Go far. Stay long. See deep.

the lost art of developing insight

Nymphaea lotus from Seiyô SÔKA ZUFU by Tanigami Kônan

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Welcome all. It is good to be together again, via words, in a time desperately striving to veer our attention elsewhere. May this be of benefit.

Last week, in an effort to begin generating the subtle qualities which, when ripened in the mind of the post-activist, can help inspire life-affirming transformation, we began a short exploration of, what Buddhists refer to as The Seven Factors of Awakening (bojjhaṅga). We began with the first factor, “the balancing factor”, sati, or, as it is more commonly referred to in the west, mindfulness, which, although it has become a household term in recent years, is generally misunderstood by most. We looked thus at how sati can not only offer us a profound tool for calming our nerves, but can also help us train ourselves to be more skillful (Please read that essay here to familiarize yourself more with Sati ).

Mindfulness trains us to pay attention consistently, to re-member, to look deeply and investigate. Whatever experience, energy, or emotional states we may find ourselves in, it is good practice to develop the aspiration to see each situation clearly, as it is, in order to truly understand what is happening, to access insight beyond what we merely think is happening and as such make wise choices based not in assumptions but well- cultivated awareness. Sati is thus often referred to as a balancing factor. And, as we explored last week, although sati can be somewhat calming, this is not the goal. The “goal” is insight.

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The seven factors of awakening (bojjhaṅga)

1. Mindfulness (sati)

2. Investigation (dhamma-vicaya)

3. Energy (vīriya)

4. Rapture (pīti)

5. Tranquility (passaddhi)

6. Concentration (samādhi)

7. Equanimity (upekkhā)

They are traditionally thought of in three groups:

• One balancing factor: Mindfulness

• Three energizing factors: Investigation, Energy, and Rapture

• Three calming factors: Tranquility, Concentration, and Equanimity

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This week we will build upon what was established last week and begin exploring the first of the three “energizing practices”; Investigation (dhamma-vicaya). While researching more over the last few days, in an effort to deepen my own understanding of dhamma-vicaya, I came across this fine explanation from Sean Oakes, PhD. He nailed it so precisely that I figured I’d just pass the mic to brother Sean…

Investigation of Dhammas (dhamma-vicāya)

Investigation, or “investigation of dhammas,” begins the process of energizing our practice by bringing in curiosity, exploration, and inquiry. It develops the quality of “clear comprehension” (sati-sampajāna) that is inherent in mindfulness into an attitude of engaged observation of the world, both inner and outer. “Dhammas” is a Pāli word that can mean “things” or “experiences” as well as “teachings.” The dhammas that are to be investigated are the states, experiences, and conditions that arise in attention, moment to moment. As one of the more active aspects of our practice, investigation is not about simply observing experiences from a neutral distance, nor dismissing them as distractions, but understanding them by bringing discernment and intuition together with the teachings and guidance of wise elders, all in the service of insight.

Love that. Well said Sean. Thank you. Now. Let’s wade together shall we, out into the murky waters of our current zeitgeist and consider how dhamma-vicaya might be applied in the mind-bogglingly absurd times in which we now find ourselves in, and consider how it might offer actual benefit, something that can prevent us from losing our sanity and instead assist us in cultivating skillful means.

The recent onslaught of what I consider to be distasteful, disturbingly immature, deeply hurtful actions, comments, social media posts, etc. that have come from the White House have left me borderline speechless. Being a U.S. citizen who lives abroad, I find it increasingly difficult to know where to begin when members of our greater global community ask me what the heck is going on with my president and fellow countrymen. My gut reaction is to say, “Trump is fucking stupid and evil and the sheeple who follow him are idiots who have the IQ of snail shit”. But then I pause. (Oh! The awesome power of The Pause!). I honor the discomfort in me while remaining determined to re-member all that I have been working on inwardly over the years, and I rest. I activate the powers of sati and look deeply. I muster up my jedi mind and summon The Force with mindful breathing and penetrating awareness and return continuously to the present moment. I smile, enjoying the sun on my skin, the holy earth under my feet and patiently continue breathing softly until finally I feel at least a foggy semblance of calm. I then tell them the truth. “I am not entirely sure.” Because, well, I am not.

