On Avidya
Wear a mask. Don't wear a mask. Get your kid vaccinated. Don't get your kid vaccinated. It's the supply chains, stupid. No, it’s inflation, stupid. The supply chains are fine; just buy less.
It's all just. too. much.
Over the past year, I have followed two disparate Facebook groups. One group is in favor of sending kids to school with masks on. The other is in favor of sending kids to school with masks optional. Both groups want what is best for their kids. Both groups want what is best for the broader community. But, in spite of the fact that both groups broadly want the same outcome, both groups demonize each other and cause further division. It's become increasingly clear to me this year that our divisions are going to continue to grow as long as we keep identifying with what "side" we are on.
Yogic philosophy teaches that suffering happens when we stop identifying with our true nature and start identifying with our thoughts. We're seeing this play out in real time. Both groups identify with their thoughts and beliefs, and if someone steps out to say that they disagree or see it differently, then that's taken as a personal attack. For example, in the pro-masking group on Facebook, there are parents completely outraged about the recent decision by the county school board to make masks optional. They are assigning a moral weight to what the county decided, and they are calling the parents who spoke out to the county on the side of masks as optional tantrum throwers. Both sides exhibit the same behavior and obscure their solid points (yes, both sides make solid points) with their historyonics and moralizing. They are essentially causing themselves misery because they're identifying with detheir own beliefs and taking things personally. Both sides do this. Both sides silo themselves off without listening to each other. Both sides are more committed to their own ideology than they are to actual facts and solutions. And neither side will listen long enough to admit that the other might have some good points.
So, what does yoga have to do with this? Well, in yogic philosophy, there's the idea of Avidya. Avidya means ignorance in Sanskrit, but it's not ignorance in the way that we normally think of it. It's a deeper ignorance. It's ignorance of our true nature, and our true nature exists in the bliss layer or It's content. It's connected to each other and the Divine. This layer exists deep within all of us no matter what kind of turmoil is swirling on the surface. Once we slow down and connect to our true nature, we come to realize that if this Divine connection exists in one of us, it must exist in all of us. If this deep connection exists in all of us, then maybe just maybe that should point us in the direction of having mutual respect.
The writer Matt Taibi serves up the following thesis in Hate Inc.: After the Cold War ended, the media needed a common enemy, and they made the common enemy our neighbors and community members that may vote or live differently than us. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, they are all guilty of this. If you voted for Biden, look at the Trump voters as your enemy. If you voted for Trump, look at the Biden voters as the enemy. This keeps the working and middle class divided while the corruption of elites and corruptions continue to pillage us.
What's happening in my local community is Hate Inc. in action. Both sides of the argument in my local community have a deep distrust of each other because they do not think that their opposition has the community's best interests at heart. However, if both groups could stop identifying with their thoughts and start identifying with their true natures, then they might start to look at each other differently. If the members of these groups put even a 10th of the energy they use to disparage each other to work making addressing the extreme inequities in Henderson County, then things might actually change for the better.
Ignorance of our true nature. Ignorance of our connection to each other. Ignorance of the connection to the Divine that every single one of us has. I hold the principle in my heart that we are all connected to the Divine and to each other. It's easy to apply this principle to spouses, friends, family, etc, but harder to apply it to people we disagree with,but principles are only worthwhile when they are applied evenly. Yes, even to people we disagree with. Yoga and meditation are ways we can access connection to ourselves, each other, and the Divine. But, we can also feel that connection by being in nature and by being with each other. Try having a conversation with someone that you don't always agree with, look in their eyes, and really listen. Listen to a podcast or read a book with a perspective you wouldn't normally gravitate towards. You just might find that you agree on more than you thought. I guarantee you won't regret it.