EVERY FORM OF REFUGE HAS ITS PRICE

Thomas Paine said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”  Ironically, that statement is true no matter who says it, or when they say it.  Soul-trying time is always right now.  

I thought of the Paine quote when I read something a friend posted last week.  As I read her post, she was frustrated with some of her yoga teachers who have argued that it’s best to avoid getting involved with politics because political activity disturbs one’s peace of mind. 

I’m a yoga teacher.  I have an opinion about that opinion.  I probably have more than one opinion about it.  And I’ll begin by acknowledging that all of those opinions are based on second hand information, so I could be building straw man arguments.  Caveat emptor, as always.

Many of my yoga students are also FaceBook friends, so they know I have strong views about politics, and they know what those views are.  My students and I live in real world America, and we’re affected by what goes on there.  That doesn’t mean we have to obsess about it every minute of the day, or think about it while we’re doing yoga.  I pick my spots carefully when talking about current events in class, since that’s not what the students are paying me for.

That said, I’m curious about the idea that political action and peace of mind don’t mix.  The physical poses of yoga were developed many centuries ago as one part of a larger and more complex path designed to relieve human suffering.  That path starts with ethical behavior, and the first principle of ethical behavior is ahimsa, or non-harming.  I was taught that non-harming is more than just passive avoidance of hurting other living beings.  It requires practitioners to actively protect living beings. 

I believe that political engagement can be one way to practice non-harming.  It’s not the only way, of course.  I wouldn’t criticize anyone who finds that they’re simply not suited for the political arena.  Maybe they’re too shy, or too sensitive.  Maybe they’ve discovered that anger or despair overwhelms them when they look too closely at what’s happening in our country.  Maybe they’re burned out and are just taking a hard earned break.  I get it.  I’ve been in all those places. 

All that is by way of saying that I respect people whose choices are different than mine.  As King Solomon (and the Byrds) put it, there’s a time for every purpose under heaven.  But just because political activity isn’t your thing at the moment, I don’t see why anyone want to discourage others from pursuing ethical political engagement. 

I’m going to make a broad generalization here, but my guess is that most yoga teachers and yoga students in the United States are white.  And if you’re white, you’re insulated from the worst stuff that Donald Trump and his minions are doing.  Sure, maybe you’re poor, maybe you’re gay or lesbian, or any one of a hundred other potentially difficult conditions.  But if you’re white, you can pass.  ICE will probably leave you alone; they’re looking for Mexicans and Muslims.  If you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, the police may arrest you, but they probably won’t murder you.  You have the luxury of privilege. 

I believe that, at some point, we’re all accountable for what we do with our privilege.  As James, the brother of Jesus, put it, faith without works is dead.  As Elvis Presley put nearly two thousand years later, yoga is as yoga does.  Yoga is not supposed to be about cultivating indifference to the suffering of others.  “Comfortably numb” isn’t one of the Four Immeasurables. 

Personally, I’m convinced that whatever inner peace I have comes from helping others.  That includes paying attention to political events that cause suffering – and, at least once in a while, trying to do something to help.  Even if it’s something as minor as writing a blog post like this one.