My teacher, the late Thích Nhất Hạnh, had an incredible way of summarizing profound truths briefly. He would often write poetry or simple slogans, painted in beautiful calligraphy, in an effort to offer not only an analytical opinion of theory or to give his students an easily digestible bullet point or meme but to offer a real gift, a direct transmission of insight. So much of what is needed now is beyond concept, beyond study. He knew this. No amount of debate is going to lead us to where we need to be. “Knowledge does not wisdom make.”, as a great Jedi master once told his aspiring student. What needs to be developed thus, if we are ever to wisely interpret our perpetual cycle of chaos, is not merely the ability to perceive things intellectually, but in ways that give rise to pure, penetrating presence with, direct experiences beyond thought, beyond emotion, beyond space and time.

Knowledge does not widom make.

-Yoda

Well how the hell do we do that?! Well done good reader. Well done. A question like that is a step towards insight. We need to start where we are. And where we are in this modern time of amnesia is essentially a place of astonishing ignorance. It is extremely difficult for modern people to admit this. With all our fancy technological “advancements” and medical “breakthroughs”, we have become a bit, shall we say, arrogant. Even though we all are well aware that society is in turmoil, and we are experiencing unprecedented collapse, most of us still believe we are far better off now than our ancient ancestors were, that we are smarter than they and as long as we stay the course, science and AI will save us in the nick of time. Rare indeed are the moments when we are humbled enough to grasp how utterly unprepared we are, not only for what is to come, but for what is already here.

The wise, albeit difficult thing to do, especially for those who have dedicated their entire lives to something they now know isn’t working, is to admit defeat, to gracefully step down and proclaim beautifully to That Which Gave Us Life that we don’t know what we are doing. We don’t know what we are messing with, that Frankenstein has arisen and we are terrified of our own creation. The noble thing to do would be to stop pretending and confess that we don’t know what we are witnessing, what we are feeling, what is coming nor what we are losing. We don’t know what we are scrolling through on social media. We don’t know why we are attracted to things that hurt us. We don’t know why things that help us offer us little appeal. We can’t even remember what we are so worried about most of the time but we are always anxious about something. We just know we are use to feeling this way and godammit, we are angry at that other person because we heard about something they did briefly in passing on our way to a place we know very little about to do some more work we don’t why we do and we are certain its all their fault!

We don’t know. But we are creatures of habit and too busy to consider these things. It’s easier to not think. So we just let Joe Rogan do the thinking for us. Or Bernie Sanders. Or Trump. Or The Pope. Or the clock. Or Tik Tok. We are thus, even on the best of days, wildly ignorant, disoriented and mistaken. We are so ignorant in fact that most of us go our entire lives not even knowing we are ignorant of these things. The simple fact is, we do not have enough information to offer but even an educated guess as to what the true nature is regarding most things. And so, we start with this. This is a wise, noble thing to do. To be honest, and to act accordingly.

“The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know.”

―Noam Chomsky

So how does the second factor of awakening play into this? Another fine question dear reader. Bravo. Dhamma-vicaya encourages us to develop an enthusiasm for seeking truth, which is increasingly challenging in this “post-truth” era saturated by so-called “fake-news”. Ironically, in a time when we can literally ask the magical talking mirror in our hands (i.e. our phones) any question we wish and expect an instant reply, it seems more difficult to find trustworthy information nowadays than it did in those glorious days of old when we spent days on end hunting through card catalogues at the local library. And it may very well be that, just as Yoda so wisely referenced, it is precisely the fact that we have access to so much information that we are becoming collectively dumber.

Consider how the president of the United States, the man holding the highest position of authority and power in the world, recently shared on his social media platform (ironically called Truth Social) a photo supposedly showing that Kilmar Abrego Garcia's hand tattoos meant he was a member of the MS-13 gang. Additionally, he attached to the photo a statement claiming Garcia “…beat up his wife, etc.” In a world where we are conditioned to respect authority, certain cultural values instilled in us from an early age discourage any respectable citizen to doubt the words of an elected official. So it isn’t the fault of the masses. They are doing as they have been taught. Yikes.

