We invite you to read our blog and the following essay by Buddhist teacher, author, and peace activist Stephen Fulder. It offers compassion and wisdom for these challenging times from his decades of experience. We deeply appreciate the motivation and energy we find in his words and trust they will be of benefit to many.
At this time of great possibility for change, we renew our dedication to bringing diverse voices and visions to our magazine. Black Lives Matter to Leaping Clear. We are a small group of people with both meditation and artistic practices. Our decades of practice have heartened us and humbled us. We know that no one person, no one group has all the answers. Questioning our own assumptions and habits and listening to others with open minds and hearts, we continue to explore how to celebrate and respect different visions. Diversity is the heart and soul of art and creative action. We renew our commitments to openness and looking deeply within and without, as editors and in our daily lives.
In our mission statement, we highlight these commitments: “We are dedicated to supporting accomplished artists working in any field—multi-media, music, photography, sculpture, videography, visual arts and writing—whose art incorporates dedicated meditative and contemplative practices, inquiry, and social awareness.”
We continue to ask what are the most helpful actions that we can take to alleviate suffering in our society—racism, violence, economic injustice—and in our personal interactions. To ask where the need is greatest, and where to focus. Then to act.
Carolyn Dille
Founding Editor
In These Times How Can We Make a Difference?
Dr. Stephen Fulder
These are difficult times, personally, socially and environmentally. The changes, the sense of things being uncontrollable and threatening, can make us feel more anxiety and concern than ever before. Our compassionate heart may drive us to help others and try to make a difference. But within, we may feel it is too much, or feel overwhelmed, angry, despairing or helpless. When we do go out to make change in the world, we may also meet rejection, misunderstanding, and negativity. To cope with this, we need to develop attitudes and skills that will help empower us and prepare us for kind and effective action in the world.
One of the main skills is authentic presence. Aware presence teaches us to see the way things are, a consequence of myriad causes and conditions. I once met an old Bedouin sheikh who had struggled against all odds for most of his life in order to provide for the needs and subsistence of his people. I was moved by his gentle, modest yet firm presence and the gleam in his eyes. I sensed clearly this was an authentic person to the depths of his soul. Meditation—the practice of authentic presence with whatever arises within us and in the outside world—can also bring this quality to flower in our lives. Authenticity means that we go about our lives without playing games, without hiding anything, and without hypocrisy. An authentic person does not surrender to fear or escape to comfort zones but remains steadfast in the eye of the storm.
When we wish to make a change in the world, there are two key dualities which we need to be aware of, and between which we need to find a dynamic balance, a Golden Mean. One is the balance between ends and means. If we are too much attached to ends or to outcomes we are always running after results like a donkey with a carrot dangled in front of its nose. It leads to burnout, stress and pressure, and an obsessive missionary mind which annoys everyone. On the other hand, if we are too stuck with means, we will be busy trying to get things right and prepare ourselves, endlessly sharpening the tools but never using them to build the house. Activities sow seeds that do not necessarily bring about measurable results. Balancing ends and means includes an awareness and mindfulness of how we act and respond to what is needed, and at the same time, sensing our inner compass that gives us direction.
Another fine balance is between inner and outer experience. We need to express what's in our hearts, to act decisively and speak out in situations where others are silent. But this needs to be balanced by inner qualities such as brightness, clarity, peacefulness, and joy. If we are too dominated by the outer, we are a busy bee, constantly active, often agitated, sometimes mechanical and frustrated. If we are too focused on the inner life we can become paralyzed and psychologically blocked. Maybe we sit at home passively, in front of screens and media, bemoaning what's going on in the world. Or alternatively, insisting that we need to be perfectly peaceful before we can go out and make peace. In this case we may never feel we are ready to express our voice. Establishing a dynamic balance between inner and outer motivations releases amazing power and potential where heart and mind, voice and body, are in sync. We strive for realization of a vision but at the same time manifest peacefulness, harmony, compassion, and a broad and inclusive wise heart. As Padmasambhava once said, “Keep your vision as wide as the sky, and sieve your actions like fine flour.”
Activists might say that a broad view, a joyful and peaceful heart and calm presence are unhelpful foundations for action, arguing that they couldn't do anything without motivation based on a burning need for change and a righteous anger at injustice. These personal motives are indeed sources of energy, and sometimes they are also needed. But if they take center stage, they can create all the problems described above. If they are softened, a larger inner space opens which in most instances is a space of love—a more powerful and sustainable motivation. In fact, love can be found behind all our actions, often camouflaged as a desire to fix the world. In its essence, love is an expression of our sense of belonging to the world. We want to help a blind person cross the road because we know how they feel, we have empathy, and share the same human vulnerability. This feeling of love is a powerful force that underlies all our actions. We might lose touch with it, forget it, and fail to notice it; yet love, empathy, and compassion have formidable power.
In the end, what supports our making change in the world are the qualities that we manifest. The writing, speaking, acting or campaigning that moves hearts and minds can only happen because they are the manifestation of qualities and skills that are part of us. We cannot be other than who we really are. So we continually refine and develop the qualities of compassion, equanimity, wisdom, renunciation, balanced determination, and deep generosity. In doing so, we will find that as we manifest these qualities spontaneously in word, thought, and deed, they become the powers that drive us to go out and make a difference.
Stephen Fulder is the founder and most senior teacher of Tovana (the Israel Insight Society), the largest dharma teaching organization in Israel. He has been involved in Vipassana / Mindfulness meditation and dharma practice since 1975, and has been teaching for 25 years, mostly in Israel but also abroad. He has also been deeply engaged in peace work in the Middle East.
His new book is: What’s Beyond Mindfulness: Waking Up to This Precious Life (Watkins Publishing, 2019). “A deeply illuminating and nurturing book” —Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.