November 6, 2024 — We now know the results of the election — an election where everything, it seems, was at stake. Often throughout this election, all sides couldn’t believe their fellow citizens think what they think, and it’s not enough to let them think it. We’re enraged by their thinking. At their stupidity, their hypocrisy, their hatred of others. For which, we hate them. Hatred in all directions. I can feel this in myself, too.
But at the risk of enraging you further, there are more important things than this election. More important even than the decline of democracy around the world, than the actions of the Supreme Court, than the question of whether climate change will allow homo sapiens to survive this century. (Ferns, which have survived several mass extinctions, will probably be okay). Maybe the Earth will have to start over again a seventh time, giving rise to another unimaginably creative and diverse new web of life, more intelligent and compassionate than we.
What could possibly be more important than those things? The answer, for me, comes from a living, mature, experienced, unselfish world leader, a spiritual teacher, a true grownup. (There’s no such person! we protest. And yet, there is.) Like many good things that happen every day and are neglected by the news, this leader is quiet and non-obtrusive and must be sought out, like a rare wildflower deep in the woods: the Dalai Lama. More important than the outcomes of our current events and the sufferings attached to them, the Dalai Lama would say, is that we practice love and compassion. In fact, the fact that we don’t practice them consistently is the reason we’re in such a pickle. Or an old-fashioned general store full of pickles.
I recommend his book “How to Practice” at this time. It is based on Buddhism, but you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice. If you don’t have time to read it, here are three basic tenets that I hope will help you, as they’ve helped me, through my angst:
Under no circumstances should you lose hope.
Practice love, kindness, and compassion, and you, and the world, will find more peace.
Pray and act on the prayer of the Shativeda, an 8th Century monk, which concludes:
As long as the sky exists
As long as there are sentient beings
May I remain to help
Relieve them of all their pain.
No matter the outcome of an election, there is no shortage of pain to be relieved, no shortage of situations and people which call for our compassion, and no shortage of work to do to protect the web of life on Earth. No matter the outcome of an election, let us be lucky enough for the rest of our days to serve other people, other animals, and plants in the current web of life who need our help.
It is the hatred and stupidity and selfishness within us that must be conquered, that we must vote down.
By Kristin Riott. Kristin is BTG’s Executive Director.
