MR. TRUMP, DON'T MESS WITH BUDDHISTS – Over the Head With Loving Kindness

Posted Nov. 22, 2016

Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness – The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, tells of having once been assaulted by a stranger while riding in a pedicab in Calcutta. As the man tried to wrestle her out, the driver intervened and they were able to escape unharmed. Later, when she told her venerable meditation teacher about the incident, he exclaimed, “Oh, Sharon, you should have hit the man over the head with your umbrella…with loving kindness.”

With the astounding results of the just-decided U.S. presidential election, I feel as though I am the pedicab passenger. That modest little vehicle has been my conveyance toward a simpler, more peaceful, loving and generous life, a future of hope and continuing spiritual evolution.

I have believed, for nearly a decade now, that I lived in a nation that, after a decade and a half of profound national insecurity, was at last on a course back to sanity—one that valued diplomacy over war, openness over isolationism, inclusion over paranoia, individual freedom over narrowly-defined “morality,” opportunity over prevention, abundance and generosity over scarcity, vision over hindsight, and hope over fear. This has been a direction I felt true to not only my own values, but to the time-honored values of my country.

But I, and all those standards I hold so dear, have suddenly been assaulted, hijacked by some kissy-lips little punk who, counting on my weakness and complacency, feels he’s entitled to my possessions.

     Folks hang their heads and murmur,
     if only we'd known and done something. 

A CITIZEN  OF ALL CREATION
And thus my dilemma: Do I assume the mindset I believe derives from the core of my being, one of tranquility, kindness and emotional detachment from outcomes? Or do I allow myself to fully appreciate and be moved by the reality that, overnight, my homeland is at the beck and call of a monumentally insecure, irrational, ill-prepared charlatan who has promised—and whose admirers expect—that he will dismantle the very framework of values I embrace, and that so many of our ancestors have fought and died for?

As if that weren’t enough, the president-elect’s aggressive denial of most climate scientists’ and world leaders’ calls for urgent action on human-abetted global climate change threatens not just my country, but my planet and every human being on it.

History tells us quite eloquently that despots do exactly what this man is doing. And that, once the true ravages of their misguided power see the light of day, it is most often too late. Folks hang their heads and murmur, if only we’d known and done something when we could. 

Is it not my sacred duty to acknowledge the moral outrage that drives heroes to say something, do something?

                    


         No one will be well served if I fail
         to deter a thieving bully.

So back to the pedicab-and-umbrella metaphor. In the case of our current national crisis, how can I resolve my dilemma? What does smashing the mugger over the head with loving kindness even look like?

That, I’ve decided—after being unable to think about much else at all for the past two weeks—is what I must reconcile. How can I honor both my responsibility as an intelligent, aware—and patriotic—citizen to defend the values upon which my country was founded and has evolved for two and a half centuries, and my duty to all of Creation to inhabit a place of peace and love?

The answer? All I can say right now is that I’m working on it. I aspire to being able to read the story that’s unfolding before our nation’s eyes, but not to become the story, not to let it define who I am. Still, as Salzberg’s guru suggested, no one will be well served if I fail to deter a thieving bully. So, while being as patient with myself and others as I can, I will be eagerly watching for doors of opportunity to appear.

I trust I will find the certainty to take whatever action I am called to pursue, but I must do so only when I’ve also found the generosity of seeing not to act in fear or anger, but in hope and love.

And then I will swing away.

Osama and Donald – How 9/11 Kindled America's Political Climate Change

DEARTH OF A NATION
Recently I came across a Facebook share with a brilliant bit of advice on dealing with someone whose views you find reprehensible. It said to, instead of indulging your emotional gut reaction and jumping into defensive, must-win mode, ask the person one even-tempered question: What in your life experience has led to your feeling this way?

What a kind, civil—depending on your spiritual persuasion, you might say Godly—way of looking at folks’ political rantings during this historically preposterous presidential election!

And it’s got me thinking: couldn’t we ask that same question of a nation, political party or voting bloc? In this election cycle, how much of folks’ often illogical though deeply personal feelings about the candidates might actually stem from some shared, national experience?

          What's the real reason behind so many
          Americans' support of a candidate who
          so obviously embodies the antithesis of
          their true values?

This question, believe it or not, has helped me put the video-game candidate’s baffling appeal in perspective. I don’t think I know more than a few of his supporters, and of those only one will actually admit it. But we’ve all heard plenty from them in the media.

They are quick to draw on a core group of grievances: an economy they feel has left them behind; immigration policy they fear is giving away the store; and the perceived erosion of law and order—I may have missed one or two. They are not just disappointed; they are enraged.

And they blame it all on a party, a president and a former senator and cabinet member, who by all credible accounts, when compared with the state of the union those leaders inherited eight years ago, have done incredibly well by them.

