The theme of “other” seems to be popping up in my life a lot right now.
I’m listening to Michelle Obama’s audio book, Becoming (yes, the one that won her a Grammy). In it, she talks about how politicians used and twisted language and facts to scare voters when Barack Obama ran for president. The efforts were meant to insight fear among voters, so they’d see Barack as “other,” and someone unfit to be President of the United States.
And January 27 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — the ultimate example of the horrors and atrocities that can happen when one group of people marks another group as “other.”
So it was reassuring when I stepped into my meditation class this week, and my teacher’s first question was to ask us what keeps us from showing compassion to others. Our answers ranged from fear to discomfort to busyness to distrust — and media and technology.
In a true sign of the Woo, my meditation teacher had chosen this passage to read to us:
The television set and the computer are the most popular temples these days: when your mind is inside them, it’s confusing — but nothing is
Pārami, Ways to Cross Life’s Floods, by Ajahn Sucitto
asked of you, and you carry no responsibility. Your attention is
suspended from your own concerns — which feels like a relief —
but the mind is in a passive position that doesn’t call up anything
from its depths. Attention is in a trance
When we are in the trance of technology, we are absorbing language and images and storylines that can easily paint our neighbors and strangers as “others.” After all, as the Ajahn Sucitto quote says, when zoned out, “nothing is asked of you, and you carry no responsibility.” But IRL, we do carry responsibility, and it’s helpful to listen to the tea, which reminds us to hold each other and ourselves in reverence.