Collective Ill Will

So the second fire or poison, is ill-will, aversion, at its worst hatred. So I think we can all point to not wanting something that is happening in our lives, I think we all have a difficult person or situation that we push away. We can see it in ourselves, right? So collectively, institutionally what does that look like? There are many examples, racism, our prison system, but I think the biggest is our military industrial complex.

Transcript

So institutionalized ill will.

I'm going to start with a quote from Dwight D.

Eisenhower.

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,

Whether sought or unsought,

By the military-industrial complex.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process.

We should take nothing for granted.

Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery.

So maybe Eisenhower's words seem like an unlikely dharma teaching,

But those words,

Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing.

That's kind of what we're doing here,

An alert and knowledgeable group of people.

We're looking with curiosity into our own minds and we're slowly integrating or meshing what we find.

And I read this quote because we started our investigation into the root causes that need to be addressed to end the destructive impacts that humans have on our environment.

And these are known,

As I said,

As the three fires or the three poisons,

But I've reframed them a little bit so that they're not framed so demonically.

And I'm calling them the three kind of operating behaviors,

Unconscious operating behaviors.

And that's just to say that when we become aware of these conditions within us and in our culture,

They can fall away.

They fall into the background.

We're not actively operating from them,

But they're kind of hanging out in the background to be seen,

To be seen.

And what I do,

When what I do is motivated by any of them and they actually tend to reinforce each other,

Greed reinforces ill,

Will reinforces delusion.

So when I'm acting or motivated by any of them,

My actions in the world are generally unwholesome and not beneficial and tend to result in suffering for myself sometimes and for others.

So it's an important insight about how motivations and intentions function.

And when I introduced the topic,

Beginning with greed,

I spoke about the broader implications of how these behaviors function collectively and institutionally.

So what about our collective self?

You know,

When we're looking at greed institutionally,

We're all participating in the process of institutionalized greed as consumers,

As investors,

As pensioners.

And we all have very little,

If any,

Personal sense of our responsibility,

Our moral responsibility for what happens in those as we consume,

As we invest.

And as some of you expressed on Tuesday,

This realization has some uncomfortable implications.

You know,

If my individual sense of self is the basic source of my suffering,

Because I can never feel secure enough,

What about the collective sense of self?

You know,

In this way,

We can start to see that kind of this string that runs through greed.

And we can start to see that with greed,

It's been thoroughly institutionalized through our financial system,

Much bigger than us.

And so I find that it's helpful to look at the system,

The systemic way in which it's been institutionalized and digested with us to be able to really get closer to my own.

That's why I'm bringing it to you in this way.

So the second fire or the second poison,

The second behavior is ill will,

Is aversion.

At its worst,

It's hatred.

So I think we can all point to not wanting something that's happened in our lives or is currently happening.

I think many of us have a difficult person or situation that we're pushing away.

You know,

We can see it in ourselves,

Right?

We have aversion.

So collectively,

Institutionally,

What does that look like?

And there are so many examples.

Racism is collective ill will.

Our prison system.

But I think the biggest is what Eisenhower warned against,

Our military industrial complex.

You know,

The United States,

If you're in the United States,

Has been militarized.

It's been a militarized society since World War II.

As I was researching for this talk,

Global military expenditures,

Including the trading of arms,

Is over a trillion dollars.

And about half of that spending is by the US alone.

So our military budget,

The 2022 military budget,

Is $722 billion.

That looks a lot like institutionalized ill will or fear.

And the basic problem with war is that whether we're the good guys or the bad guys,

It promotes and rationalizes the very worst part of ourselves.

You know,

We're encouraging,

We're encouraged to kill and to brutalize other human beings.

And in doing that to others,

We actually do that to ourselves.

It's a very kind of simple karmic relationship.

To brutalize another is to brutalize myself.

That is to become the type of person who brutalizes.

And in war,

However,

You know,

Like when we look at war,

That behavior is justified as collective self-defense.

I think to some degree,

We all accept the right and necessity to defend ourselves,

Don't we?

Like if someone comes in and invades my home to attack me,

It's okay to hurt them in self-defense,

Even kill them if necessary.

Like this is how we've justified it.

And what's interesting is that our national defense requires us,

You know,

The way it's been rationalized that,

You know,

We have over 800 military installations overseas in 135 countries.

So it looks like in order to collectively defend ourselves,

We kind of had to have domination across the world.

And no matter how hard we try,

No matter how many weapons we have,

Or how many outposts we have,

It seems like we're never secure enough.

And that collective negativity,

It's taken on a life of its own.

So hearing this,

Hearing this can cause some like a pretty unpleasant response in the body and in the mind.

And I certainly don't want to leave you there.

That's not my intent.

But as I said,

When we were talking about greed,

The solution is not out there to be found.

They're kind of to be,

It's to be worked out in ourselves and in together,

We're bringing together,

Like we're bringing this into the open,

We're airing it out so we can work it out together.

And ill will is often a response to something that we're uncomfortable with.

So one of the great movements in this practice is when we turn our attention away from what we have aversion towards the object and consider what it feels like in the body to have ill will.

How does it live within us?

And if ill will is a response to discomfort of some kind or another,

Can we look past the ill will and look at the discomfort itself and just learn how to feel uncomfortable?

It's very,

Very powerful to learn how to be comfortable with discomfort.

I know when I feel ill will in my body,

I don't sleep as well.

And I value my sleep.

And so whatever I can do to alleviate that ill will,

Often I try to just address it.

Take ownership of it,

Feel it.

In meditation practice,

We're cultivating access to our wisdom.

And if I don't acknowledge that there is ill will in my own heart as my own problem,

I'm likely to project my anger onto those who kind of obstruct my purpose.

So with that wisdom that,

Oh,

There is this anger in my heart,

This ill will in my heart,

We can bring some motivation to transform it.

Not get rid of it so much,

But to transform it with well-being.

The transformation of ill will is well-being.

So the collective institutionalized ill will is important to see.

And our commitment to practicing nonviolence towards ourselves,

Well-being,

Is how we kind of integrate our own ill will.

And that supports ending it.

You know,

And perhaps,

And kind of this is my hope,

Is that we will become more socially engaged practitioners.

And just to say that social engagement is not about sacrificing our own happiness to help other,

Like unfortunate others who are suffering.

Rather we're joining together to improve the situation for all of us.

That's what social engagement kind of looks like.

I heard this quote from one of David Loy's writings that struck me.

It was by an aboriginal woman who said,

If you have come here to help me,

You are wasting your time.

But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine,

Then let's work together.

That's kind of like that.

That's kind of the point of the bodhisattva path.

The bodhisattva path is what we're on together,

The path of awakening and awakening others.

None of us can be fully awakened until everyone else is too.

The critical world situation means that sometimes bodhisattvas like you and I need to manifest our compassion in a more engaged way.

But first,

First we start with ourselves.

Yeah?

So thank you for your kind attention.

And I welcome questions or comments or answers.

Reviews

Thank you, this is all very fascinating. I appreciate the perspective. I am quite sure I’ll be coming back to this one.

🙏🏾 you.