“We are not makers of history.
We are made by history.”
Martin Luther King, Jr
As many of you know, I was an Advice Columnist for 10 years with Suburban Life Newspapers. I recently came across a letter sent to me with my response from 2007 – 14 years ago. It’s a fine example of how, although situations and characters may change, history has a way of repeating itself. I’ve posted below that long-ago letter and response for your reflections on its relevance in today’s circumstances as well….
Dear Joan,
My question (and it is a serious question) this country, and maybe the world, is very politically polarized. I am very aware of this, more than any other time, when I go to my yoga meditation group and they talk about liberal political figures as being the saviors of the world. I see things very differently and while I don’t make an issue of my conservative views, they aren’t a secret either. One night during a meditation workshop, a high level teacher ( a man teaching at a well-known Chicago area university) made the comment that, “You can hate George Bush, but you don’t have to be attached to that hatred.” The second time he said it, I walked. Does hatred of anybody belong in this type of discussion? My question is, ‘why do I have to feel that as a political conservative, I’m some kind of untouchable in these sorts of groups?’ I think that people doing meditation, of all people on the earth, should be tolerant of the views of others.
Betty
Dear Betty,
There is no denying what a politically charged world we live in. Our country is at war, and the feelings around the politics of this war are often strong, passionate and partisan. Any war, any extreme action, can bring on extreme responses – this is natural. However, this kind of response does not necessarily create balance. Balance (Sattva) is created out of discipline and thoughtful purpose,
I agree that hatred does not belong in yoga or meditation studies, but its experience cannot be denied either. To push a feeling or emotion under the rug does not relinquish it. An emotion must be faced head on and relinquished. I think this may have been what your teacher was trying to express. If one has hatred, acknowledge it, and then let it go. Do not be attached to it because this feeling, as with any feeling, is transient and does not define who one is. You are much greater than any feeling state. It is this type of understanding that may help us from going into future wars and may also help us in creating current peace in our turbulent world. Instead of immediately responding to violence of any sort with an eye for an eye mentality and blinding ourselves in the process, it would benefit us to step back and see that we are more than an emotional response. It requires deep inner exploration to respond to violence in peace. Something few of us are willing to put the time into, yet something that can change the world if even a few of us do.
Namaste (the light within me bows to the light within you)
Joan