So what’s really going on? What in their life experience has led them to feel this way? For what it’s worth, here’s my half-baked theory.

PHOTO: National Park Service via WikiMedia Commons

HAMMERED AND HOG-PILED
On September 11, 2001, a psychotic, all-but-invisible enemy broke in and plunged a knife deep into the breast of our country. Our government didn’t respond very wisely, but our people and many of our institutions responded with courage, conviction and, mostly, love. Like a proud kid beaten up on the playground we claimed not to be hurt. Hey, is that all you got?

Very, very few of us have ever been in a better place.

But we were hurt. In our rage and our determination, maybe it didn’t seem that way, but with time the reality of that violation—of all we’d taken for granted about our strength and safety—broke our hearts and spirits.

In the meantime, one U.S. administration did a lot of macho saber-rattling—and some big-league lying—to convince us that tracking down and killing a few bad guys would restore us to our rightful place as the unassailable champion of all that’s right in the world.

To prove at least one aspect of our resilience, that same administration managed to pull out the stops on some of the industries we hoped might help heal the damage to our economy—and perhaps our psyche.

PHOTO: Investopedia

Instead, those powerful concerns chose to shamelessly exploit the vulnerability of their compatriots. Investment bankers, marketers, the media, the defense and security industries, and certainly politicians, jumped all over us like still more bullies piling on.

Eventually, though, at least one of the US’s bedrock institutions—our political system—remained robust enough to actually produce precisely the positive change in leadership the country so desperately needed.

At last, we had an emotionally mature president who believed a more secure future for the country hinged not on our righteous indignation and isolationism, but on tough-but-smart diplomacy and courageous leadership in building bridges to the rest of the world.

Still, somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of people who participate in political polls apparently think life is insufferably bad.

THE DELUSION OF DEMISE
On the other hand, in the years since September Eleven some Americans, most of them sincere, born-and-bred, hard-working, mostly Christian, self-described patriots, totally bought that Bush-era illusion of control. And they’ve deeply mourned its loss.

They feel they’ve witnessed the gradual erosion—those on the more liberal end of the political spectrum might say debunking—of that take-charge, regime-change, blunder-then-claim-victory mentality. And in its place, an eight-year stint of what they see as the utter betrayal of all those misplaced “American Values.”

What’s riled them even more is being backed into a corner of “political correctness,” where they feel their fervor for law and order in our cities, tighter borders, traditional family structure, Christian values and a raft of other working-class-white-male principles has been roundly stifled.

Curiously, in terms of peace, freedom, opportunity, prosperity and any number of other measures, very, very few Americans have ever been in a better place. By all credible accounts this great nation has managed to claw itself out of one of the deepest holes it’s been in since the Great Depression.
https://soapboxie.com/us-politics/14-Facts-About-The-Obama-Presidency-That-Most-People-Dont-Know

Nonetheless, somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of people who participate in political polls apparently think life is insufferably bad.

This dubious attitude began to see its political expression in the birth of the Tea Party, whose single avowed purpose was not to govern, not to plan and work for a better future…but simply to block every single initiative for restorative, forward-thinking change by a truly intelligent, thoughtful, internationally respected, peace-first president (who just happens to be the first African-American to hold the office).

LAST HERO YOU'D EXPECT
So now a whole lot of these folks who feel the country’s gone to hell over the past 15 years—who’ve been forced to push those feelings under the rug all this time—have finally found an escape valve for their frustration, a blathering idiot whose only merit as a candidate—or as a human being for that matter—is that he represents everything the liberal establishment hates.

Donald Trump, the least experienced, least qualified, least influential, least emotionally sound person ever to run for the U.S. Presidency, has managed somehow to tap into all that pent-up frustration and rage. And now millions and millions of assumedly well-meaning, yet ill-informed Americans have hitched their wagons to his solid fools-gold train.

He's such a total a-hole that it would forever tarnish any kids' or grandkids' dreams of one day becoming president.

Somehow, they’ve responded to his bravado, his pretense of personal success, his calculated fear mongering, and the sheer volume of his loose-cannon tirades—half expecting, I’ve got to believe, that he’d crash and burn before they actually had to vote for him in the general election.

But the primaries and the conventions come and go, and—surprise surprise—Trump doesn’t. At some level, his backers realize he’s unqualified—not to mention, such a total a-hole that it would forever tarnish any of their kids’ or grandkids’ dreams of one day becoming president. But somehow they keep going, and before they know it Trump is all they’ve got.

BUT ONE MASTER
So profound is their collective insecurity that Trump’s backers fail to see that their guy actually represents much of what they feel has rigged the system against them. He’s the epitome of the greedy, worker-exploiting, risk-other-people’s-money, tunnel-vision corporate big shot—the real culprit in dragging America’s middle class to its knees.

