I woke up at 6 this morning and slept extremely well which, for me, is a sign that my anxiety bout is easing (thank god). I enjoyed a coffee and a gentle Yin practice to ease my body into my day free of working, before taking old soul Andy for our morning constitutional.
From my walk this morning. I love finding bush-walks and getting just the right amount completely lost!
I’ll preface this post by saying I’m not religious myself, however I do see the value of religious beliefs and practices for grounding purposes and providing answers, meaning and direction. In saying that, I find doctrine and the somewhat inert idea of religion uncomfortable, and prefer more fluidity in belief systems. Recently, I’ve been loving the Secular Buddhism Podcast by Noah Rasheta; I feel it does a fantastic job of making Buddhism approachable and accessible.
This mornings listenings spoke of dualistic thinking, referring to the A/B manner that sees One and the Other. This type of thinking is problematic, and yet I feel as though it is incredible pervasive in the world today. Just look at the nature of Covid-19. We have the vaxed and the unvaxed. The policy protestors and supporters. It has provided another opportunity to be A or B and honestly, I think we have enough opportunity for divisiveness already.
A central idea in Buddhist teachings is interdependency, which encourages looking at things beyond their surface level to see them in their entirety. A book for example is made of paper, coming from trees, relying on a complex root system which requires nutrient rich soil etc. The words on the pages were written by an author, who learnt a complex language from a parent that has been passed down.
As you can see, it goes on forever.
I feel as though dualistic thinking has served to reject the concept of interconnectedness within the world... its like we’ve forgotten we’re a collective humanity! Neil DeGrasse Tyson stated labels to be “mentally lazy ways by which people assert they know you without knowing you”, and its true. Dualism promotes categorisation of something we should see as a whole, because the entirety of humanity is reliant on a functioning whole. Without it, we would have no food, security... it would be anarchy! We’re interdependent and yet divided entirely.
We all have common wants and needs. To be safe, to be free, to be content, to feel loved. We’re all bothered by Covid and its restrictions, we’re all concerned about the climate, we’re ALL seeking connection. And yet we concern ourselves with whether someone shares our political opinion.
I’m just thinking out loud here, and I know I need to get better at putting my thoughts into words! Hopefully this makes some sense.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?