Could A Mindfulness Approach Help Shift Current U.S. Political Tension?

Am I a racist, bigot, misogynist or religiously intolerant because I have those thoughts?

When we purposely work with a mindfulness practice we focus on including the gamut of our human experience--thoughts, sensations, emotions--whether positive, negative, or neutral. We do this, in essence, by creating a "container" made up of our curious attention,  non-judgmental acceptance and allowance, and an intention to compassionately and kindly meet whatever arises.

Over time, our formal practice spills into the rest of our lives and we gain a more attentive, richer and pleasant life. We also receive the all important gift of a spacious pause between our experience and reactions, enabling us a chance to consciously decide our next course of action.

In this way, mindfulness supports us actively aspiring towards higher ideals than our biological and instinctual reactions would otherwise allow. We can consciously evolve ourselves into a wiser, kinder and more generous being. While these characteristics are already innate in us, and we can consciously grow and strengthen them, our perceptions of threat, which activate our biological survival systems, can get in our way.

I've practiced mindfulness for 25+ years and have come to accept the fact that I may never be able to live wholly from my chosen values, as much as I try. Our bodies and minds are not only a product of evolutionary forces that respond to threats with fight, flight or freeze, they are also molded during early formative years to reflect the values and beliefs of those around us--our parents, extended family, friends, local community, and the larger culture.

Personally, I can still hear the harsh judgments and commands from growing up in rural 1960's America in a large and dysfunctional Italian Catholic family.  Today, though, I'm still surprised and ashamed when the racist, misogynist, and religiously intolerant ideas and beliefs of that era pop into my mind seemingly of their own accord. Back then, they were just invisibly weaved into my life's narrative.

But, am I religiously intolerant, a racist, bigot, or misogynist because these thoughts still arise? Or do the labels only apply if I believe or take action upon them?

Thanks to my mindfulness practice, I no longer automatically believe my thoughts. I've sat too long with the incessant chatter, painful judgments by a daunting inner critic, repetition of songs or conversations of the past. I've learned their nature. Most thoughts are just representations, judgments or echos of experience and, most of the time, quite distorted at that.

I've accepted that the traces of thoughts and beliefs I grew up with will most likely never go away. This brings a great responsibility as well as a great freedom. I have to continually monitor thoughts and engage with the pause mindfulness affords to choose a wise response.

Values and beliefs are chosen.

 

This brings in the need for the active use of compassion--a compassion that understands how difficult it is to work with persistent thoughts.  A compassion that understands that trying to stop thoughts is like trying to stop the ears from hearing or the eyes from seeing. A compassion that understands that trying to stop or judge the thoughts as wrong or bad starts an inner war.  Thinking is what the mind does and when that is resisted, thoughts usually persist and grow in oppositional force. (If you don't believe that, I invite you to try to stop your thoughts for just one brief minute.)

Thoughts arise because of various causes and conditions--some of which we have no control over and never did. If I allow thoughts to arise without resistance, they usually quickly disappear into the spaciousness of compassionate acceptance and I am left able to continue on operating from my chosen values, intentions and vision.

I've accepted the fact that I may never, in this lifetime, be able to live wholly from these values I aspire--my chosen values.

In America, our founding fathers aspired to create a nation of higher ideals than were common at the time. Even though their actions continued to mirror those they escaped--plundering the wealth of native lands and peoples, slavery, power only to the propertied white male, etc.--in their revolution they embraced some pretty radical notions. Given they only knew what they knew at the time, their ideals of liberty and justice for all, religious freedom, dispersed power and the individual pursuit of happiness were ambitious.
 
The constitution became the nation's "container" to hold these ideal visions. The architects, I like to believe, did their best for what they knew at the time to live up to the exemplary intentions they set forth--just like most of us do in our personal lives.

Photo source: Flickr.com/MatMcDermott

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Our hearty container has been challenged, tested, chipped away and reshaped as we continue to work towards a "more perfect union." Will we ever rise fully to our aspirations as a nation?

As a nation, our inner war begins when we try to judge a world view, belief or opinion as wrong and engage in trying to repress or forcefully change it. We get painfully caught. Our national "pause" is the checks and balances built into the governance system. They serve much like the reasoning part of our brain as individuals.

Does that mean we don't need to be concerned when we hear racial, gender and religiously intolerant ideas? No, we must remain alert to know when we are at risk of edging away from our ideals. But, is our best approach to engage in a repressive and judgmental war with those opinions? I doubt it. We are only a product of causes and conditions when operating from our fight, flight or freeze response. We lose access to our deeper wisdom and higher morals and ethics.

What you resist persists. What you look at clearly disappears.

Our constitutional container guarantees and protects people's right to their opinions, values and beliefs, but not actions that don't honor our basic rights as U.S. citizens. If we spend our time repressing, making "wrong," or demonizing strong oppositional ideas, our nation will regress to an inner war.

If we, instead, take a mindful and compassionate approach, the spaciousness created will make it easier to reach for and choose actions that continue to reflect our nation's chosen values, giving us one possible way to shift from our current tension-filled political narrative to a more positive, forward looking one.