Make a Fuss

For more than a week I heard the strains of music, drums, and chants drifting through the air. I live near a school and the teachers were on strike for better pay and smaller classrooms, among other things.

What's interesting to notice is I have a tendency to assume that if I ask nicely enough, I'll get what I want. If I was a teacher and said "please," surely the school district would have given me a raise? I think it's safe to assume the teachers did ask nicely and the school district said no. They couldn't accept that and took further action. Witnessing the strike I'm reminded sometimes we have to use force and pressure to meet our needs. Sometimes we have to protest and boycott and make a fuss.

Sometimes we have to make a fuss. Photo by Chris Slupski on Unsplash

I know that's obvious, but it's easy to be on the outside looking in and say, "Of course you have to behave that way," and much harder to be in the situation ourselves. How many of us would stand up to an authority when it's our own neck on the line? When we didn't know how a situation would turn out? I've heard a lot of people say, "I would have marched during the Civil Rights movement," but not as many are saying they've marched with the Black Lives Matter movement.

I'm not trying to shame anyone, I'm merely pointing out it's harder to act with force in the moment when we don't know the outcome. Some people might say acting with force isn't spiritual. That spiritual people should be pacifists. My spiritual teacher disagrees.

He said, "In all actions of life, whether small or big, the unit mind progresses by surmounting opposing forces. Life evolves through the medium of force. If this force is not properly developed, life becomes absolutely dull. No wise person would advocate such a thing because this would be contrary to the very fundamentals of human nature."

He also said, "The use of force against an aggressor is valor and desisting from such use of force is cowardice." My spiritual teacher is not a "sit on your laurels, do nothing" kind of guy. He's a "use force when necessary and stand up for yourself" kind of guy.

In case you're wondering, by striking, the school district acquiesced to the teachers' demands. They demonstrated by speaking up, by acting, by drawing a line in the sand, you can get what you want. That's not universally true of course. Sometimes it takes multiple strikes and boycotts. Sometimes it takes years before injustice crumbles but by continuing to apply pressure, change happens.

For myself, I want to live in a pressure-free environment. I want pleasantries to be enough. I want ease and harmony all the time. However, that's not realistic. It is impossible for us to remain static and inert. We either progress or we backslide. There is no staying still. Given those two choices, I'd much rather evolve than regress, and sometimes that means holding our ground until the other side relents.

I dream of a world where we recognize sometimes the use of force is necessary. A world where we realize being nice isn't enough. A world where we remember in order to surmount obstacles we have to make an effort.

Another world is not only possible, it's probable.

There is Oil in the Sesame

Twice this week I read a discourse by my spiritual teacher called, “There is Oil in the Sesame.” Not necessarily because the discourse is profound, but rather because I couldn't be bothered to pick a different reading for our special gathering on Thanksgiving. But as I've written about before, there are no coincidences so. . .

The passage quotes sages of yesteryear who said, “God lies hidden in everything, like oil in sesame seeds, like ghee in curd, like water in stream beds, like fire in wood. Only those who adhere strictly to benevolent truthfulness, and perform spiritual practices, can churn the mind and realize the Supreme entity out of it.”

Even the smallest thing may be transformed. Photo by Percy Pham on Unsplash.

The quote stuck with me because I'm reminded through force and friction, something new may emerge. We often say through pressure coal becomes a diamond, but that's a myth. Diamonds are related to coal, but they're like the more pure cousin so no, if I squeeze coal really, really hard, it will not become diamond. The metaphor still holds, but with a more mundane example, such as extracting oil from sesame, or fire from wood. From looking at a little sesame seed, you wouldn't know it contains oil. From looking at a piece of wood, you wouldn't know rubbing it together creates fire. In both cases though, it's true.

The context of the sesame quote is a spiritual one – my teacher uses it to goad us to practice meditation, to remind us intense spiritual effort is what allows us to realize the divinity within us, but for this blogpost, and my life, I'm thinking about the quote more in the terms of personal hardship.

I want life to be easy. I want to glide through everything without any effort. If I could be comfortable all the time, that would be great. This quote about sesame seeds reminds me I'm not experiencing difficulties for kicks. It's not because some dude in the sky said, “I need a laugh today. Let's make life miserable for Rebekah.” No, it's happening for my transformation.

