while listening to an npr podcast interview today a brief discussion about tonglen meditation came up which sparked my focus as it relates closely to how i view my position in society. upon reading my blog posts or listening to my rants about anything and everything, which tends to primarily focus on issues of politics, human rights and american society, one would probably see me as an extremely bitter and pessimistic person. however, one should know that all of my pessimism emerges from my daily interaction with reality and the truth rather than following most people’s comfortable existence behind their own self-manifested filters. i’ve had this discussion before with several friends… i’m not sure exactly what causes me to have such strong convictions about things well beyond my control. i witness all the problems in the world and society and feel the need to fix them, or at least take part in finding a solution. it’s strange though… if you read up on aquarius (my astrological sign) it appears that those who fall under this sign are very socially driven and will put other people’s suffering and problems before their own. even if you don’t believe in astrology it does seem rather odd that most of what i read regarding aquarius is true to my own life.
anyway, back to the podcast discussion. tonglen meditation is the tibetan practice of sending and receiving that is commonly used in the buddhist religion. the practitioner breathes in the bad and breathes out the good, taking on the suffering of sentient beings. As described by this source:
“In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean  you name it  to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, one’s whole attitude toward pain can change. Instead of fending it off and hiding from it, one could open one’s heart and allow oneself to feel that pain, feel it as something that will soften and purify us and make us far more loving and kind. …�
although it goes against the inherent selfishness of humanity, this article explains that it strengthens us and brings us more in touch with reality:
“People often say that this practice goes against the grain of how we usually hold ourselves together. Truthfully, this practice does go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms, of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. The practice dissolves the armor of self-protection we’ve tried so hard to create around ourselves. In Buddhist language one would say that it dissolves the fixation and clinging of ego.
“Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure and, in the process, we become liberated from a very ancient prison of selfishness. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others and also we being to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality. It introduces us to the unlimited spaciousness that Buddhists call shunyata. By doing the practice, we begin to connect with the open dimension of our being. At first we experience this as things not being such a big deal or so solid as they seemed before.”
so is this what i’m attempting? is this the reason i give a damn about so much for that which either lies beyond my control or doesn’t affect me directly?
then, with the recent rants and realizations about how so much of bona fide society, especially here in america, consists of self-righteous, quick-to-judge, racist and/or discriminatory bigtos, i began to think about how digital communication and interaction on the internet is this “neutral society.” probably the most amazing and exciting thing about the internet and how it has changed the way in which we interact with each other is the fact that we only know people through their words and thoughts. the internet essentially strips away potentially controversial issues of race, gender, sexual orientation and physical appearance. you don’t care what the person on the other end you are interacting with looks like. the only thing that matters is the immediate conversation and ’socio-digital’ interaction taking place between them and yourself. you don’t know who these people are from the outside…but rather you get to know them through their words and passions and from their heart. of course there are exceptions when you began to introduce those stripped away concepts back into this “neutral ground,” most likely the primary problem with social networking sites nowadays that try to mimic reality.