“The times are urgent. Let’s slow down.”
—Bayo Akomalafe
I am writing this to you less than two weeks before the midterm elections. You are reading this just a few days before we will engage as world citizens and vote. If you haven’t yet voted, I hope that you consider doing so.
Voting may seem like a small action to take, given the huge challenges facing this country and world. It’s not as though voting is the only thing or perhaps even the most important action we can take. Some people think that the entire political system is so broken that voting is co-operating with the unwholesome. Although I don’t agree, I do understand this view.
My sense is that voting may be the most important thing you do on the day you vote. It is one way to live our vows and fulfill our aspirations. It is a way to honor ancestors and others who have not been able to vote. It is an expression of our hope for a more compassionate world. Whatever the outcome, a decision to vote embodies dedication to what we hold dear.
Together as practitioners we are on a noble path with dual projects; one is to know an unconditional inner freedom and the other is to share what we discover with everyone everywhere.
We discover an unconditional inner freedom by trusting this freedom is innate and accessible through ethical action, contemplation, and wise view. In as steadfast a way as is possible, we attend to the three torments of greed, hatred, and delusion, and see through their seeming power and capacity to obscure by patiently caring for our hearts and resting in the peace we find within.
And what we learn, we share. What we understand, we put into practice in our everyday life. A meditative perspective doesn’t mean reactive problem solving or impulsive efforts to fix. It means listening and connecting and calmly doing what we can. We can respond to urgent times by moving with great care.
As the bodhisattva congressman John Lewis lay dying, he reminded those around him that we all live in one American house, in one world house. He spoke of “the inevitable truth that we’re all members of one human family.”
As I see it, casting a vote is an action that contributes to light, kindness, and wisdom in our shared world family. When we vote, we share. To vote is to take our place in the family of things.
And you also won’t need to listen to my urging in the morning anymore!
With heartfelt gratitude for your practice,
Love, Narayan