The Obstacle is the Path

“Every enemy is your medicine  - your beneficial alchemy and heart healing.” - Rumi

This essay was first published to the True Nature community on January 31, 2025.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I would continue to flesh out the “most important thing” theme we considered and discussed in our January call, but then the last couple of weeks happened.

Now, other questions arise:

Should contemplatives and spiritual leaders attempt to avoid political stances, or should they be engaged in public discourse and direct action with social justice movements and the like?

How does the old etiquette rule about avoiding politics in conversation apply in times like these?

What makes something political, anyway? The category seems to have gobbled up everything of substance like the blob in the campy 1950s horror movie to the point that having a position on anything at all can be seen as taking a political stand. 

If we’ve wanted or been inclined to avoid such questions, our hands might now be forced; otherwise, we will almost certainly be guilty of willful ignorance and avoidance - traits that are as anathema to a sincere meditator as any could be.

Come, search your heart with me. Just as we turn toward our personal blind spots and wounds to see through and heal them, facing these challenging questions in the context of such historic times can burn away obscurations and reveal True Nature. 

Let’s not seek to escape or avoid our personal or collective pain, but greet it as a visitor who holds our very salvation in their hands. Acknowledge, slow down, breathe.

After slowing down even a little, discomfort may arise. It’s important to acknowledge this too. There could be anxiety, anger, fear, and even concerning physiological reactions to stress.

Balancing self-care with right action is difficult to the degree that a person is personally impacted by challenging conditions; there is no one right way to navigate the time in which we find ourselves. We might need to increase our formal practice and our live communications with other meditators, be deliberate about peaceful bedtime routines, and reassess our news sources and exposure to social media to stay or return to a clear, grounded state of mind. That might take all the energy some of us have, and that’s okay. No one should feel guilty for not getting literally involved in political topics when their apparent absence is due not to avoidance or apathy but to maintaining a baseline of mental health that is a prerequisite to any skillful response to one’s conditions.

The traditional contemplative view is this - take conditions seriously, but not literally. That is, squarely face inner and outer (self and world) circumstances as honestly and completely as you currently can, while also remembering that there is a long view, so to speak. We practice, and we trust . . . and we do what we can in the world of form also. 

My own sphere of influence is small, but I will do my part during these uncertain times. Please feel free to reach out to me personally if you are struggling. 

If you have been experiencing elevated fear, stress, or despair, contemplating ethics may offer you an anchor from which you can weather the storm and gain confidence that it will pass. Part of that confidence may in turn come from your own sense of calm and empowerment as the storm itself trains you perfectly for what lies ahead. One place to start is looking up Buddhist precepts and/or the eightfold path as examples of ethics you can consider and discuss so that you can gain clarity about what each of these means in your own daily life.

Remember, the world and the formless are not two.