people in “developed” countries are obese or find themselves controlled by their perceived need to distract themselves with excess quantities of harmful foods, alcohol, drugs or destructive activities. Some say these actions are a way of trying to self-medicate so that we can feel better. There is some truth to this, but unfortunately the challenging situations do not just disappear. They keep coming back, so many people just increase their dosage of silly foods, booze, drugs, the venting of rage on family members, or mindless entertainment in the name of very short-term relief from their pain.
Distraction is the ultimate tool of the ego-mind. Temporary satisfaction comes with the pint of ice cream or six-pack of beer or the vicarious living that comes with reading romance novels. The problem is that the satisfaction is quite temporary. When the hang-over wears off, when the quart of ice cream is emptied, when last page of the silly novel is completed, the challenges are still there in front of us.
Sooner or later, in this lifetime or one to come, we face what is in front of us that is asking us to see it. Some are now willing to see the realities of our world. Often, it seems, their response is one of anger and confrontation. This has not worked. Angry confrontation is not a solution. The emotion of anger says that what is happening right now is not OK, that one does not accept what is happening.
The hope in anger is that it will produce a solution to the perceived problem. What it does is often exacerbate the problem, because without trust anger is no more a solution than apathy, denial or distraction. Trust is a prerequisite to solution. Rather than trust, some people cling to hope, something that implies that some external power will save us from ourselves. Hope is the ultimate masturbation.
In
In the same speech, President Obama said this: “There are things that have to be done. And that means marching forward, not standing still.” Of course, when we see something that we intend to accomplish, perseverence is important. Still, I see it as ironic that the true solutions to all of our apparent problems in this world will surface when we are willing to sit or stand still. When more of us are willing to be in the silence, to quiet our silly, panicky minds, to accept each other and love each other, then the need to march or fight or harshly judge the worthiness of any other person will evaporate.
Next: Our Collectively Stupid Beliefs