Truth comes from the mouth of power in cases like this, and can give rise to an entirely alternate understanding of what “truth” even means. Consider when you were a child and you asked you father “Why?” and he said, in reply “Because I said so!” If he said it enough times, and with enough outrage, you started to believe him, out of fear. It should seem obvious to anyone that the “tattoos” in the image shared by Trump weren’t real, that they were photoshopped, but he insisted they were real, again and again, with increasing rage and disgust, even going so far as to make a complete fool of himself on national television when ABC New’s Terry Moran called him out.

The Trump administration has continued to claim that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which is why they justify having sent him to the notorious El Salvadorian CECOT mega-prison. But no criminal record associated with Garcia has been found. The Trump administration made a major mistake, yet like a schoolboy who doesn’t want to confess what he did to little Jimmy, they won’t admit it. It seems that the highly unbecoming act of persistently telling lies in order to dig oneself out of yet another lie isn’t an action only found among the pre-pubescent.

It is enormously unfortunate that we have to deal with this from the highest office in the land. But this is the way it is now. And if we are wise, it can help us to energize the power of Dhamma-vicaya. For, like the elk and other animals who became lazy several decades ago when all the wolves in Yellowstone National Park were all killed off in an ignorant attempt to improve the health of the rest of the ecosystem, we have become lame. We think police will help us when we are in need, we expect that our elected officials will always do the right thing, we think surely, if it’s on television it must be true. This simply isn’t the case. Just because the label on the american cheese box you bought from Kroger says “All Natural”, does not make it so. Just because the gas station along the highway in rural Nevada says “Worlds Best Hamburger”, trust me, it’s not. We need to learn how to investigate.

We are living in serious times dear friends. No doubt about it. And it can cause us to panic, or inspire us to be smart again, and less lazy. Like what is happening in the west now, as wolves return the wild and make the elk less lazy again, and more smart. We can choose to sit on our ass all day and play victim, believing whatever the overly opinionated podcaster you spend three hours of each day listening to has decided to devote all their time to or we can get out of the arm chair and engage with what Joanna Macy refers to as “active hope”.

Don’t just accept what you hear. Pay attention.

If by chance you come across you a rich and powerful white man, who was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, with a history of bigotry, who at least 25 women have publicly accused of rape, kissing and groping without consent, one being a 13 year old girl, you must pause and consider the irony of such a person suggesting any people might be “criminals, drug dealers and rapists.” which is precisely what Donald Trump has done on numerous occasions regarding Mexicans.

Yet we be careful to not take the bait and start assuming that any information we receive that supports the righteous views we hold dear is necessarily true either. We must investigate all narratives. Some may have seen the viral quote buzzing around social media of late that suggests Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum authentically said, “I told President Trump the best way to make rapists and criminals feel unwelcome in the US, is for their citizens to stop electing them.” Though it is a powerful statement and may be valid, if we are unwise and rush to post this as if it is gospel truth, we are no different than Trump sharing a photoshopped image of Garcias knuckles. For if you fact check this powerful quote you will not find any evidence that President Sheinbaum ever actually said this.

Pause. Look deeply. Generate sati and remain calm. Ask yourself, “Is it so?”. Check it out. Do your research. Actually do your research. If an issue really means that much to you, take it seriously. Learn about it. If you feel so inspired as to post on your feed ten times a day about how terrible Mexico is, learn everything you can about Mexico. Don’t just listen to the haters. Listen to mariachi! Learn how to make corn tortillas from scratch. Learn about the long history of corn and its relation with the Mexican people. Learn about NAFTA and how it screwed over the corn farmers in Mexico. Learn about what caused so many Mexicans to make the decision to leave their families to come work shitty jobs in a place they don’t want to be in. Go further. Learn how to grow corn. Learn how to play the trumpet. Learn how to distil agave. Memorize several poems en español. By all means, listen to Fox News, to evangelical preachers, to Joe Rogan and Oprah, but also listen to Amy Goodman, to Robert Reich to Mehdi Hasan, and CNN, to the BBC, to Al Jazeera, to Mother Jones and especially, especially, to animals, plants, minerals and that all-too-often overlooked, still small voice in you whispering, “Are You Sure?…Are you really sure???”.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

