Practicing With Poisons

There are moments when I know I’m aligned with whatever wisdom I have; when I know that nothing I’m doing is supporting a more weaponized, harmful, poisonous world. There are moments when I’m concerned I may not be aligned.

How do we untangle the interests, loyalties, and values of our clients and the organizations we support, so that we know whether our work falls on the side of wisdom, or wades into the territory, however tangentially, of dealing in weapons, humans, or poisons?

Transcript

Hey everyone,

It's Judy Cohen and welcome to the Wake Up Call.

This is Wake Up Call 398.

On the last Wake Up Call,

We did a Metta or loving kindness meditation.

And before that,

I'd been talking about shame and dread or hiri and otepa and pali.

These qualities that arise in the heart or mind or maybe the gut feelings of I'd better not say or do that because I'll feel ashamed and I'd better not say or do that because it might cause some kind of harm.

So we've been exploring this in the context of the middle part of the Eightfold Path,

Which is the ethical elements of wise communication,

Wise action,

Wise livelihood.

Hiri and otepa in connection with wise communication,

Again,

Those moments when we sense whatever is about to come out of our mouth or from our fingers to be written or posted is going to feel terrible or not terrible,

But even just off.

And it could be subtle,

Maybe even so subtle that we have that kind of plausible deniability where we could say,

I didn't mean anything by that or,

But my intentions were good.

And I just wanted to name that one place that this comes up for me and where I think it meets this question of wise action and wise livelihood is in relation to gossip.

And the mindfulness teachings are really clear about gossip.

It's unwise and to be avoided flat out.

But that's easier said than done,

I think.

I remember Joseph Goldstein once saying in a talk that he had committed to not gossiping for a month and discovered that he had very little to say.

When I think of gossip,

I don't think of sharing that it's someone's birthday or that someone did something nice or said something interesting or accomplished something,

Or even that they could use some support as long as I'm keeping their confidence as to any details they wouldn't want me to share.

As long as I haven't been asked to keep something to myself and I don't have a sense that the person wouldn't appreciate being honored or doesn't appreciate anyone knowing they need support.

Reporting something positive,

Getting help for someone doesn't feel to me like gossip.

I could be wrong about that,

Though.

It's not a rule.

And that's the beauty of here,

You know,

To pod there another mindfulness tool so we can see for ourselves next time the occasion arises.

And I also I don't generally think of gossip in terms of talking about politicians,

Because I kind of feel like they've intentionally placed themselves under public scrutiny.

But again,

I could be wrong about that.

And it's just another thing to pay attention to and see for ourselves whether shame and dread arise.

But I do think of lots of other ways we talk about other people and people talk to us about others and how that can be gossip.

Like the times that I've said things like,

You know,

Can you believe what they said or did or a kind of a tsk tsk thing,

Like criticizing,

Judging,

Pitying,

Building a case against somebody really being unkind at all,

Saying something about another person that I wouldn't want anyone to say about me or even saying something in a way that I wouldn't want them to say about me.

So and that's what I was going to say is I think it's not just about what we say.

It's also about the thinking and emotion behind it,

The frame of mind.

And this is why I love the practice of paying attention to hearing and to shame and dread,

Because it can really help in my experience in stopping me from communicating and giving me the chance to slow down so that I can see whether I'm feeling kind and compassionate or whether I'm feeling snarky or pissy or like I know more than somebody or I'm better than somebody or maybe I'm feeling pity or irritation or really anything other than positive and that that feeling is coloring what I'm about to say.

And I think it's equally true with respect to wise action and its aspirations to do no harm,

To not misuse sexuality,

To not take what is not freely offered.

Here,

I know to are those queasy feelings that I get and that ideally stop me from acting and give me that moment to investigate what's underneath whatever I'm about to do.

And then I take that moment again,

Ideally,

And see whether or not underneath that moment there is goodwill and also whether or not it looks like my impact will be good.

And if not,

Take another tack.

All right,

So what about wise livelihood?

Traditionally,

Wise livelihood is work that does not include the following things,

Doing business in weapons,

Human beings,

Meat,

Intoxicants,

And poisons.

So I once got a job offer from a law firm that represented alcohol distributors,

And that was their whole client base.

And some of them were wineries and some of them were like the really groovy,

Small distilleries.

And even that,

And even though I have the occasional glass of wine or cocktail,

Something here,

Otopa stopped me from taking the job.