Trump has left a bloody trail of employees, associates and suppliers holding the bag for his failed ventures. Anyone who dares criticize him is crushed with punitive, baseless media vitriol and legal counter-claims. Most amazing of all, he openly disdains his voter base, suggesting, more than once, that they’re really quite stupid.

Trump is the antithesis of nearly everything Jesus Christ represents to Christians.

If these Trump fanatics really want “family values,” their candidate would be the very last one to exemplify them. His consistent absence from his own family duties, his self-proclaimed extra-marital conquests and multiple failed marriages have proven it repeatedly.

And if they want “Christian values,” Trump, again, is the antithesis of nearly everything Jesus Christ represents to Christians. He’s notoriously self-serving, exploitative, stingy, mean-spirited, ruthless, unkind, profane…I could go on. And, obliterating the message of Matthew 6:24, he’s not even torn between “serving two masters;” the way he surrounds himself in gaudy symbols of wealth and fame clearly demonstrates that he serves but one.

THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
So if those soundbite versions we keep hearing of the case for Trump don’t ring quite true, what’s the real reason behind so many Americans’ support of a candidate who so obviously embodies the antithesis of their true values? What’s really going on?

One possible answer takes me back to those complaints about “political correctness.” Usually, this term means there’s something someone wants to say,
but other folks’ social norms threaten to exact too steep a price for doing so.

In this case, what I believe the hard core of Trump supporters dare not say is that they cannot stand having “their” country, or any significant part of its culture, run by or benefiting anyone who’s not exactly like them: white, male-centric, straight, chauvinistic, at least second-generation U.S. citizens.

It's gone far behond what trump backers might want in a president...it's now about shafting liberals (and everyone else) with their worst nightmare.

Trump has managed to tap into their long-suppressed sense of victimization. He’s become, by his frequent, fear-mongering rants about immigration, inner-city crime, women’s issues and any number of other “taboo” opinions, a symbol—a mouthpiece if you will—for what these folks have long felt, but don’t dare voice anywhere but amongst themselves.

PHOTO: The Economist

THE GOD-GIVEN RIGHT
In fact, he’s so emboldened these people that they literally don’t care any more who Trump is, what he says, what he does or what he says he’ll do—as long as he’s willing to stick it to the liberal do-gooders oppressing what they see as their God-given right—in this, the land of liberty—to control not just their own lives, but the lives of others.

There is compelling research to suggest that, indeed, the one variable that best predicts whether a voter supports Trump is authoritarianism. Authoritarians love to obey; they rally to and follow strong leaders; and they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533

PHOTO: barenakedislam.com

So who Trump really is has never really mattered. In fact, the more obnoxious he becomes, the more he betrays his utter incompetence, the more they love it. It’s gone far beyond what they’d ever actually say they want in a president—Trump clearly has very little of substance to offer, not to mention many obvious, frightening liabilities.

No, for Trump diehards it’s now about nothing more than imposing authority. And to them that means closing borders, cracking down on petty crime, dismantling the social safety net and shutting up anyone better educated than they. Above all, it means punishing liberals, shafting them (and everyone else) with their worst nightmare, regardless of the collateral damage.

LOOKING IN THE MIRROR
Yep, a sizable slice of the American electorate is throwing one ugly temper tantrum. And the rest of us don’t know if we should be scared, get angry, lapse into denial…or if any of this perceived victimhood is even real.

So now, letting that timely Vanzant quote bring me full-circle, the question I ask myself is, Is my trying to express the raw fight-or-flight emotions I’m feeling about Donald Trump and his power-starved mob just fueling in me the very fire of fear and pessimism I claim to so despise?

Now that I understand the national experience that may have brought Trump supporters to their point of view, how is it that the very same sequence of events has brought me to such a different one? Is it something in my personal life experience that’s led me to those feelings—and to such an abhorrence for theirs? Is there anything I can do to change? Do I want to change?

How is it that the very same sequence of events has brought me to such a different point of view?

THE BEST CANDIDATE
I cannot truthfully say that this reflection has led me to fear any less the prospect of a vacuous reality-TV star with a violent nature and no self control becoming President of the United States. But I am confident that there are many, many of my fellow Americans who are thoughtful enough to have realized by now that what they thought their candidate reflected about them and their lot in life is nothing more than his shameless pandering to their frustration and fears.

And those who fail to realize that? I still disagree with their insular views, but now somehow that judgement feels less personal. They are frightened; I know I too can get irrational when I believe something strongly enough. And probably most importantly, this understanding distances me just a bit from that same national us-versus-them, with-us-or-agin-us, winner-take-all mind set that has served both Americans and America so poorly these past 15 years.

May the best candidate win.