If you investigate deeply enough, you will inevitably fall in love with what you were convinced you hated. I must confess, although it has taken me nearly twenty years, I have started to grow a soft spot in my heart for the man who I hated more than any other in all my youth, George W. Bush. The reason for which being, I learned so much about his back story, how miserable his life has been, how the social conditioning of his upbringing made him into such a dumb mother fucker that even though his crimes are borderline unforgivable, I see a tiny, pathetic little boy in there who I no longer hate. We have to learn how to see that the same is true of all monsters. Trauma, when not properly metabolized makes people to mean things. We have to investigate. We have to heal the trauma. In order to this we have to stay long, go far, and see deep….

None of this is to suggest we should just forgive and forget all that war criminals like Cheney, Dubya, and the gang have done. We absolutely need to look deeply at Trump’s past and take a long hard look not only at his hurtful actions but how we as a society have let him (and many others) get away with such harmful acts. And no, of course we don’t want gangs walking around our neighborhoods intimidating local businesses either. There needs to be accountability in a functioning society, clearly. This is not only a law of modern, so-called “civil” society, but it is Ultimate Truth (i.e. Karma)

You may be familiar with the “Law of Karma”. In a nutshell, it suggests that all our actions will eventually be met with parallel resonance. When conditions are ripe, “justice” will be served. But justice will look differently than our narrowsited views now suggest. It would be nice if it was as simple as trading an eye for an eye. But as Gandhi rightly pointed out, that makes the whole world go blind. Dear friends, effective justice is not going to look like what Israel is now doing to Hamas, viciously reenacting the trauma they tragically experienced themselves in a foolish attempt to tip the scale. Oh, this insanity will tip the scale alright, and in doing so will make legions of even more hungry ghosts, ensuring that genuine, intergenerational healing is postponed yet again. Nah, real justice comes from another place altogether, from place of deep wisdom. A place far below the surface of our laziness and fear. A place of grace. And to find this place, to understand what this place has to offer and how it works, we must learn how to investigate more deeply, not with big tools, judicial systems and fancy concepts, but with creativity, discernment, patience, wisdom and above all, love.

What is the root cause of suffering? What is the origin of discontent? Who defines what is right and what is wrong? What is form? What is emptiness? What is the point in working hard at something you yourself will never see? What is forgiveness? What is grief? What is bliss? What if everything I am sharing here is pointless and you have just wasted a significant portion of your day sifting through complete nonsense? Look deeply. Check it out…

Maybe Trump should be the pope after all. Then again, maybe he’s the antichrist.

“Is it so?”

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If we wish to become more than armchair activists and blossom into actual change makers able to address not only the symptoms of our current calamities, but the root cause of suffering itself, than we need to work diligently at regenerating our long since lost capacity to not accept things at face value. We need to know that what we see online, even if it is a photo of something that did actually happen, for us is but a 2-dimensional replica of the real thing. A mirage. We cannot place all our energy in fighting the war overseas while a war is raging in our own home. We need to bring insight into our home. We need to become peace. Here. Today. For the benefit of a time beyond now. Only then can we be of any benefit to the (r)evolution.

The dragons we wish to slay have ancient histories and we won’t defeat them by merely voting them out of office temporarily and we sure as hell won’t win the battle by bombing them, destroying what they love, shaming them or forcing them into exile. We need to seek out people who have a lived experience with whatever ails thee, and listen to the stories of the ones too tired to speak, especially those so tired they have forgotten how to speak altogether. We need to re-member who these elders are and have the courtesy to learn from them. There aren’t many left. And we are running out of time.

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Have you ever eaten shishbarak? How about Kunāfah? Fatayer? Mutabal? Do tell me you have tasted Mujaddara, the tantalizing Gaza Strip dish assembled of cooked rice and lentils enriched with generous amounts of onions sautéed in olive oil… Investigate the cuisine of a people and you will surely learn a great deal about who they are. Learn to listen with your taste buds and all will be revealed.

Further Reading:

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Keep demonstrating against Trump, but also for a better future. The importance of progressive populism

Robert Reich

#mayallbeingsbehappyandfree🍉