It just it felt like I would be directly dealing in intoxicants.

The problem is,

I think a lot of things in today's legal practice aren't so clear.

For sure,

Representing an AK-47 manufacturer is doing business in weapons.

But how about representing an advertising company and one of their clients is the NRA?

Or if a firm represents human traffickers,

Obviously that's doing business in human beings,

But what if it represents people being charged with harming?

Or if a person represents people being charged with harming or failing to help refugees?

Maybe that's a brighter line for some people.

Representing a meatpacking company is definitely the business of meat,

But where does that business end?

Is it wise livelihood to represent someone at the far other end of the supply line?

What about a beloved neighborhood grocer who happens to stock humanely processed chickens and line caught fish?

So we could talk a long time about this.

We could talk a long time about what is a poison?

What is a poison?

You know,

If representing a cyanide manufacturer is doing business in poisons,

What about representing Monsanto?

And if Roundup is an easy call,

What about representing drug manufacturers who may be doing a lot of good,

But also making antibiotics that are used in raising animals for meat?

Right?

And what about representing a media company?

Thich Nhat Hanh said very clearly that ingesting certain types of media was like ingesting poison.

So what does that mean about the other side of the coin,

Representing a toxic media company?

And do Heery and Otobah determine whether we see Fox News as toxic and NPR as not?

Or is that our politics making that decision?

And I guess are Heery and Otobah and our politics different?

So we could keep going and going.

For anybody who has no dilemmas with their clients,

What about the organizations or the schools or the religious institutions we support?

Or we support pro bono or we support by sharing our expertise on their boards?

You know,

We may know them and we may feel comfortable that they are aligned with Wise Livelihood,

But how much do we know about their investments?

Or what about their other supporters?

You know,

How far do we spool this out?

And I think this is another place where I feel like Heery and Otobah,

It's kind of like a spider,

Spidey sense.

And it's like,

Am I worried this organization might not be 100% engaged in the world in a wise way?

We can ask.

We can feel into these questions.

And I'll just share one more piece about the ancient teachings of Wise Livelihood.

And this is where it really,

I think,

Ties in with gossip.

And so one of the suttas says,

One discerns wrong livelihood.

They use wrong and right as opposed to wise and unwise.

Wrong livelihood as wrong livelihood and right livelihood as right livelihood.

And what is wrong livelihood?

Wrong livelihood,

Scheming,

Persuading,

Hinting,

Belittling,

And pursuing gain with gain.

This is wrong livelihood.

So we may or may not even need Heery and Otobah to know that it's not going to be easy to be a good lawyer and not do any of that.

Right.

So anyway,

Maybe a discussion for the next time.

Okay,

So let's sit.

Find a comfortable posture that's also upright,

Dignified.

Bringing your whole presence to this moment.

Letting go of anything else that might be calling on you,

Pulling on you,

Letting go of all the words.

And just sensing this present moment.

And the breath as it's flowing in and out of the body.

Such a simple process and yet so amazing that we are alive and breathing.

Whatever distractions are tempting the mind,

Let them go whenever you notice.

And just come back to the breath,

The body.

Or if the breath is not a supportive anchor for your practice,

Then the sounds in your environment.

Now,

If you're not aware of the breath,

Then you're not aware of the body.

If the breath is not a supportive anchor for your practice,

Then the sounds in your environment.

Noticing how each sound arises and then passes away,

Just like each breath.

How in one way,

Our breath and our whole lives are just arising and passing away.

Maybe it doesn't even seem like this contemplation about wisdom in communication and action and in the way we work even matters.

But then how in another way,

We really belong to each other and we can't see the consequences of our actions.

We can't see the long term.

So it's really good to stay in alignment with wisdom as much as we can,

With compassion as much as we can.

Recollecting this present moment and how in this present moment,

There is no harm being done.

How aligned we are just right in this present moment,

Just by sitting together and practicing.

And what a benefit that is to ourselves,

As a kind of an imprint and also to each other and to the world.

And then fluttering the eyes open and just taking notice of the good that we've all done together here this morning or this afternoon,

Wherever you are,

Just by sitting together.

Thank you so much for being here.

It's lovely to sit with you all.

Have a good Thursday.

Have a really nice holiday weekend.

I hope that you have good memories of anyone who you are memorializing this weekend.

And I'll see you next week.