I don't know many things, but one thing I know for sure, without a doubt, is life is synonymous with transformation. Even if I had the easiest life, if someone hand-fed me everyday and carried me from place to place so as to never sully my feet, I would still age. My body would still degenerate and eventually I would die. That is inevitable. Nothing stays the same. Nothing. And if life is about transformation, if it will happen regardless of my input, I'm again wondering if every trial I endure is in service of making me into something greater. Of transforming me into someone I otherwise would not have been. Sesame seeds do not secrete oil without pressure, wood wouldn't burn without friction, and maybe I wouldn't be who I am without hardship. Maybe every difficult experience I endure, maybe every hurdle in my path, is an opportunity to change me into someone better. Magic and divinity lie latent within me and it seems pressure is the way to force it out.

Do I like it? Of course not, but these days I'm holding the belief these things happen for my transformation, even if I don't get to see the consequences immediately. And I'd like to believe that's true for everyone.

I dream of a world where we realize there is more to us than we likely know. A world where we understand difficulties transform us, often into someone greater than we would have expected. A world where we realize everything that happens to us is in service of transformation. A world where we remember we are like sesame seeds and we have the capacity to become oil.

Another world is not only possible, it's probable.

The Real Meaning of Nonviolence

In the wake of the events of Charlottesville, many friends have posted about punching Nazis in the face and inevitably someone makes a comment about nonviolence and promoting peace. They talk about how punching a Nazi in the face is incendiary, particularly if the neo-Nazi merely gathered together with other neo-Nazis in protest. I won't get into the issues of hate speech and incitement here, but would rather like to talk about this nonviolence thing.

In yogic philosophy, nonviolence is called ahimsa. Most people incorrectly assume ahimsa means never using force ever. But in truth, the act of living is a violent one. Every time we breathe, we kill organisms. Every time we filter water, we kill something. Life is violence and I see in our country a tendency to disown violence and project it outward.

There's a grip and a force to life, like a lizard's foot. Photo by Katarzyna Urbanek on Unsplash.

We are a country that extols the likes of Gandhi and Martin Luther King for their peaceful protest tactics, yet we spend more on our defense budget than any other country in the world. We talk about the importance of peace in matters of civil unrest, yet we invade other countries to help them overthrow governments. We are constantly on the lookout for terrorism, quick to profile people who are not White and not Christian, yet we ignore terrorism on our own soil. Yo, something is not right here. How can we be a nation of such extremes?

I'm not an expert, I'm just another person on the internet, but I'm pretty sure we as a country are refusing to acknowledge the beast within us. We want someone else to do our fighting, yet we're attracted to violent movies, television, and books because there's something we like about violence. We want to believe peace is the path forward because it paints a nicer picture, but in truth, more revolutions are violent than they are peaceful. It's rare for pleading and supplication to change the mind of an oppressor.

I'm not saying we should all walk around throwing punches at every person who looks at us funny, but force is sometimes necessary. On a personal level, anyone who wants to take away your property, your spouse, comes with a weapon to murder you, wants to snatch away your wealth, set fire to your house, or wants to take your life by administering poison, use force on them. Your life is just as important as theirs.

My spiritual teacher says, “The use of force against an aggressor is valor and desisting from such use of force is cowardice. But the weak people must assess their strength before indulging in violent conflict with a powerful aggressor; otherwise, if a fight is started without acquiring proper strength, injustice may temporarily triumph.” He also said, “Of course, if you find that the aggressor is bent on destroying you, whether you use force or not, it would be proper to die at least giving a blow to the best of your might without waiting to assemble the adequate forces.”

I'd like to believe my spiritual teacher dispenses this advice because he wants us to know our lives are worth fighting for, literally. We are all worthy and deserving of respect and that means not taking abuse from anyone, whether individually or as a group.

I dream of a world where we recognize sometimes the use of force is necessary. A world where we understand there exists within each of us a warrior-self that's appropriate to use when the case calls for it. A world where we understand the real meaning of nonviolence.

Another world is not only possible, it's probable.