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Your Insanity Is My Clarity, Not to Mention Convention Is A Great War Weapon.
- El-P
To be insane is to have a disingenuous relationship with reality (whether intentional or not) and with that definition all of us to some degree are insane. Knowing this, it may be possible to see our confusion as an area of commonality and therefore connection and communication.
Taking the time to look into ourselves and discover our day to day craziness is a good practice and the potential harbinger of good news. It means that we are seeing the reality of our individual situations; that our minds are always moving and often feels solely in control over the decision as to when it will decide to settle down and let us have some peace. Despite the racing thoughts that we experience, the collecting and focusing of our awareness is the dawn of clarity or the beginning of seeing things as they truly are.
Witnessing our own insanity and its dance partner, the coy and seemingly elusive clarity, also aids us in understanding what's going on with others. If confusion is happening for me its probably happening to them. If the desire to be happy is happening for me its probably happening for them. We can use clarity to see into others insanity, and in fact deeply allowing ourselves to experience another's insanity is a good definition for compassion. As I was taught, the etymology of the word compassion translates as "to suffer with" or to go through the difficult experiences with another. I can either choose to see your suffering or to see you AS your suffering. I can choose to delight in your suffering or I can choose to feel into your suffering. Of course another choice is to completely ignore the whole thing and pretend as if as long as I don't pay attention to what's going on with anyone that everything will be alright.
Conventional thinking (or common place, status quo thinking) may show us that others pain should be ignored in favor of our own comfort or fear (what do I stand to gain by caring about how you feel?). But who wins and who loses when that type of thinking becomes the norm? Convention is indeed a great war weapon. It is useful when you want to control large groups of people, especially when the result is power for the few and disempowerment for the many. Convention convinces us of our own illusory superiority and reinforces preexisting arrogance. As long as we can pretend to know what is most real, with the support of those around us and without much encouragement to look beyond the surface of our experience, we can justify righteousness, avoid the responsibility of determining fact from fiction on our own and ignore the jarring truths that exist when we let go of group think in favor of truth think.
Let us contemplate this:
Sit in an upright and comfortable position (on a cushion or chair) with your hands in the meditation posture (place the back of your left hand on the palm of your right hand and let your thumbs touch lightly). Let your eyes rest, half closed and focused on nothing in particular. Let everything in your field of vision just be, without labelling it or judging it. Just let your eyes relax. Sit for five minutes and focus all of your attention on breathing. Feel the complete in and out breath and when your mind wanders, bring your attention back to your breath.
After five minutes, allow a word, a sentence or the entire phrase to arise in your mind and when the word, sentence or phrase fades, say it gently again. Allow whatever arises to arise without judgement and when something feels real, when there's some spark of insight rest in your mind and place your attention on it. When your mind starts to wander, bring your attention back to what arose for you. Practice contemplation for ten minutes and then return to focusing on your breath for five more minutes. Focus only on the most subtle of experience. Afterwards, carry whatever arose for you in contemplation practice into your everyday life.
Check this previous post for an explanation of contemplation practice. http://www.hiphopalive.org/mind-spray/2016/12/7/4p2lnb8omwoc5dc5uznhcxii002b89
If there is a verse you think should be contemplated or think I should discuss, let me know in the comment section below.
Hiphop Alive
Justin F. Miles is the founder of Hiphop Alive and pioneering practitioner, theorist and educator at the intersection of Hiphop culture, mindfulness and contemplative studies. He is the leading voice championing the use of Hiphop infused contemplative modalities to foster resilience, emotional intelligence, and community empowerment.