Halloween. A time when goblins and angels cavort together. Superheroes bent on saving humanity, or at least Gotham, walk hand in hand with super villains and serial killers. It’s strange to see these polar archetypes working together when our political parties cannot seem to get along.
Vajrayana Buddhist teachings suggest we are entering a “Dark Age” where the good and evil in the world will increase and come to climax. Dickens was prescient when, in 1859, he wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Those run-on sentences are as applicable today as they were appropriate then.
These are challenging times. Many of us suffer from an existential dread that has kept us locked away from ourselves and our world. Meditation practice is an act of healing that allows us to reconnect to humanity each time we return to the breath. Learning to work with fear and anxiety is an important practice for anyone trying to maintain balance in their lives and it is especially important during difficult times. Meditation can be seen as a stabilizing act of kindness. Regular meditation practice will help calm the impact of our hectic lives and, over time, allow us to build resilience and emotional balance. From that point of balance we we can face our fears and recognize the anxiety-based behaviors that actually increase insecurity and isolation.
We can then choose to turn from that punishing behavior toward healing and reconnection.
Healing and connection are fundamental properties of humanity. They are an expression of our basic goodness. Healing and connection are possible because they are inherent in our being. Each time we choose to return to the heart, we are reconnecting to our humanity. But when we are frightened and act out of anxiety our goodness becomes obscured by our defenses. Our defenses feel so right in the moment that we overlook the simplicity of reconnecting to our heart. We would rather lash out in violence than soften our hearts and listen. This is because we feel strong when we feel right. This drive to surety causes us to cling to beliefs that support defensiveness even when those beliefs are self-destructive and self-defeating. When we feel powerless, we would rather follow paths of obvious destruction as long as they offer us an illusion of strength. As these attachments are blind, they only serve to enhance our insecurity. We actually grow weaker. And when we feel weak, we are dangerous to ourselves and each other. When we give ourselves over to aggression, we deny our humanity and live wounded, isolated lives.
On the other hand, if we surrender this false strength, we are able to connect to our heart, and reconnect to our humanity. And from that basic goodness we can communicate with other humans in a supportive and encouraging way. This decreases some of the harm that has been caused by violence which offers the space for others to express their own basic goodness. Every time we choose to turn from a panic reaction to a mindful response, we are healing ourselves and helping our world. In this way, Mindfulness is an act of Loving Kindness. In time, our meditation practice can help us change our allegiance from defensive reaction to cooperative kindness. We do this by offering a loving pause, then returning to the heart.
Learning to feel love for ourselves, we can step from protective isolation and engender love for others. Each time we return to our heart we are stepping out of our heads and back into our humanity. Then no matter how crazy the world is, we can return to a sane and powerful balance. And from that point of view, we can offer that sanity and balance to a world very much in need of healing.
We don’t need to be superheroes to save the world. We can just be ourselves, simple honest, direct and willing to show up. Coming back to the heart of our being, we are here at the heart of the matter. Remembering to stay human, as my cat would tell me. Just be kind and remember to feed me, she would say, then let’s hang out on the couch together and feel safe. That human connection is healing to ourselves and, by extension, to our world.