Had a very long, slow, satisfying, complete morning practice this a.m. It's been a few days -- so I can't remember exactly the last time I had the opportunity. I think it may have been Friday.
Saturday I was busy all morning cleaning up the condo, with a trip to the hazmat dump thrown in. Yesterday was all-day yoga class in Seattle, which included a kind of half practice (sometimes you take what you can get).
The most important development lately was the denouement of a battle among the keyboards, during which I discovered that verbal combat at the political issues boards on BeliefNet.com is an addiction, like crack cocaine or cigarettes or Anisette. After locking horns with wingnuts all afternoon and evening Saturday (I've been mixing it up with some of these people for years), I got up Sunday morning with a hangover, realizing (and not for the first time) that it's doing me harm.
"Better to travel on alone," the Buddha said, "than with a fool for a companion." I began to suspect that in dealing with emotionally disordered people, I might be exposing myself to something contagious, and wondered how far the paranoia, resentment, and self-pity the most delusional among us exhibit might spread through contact with the infected.
In class yesterday, our teacher reminded us that the Sutra's advice regarding interpersonal communication is short and to the point: Say little; always speak the truth; and speak from ahimsa (non-violence) or say nothing.
I can no longer, participate at all, much less immerse myself for hours on end, in conversations characterized by anger and hostility, conducted in bad faith at least on one side, and leading nowhere. Doing this is psychologically debilitating, karmically hazardous, and yields nothing but frustration.
I can still write about politics from time to time if I do so in the right spirit and the proper format. But more importantly, I have my assignment and I need to get serious about it: at this time in my life and from here on out, I need to read, study, learn, and teach. Much remains to be done, and there's no time to waste.
--30--
1 comment:
Dave, I have been recontemplating bottom-line philosophy now that I am free of the bondage of a toxic, hateful "friend". I realize that hate is an aspect of competition against others while love is of cooperation. The part of me that she hated was fair prey to her. But it was still a part of me that I needed to defend.
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