We might be witnessing a tipping point in US history, and the news is full of stories about systemic racism and of proposed solutions. I have been contemplating "what is my responsibility to address the systemic racism in our society?" I have also been asking what Buddhism and mindfulness offers to those who are moved to action. Here are some of my thoughts.
Perspective change
There is a saying from the 1960s: "If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem." I have voiced those words many times.
Several years ago, someone flipped that statement in a way that makes sense to me: "If you’re not part of the problem, then there is no solution."
This saying emphasizes something the Buddha stressed: that all of our thoughts, including our perceptions and beliefs about the world are conditioned. From this perspective, our views of the world will always have bias, so the goal is to uncover those biases rather than suppressing or hiding them.
By definition, mindfulness helps us to be aware of that space between stimulus and response. In that space, we find that we have many choices as to how to respond. If that space is sufficient, we can see the larger picture in which we realize that we are all products of our conditioning and thus don’t see the same things. For example, when we see a policeman, depending on a host of factors including past experiences and message from our parents and from society, we will react or respond in different ways.
Mindfulness is seeing clearly
Many years ago a group of researchers sat in the back of elementary school math classes and looked at how teachers treated boys and girls. They found pervasive differences: not only were boys called on more often than girls, but boys were called on more often for questions requiring higher-order thinking while girls were called more for rote answers. The research illustrated the pervasiveness of gender discrimination in instruction. Most powerfully, this discrimination was true even in classrooms where the teachers honestly felt that they that they didn't treat boys differently than girls. This connects to the illusion of "colorblindness," people who feel that they don't see color, about which much has been written too.
Many of my meditation teachers have emphasized that mindfulness helps us to see more clearly. This comes from being willing to look more deeply.
As someone who came of age in the 1960s and who actively and peacefully protested, I felt that I was pretty much beyond racial and gender biases. Two experiences I had in my 20s were very sobering.
I was teaching high school and one day I looked out the window and I saw the head cheerleader (a pretty, white girl) walking and holding hands with a male student whose parents were from Mexico. A thought arose: "she could do better." I was stunned.
Several years later I was talking with a close friend who said she had decided to go to graduate school and get her Ph.D. While my words were supportive, inside I was thinking "I don't think she has what it takes." Again I was stunned.
Because of my upbringing, I didn't go to shame, but more into curiosity (where did those voices come from?). In the 40 years since those experiences, I have explored and uncovered the causes of many of my biases about women, people of color, rich people, religion, etc. I know that I still have biases, and I check for them when I feel they might be arising.
Compassion
The subtitle of Christina Feldman's wonderful book Compassion is "Listening to the cries of the world." Compassion helps us to take in the pain that we see and to feel the outrage at the injustices of the world without falling into despair. Actually I think that if we are paying attention to the world, we cannot avoid moments of despair. Mindfulness provides us with tools and practices to be with those periods of despair: to know the value of rest and refuge, the value of pausing to breathe, the awareness that things are constantly changing, the importance of connection.
Compassion is not empathy (which is to feel the others' pain) but rather looking at what I can do to reduce other persons' suffering. Compassion moves me to explore both causes and possible solutions, to educate (myself and others) and to advocate. Compassion also enables me to look at the fears that cause some people to support harsher prison sentences and other policies that I disagree with. I am reminded of a powerful quote from Ramana Maharshi. When asked: "How should we treat others?" his response was "There are no others."
There is much more that I could write (and might next week), but this post is already getting long. However, I don't want to end without a reminder of two more aspects of Buddhism that I find most helpful during these times and which I have written about previously.
Mindful listening
I think mindful listening is especially helpful right now for white people and is something many black people have said in the past few weeks: ask your friends who are black what it is like being black and then listen. I would expand this to include all people of color.
Mindful speech
The Buddha suggested asking ourselves three questions before we speak:
Is what I am about to say truthful, accurate?
Is it necessary; do I think it will be helpful to this audience at this time?
Can I say it without judgment, coming from a place of caring and compassion?
And so we have entered into one the most intense periods of American history, at least in my lifetime: a time where mindfulness and love are even more important than ever.