Politics, No More

Five years ago, during a deep meditation, I had a series of realizations that led me on a five-year hiatus from a brief period of piety in Zen. One of the things that I had realized during the meditation was that piety was for practice and it was time for me to walk the middle path. I never stopped studying nor did I cease meditating. Simply, I abandoned an illusion.

Since that day, five years ago, without pious practice, I have held steadfast to Zen principles while limiting my involvement with the illusions of this world. That is, until a few months ago when I started to pay attention to U.S. politics more intently.

Before I knew it, I was roped into the political confusion. I was angered, appalled, and as 'mad as hell' over the ignorance, lies, and greed. I would throw my hands up in the air out of rage as I listened to this congressperson or that senator make their statements on CSPAN. I would get angry when I heard of how 'this policy' might be changed on this date, which in return would affect 'these people.' I couldn't take it anymore--I went to work fighting, publishing articles, and championing for the middle and lower classes.

A few articles, arguments, and months later, I was preparing for my next battle. For inspiration, I sat down on the couch and turned on the television to MSNBC. It was the same old aggravations and, of course, I was following the same old routine--I got mad, threw my hands up out of disgust, and became red in the face.

Upon observing the pattern that I had found myself in, I saw that my participation in the battle against ignorance would never end. I knew that no matter how often I screamed "truth and justice," only half of my fellow citizens would understand the message. "There must be a better way," I thought.

It was after the realization of my futile actions when I remembered something that I had learned many years ago: We are not capable of understanding anything beyond the extent of our knowledge. Part of this is because our knowledge is based on what we choose to believe and what we choose to believe is based on our knowledge. Additionally, our knowledge is sculpted by our environment and this leads to another topic about the evolution of humanity and its illusions.

As Confucius said, "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." I realized that the fight would never end as long as those of whom I was trying to convince were unaware of their own obliviousness. Let's face it, most people think they are right and will do anything to justify and validate their egos--even after being presented with insurmountable evidence that they are wrong. Upon facing the sea of unawareness... I saw the error in my approach.

Back to the observations of my anger and frustrations--I questioned the sanity of my approach until I realized that I am more upset with the lack of wisdom in our government than I am with the policies and plans that they're arguing about. It seems that the basic principles of wisdom are absent in America and I blame most of this on the corporate greed that has spilled over into our government. Regardless of where I place the blame, I know better than to let the ignorance bring me down and to participate in the madness. I know that I need to be more accepting of humanity's ignorance. Yes, I am angry about the crimes against humanity, the rape of the world, and the injustices being done to the poor, the elderly, and the sick. Nevertheless, acting in anger towards our ignorance is not the way. Peace is the way.