The racism dialogues

It has been impossible to avoid the conversation of racism since the White Supremacist protest in the United States some days ago. There has been a lot of well deserved condemnation of the racist foundation to the protests. Collateral damage seems all around. The Rebel media in Canada has taken many targeted shots for their historical racially divisive dialogue. Yet, much of the conversation has been focused on the USA.

Racism is a systemic, societal belief that one version of a person, white, is inherently the standard against which all others are measured - starting with the belief that anyone other than white is at a level somewhere below. Those of us who are white do not even understand our advantages as they are so much a fabric of our existence that we are blind to how these advantages exist. In Calgary, Toronto, London or Washington, I do not walk down the street in fear that I will be targeted because of the colour of my skin. I do not go into a hardware, grocery or department store worried that I will be followed by security because of who I appear to be.

There are many other forms of discrimination but the major discourse after Charlottesville has been about race. Here in Canada, as an example, if you are Black in Toronto you worry about being carded. If you are Aboriginal you worry about going into a store - And if you are not white you worry that you will be mistreated in a variety of ways that are not about the quality of your person but the colour of your skin.

Racism exists at societal and system levels because people who make up and support power structures hold within themselves the beliefs that racial disparity is acceptable or, at the very least, not to be fought against. Crucial questions that might be contemplated in meditation include:

• Can I accept that a human is a human deserving of the same opportunities as myself?
• Can I look within and see where my beliefs lie that support differences between peoples?
• Can I trust myself to act in support of inclusion as opposed to separation?
• Can I allow myself to speak and not be silent when voice is needed?
• Can I accept that I am an ally but I will never really understand what it means to be divided?

Such questions are very consistent with meditation practice that is designed to increasingly know ourselves. As one Buddhist monk says, "The only person you can truly know is yourself". (Karma Yeshe Rabgye). I raise these questions as the growing divisive dialogue where hatred, oppression and racism seem to have an expanding license, needs challenging. The will and self understanding exists within and meditation is a vehicle to find it.

Script 

Do you live in a script 

Who writes it

Are you stage right, left or centre

Who gave you your lines

Dare to think weird

Pass it on

Creativity of life

Is not existing in the box

Who said your tale is true

Who perchance owns 

The story deemed to be the only one

Is it possible to hear

When only one reality is accepted 

We have walked together

Our lineages crossed

No purity breathes life

Our being is mutual presence

The universe cannot divide us

It is we who do this

Partition is death

Inquire of life

We are mutual beings

Ascendancy above you

Folklore hiding fraility

© Peter Choate, 2017

  

Ego versus altruism

"We are doing it this way, that's how I want it to be." It seems that, in various ways, this has become the theme song of our days. Greed, possessions, power and untethered disparity are written about in the news daily - if not multiple times per day.

Lying by politicians and others in power has become so common that it is trite to note the lying. The worry is that we have become so inured by lying that we sort of dismiss it, make jokes or let it slide by. Powerful liars don't seem to mind being caught. There is the "post truth" era; "alternative facts" and so on. Truth is becoming a value of rapidly diminishing worth.

Fake news even hits the supposed bastion of truth. Academia is struggling with this, not so much in the way of fraud, as exaggeration of results. It is only with sensational results or breakthroughs that many can find their way into top tier journals. Academia is also being plagued by fake or predatory journals.

Recent research has reaffirmed that children caught in bitter divorce and custody battles suffer long term emotional damage. Yet, courts are clogged with these protracted, bitter disputes.

As societies we honour the rich and profit. How many photos of any particular celebrity can be consumed in a day? Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook are full of them as are other forms of media.

Why you might ask, does this matter to meditation. Well, philosophers from as far back as the Greeks, have been debating ego versus altruism. In ego, we allow the personal wants and desires to matter over any other need, even if it negatively impacts another. If ego were the only true emotion, then altruism could not exist as we would not care about others. If altruism were the only, then we would not care about the self. Only the other would matter.  For healthy positioning, we balance the two.

The imbalance in society and self leads to harm. Too much ego and pollution, destruction and wanton consumption takes over. Too much altruism, then the self gets ignored and the strength of care weakens. The self is destroyed.

Meditation allows us to find the balance. Care of self and care of others. Knowing within self where each of these emotions lies becomes our way of being in society. It also helps to step away from the significant egoist imbalances that seem to be so predominant at the this time.

Care transmitted

She walks into the room
Each night the ritual is performed
There her son lies
For the last time

Love exists but now shared
Upon waking he will prepare
To honour another love
Marriage

Weeks go by
She walks into the room
He must be well
The bed is empty

One day the bed is gone
She still walks in
Sure he will not be there
Does he look like the memory she holds

He returns one night
Baby in hand
Newly minted life
He talks of checking each night

© Peter Choate 2017