How Do I Meditate When There's a War Going On? | Claude AnShin Thomas
Claude AnShin Thomas, an ordained Zen monk and Vietnam veteran, discusses how to navigate global crises, manage news consumption, and confront personal fears. He emphasizes disciplined spiritual practice and looking at the roots of violence within oneself to foster peace.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Addressing Listener Struggles with War News
The Narcotic Effect of War and Media Consumption
Disciplined Practice for Managing News Overwhelm
Apathy, Action, and the Zaltho Foundation
Individual Roots of War and Collective Suffering
Living at Peace with Unpeacefulness
Violence as a Non-Solution and Active Nonviolence
Working with Fear and Uncertainty
Reconciling Enjoyment with Global Suffering
The Vladimir Putin Within and Interconnectedness
Dehumanization and Overlooked Suffering
Systemic Racism and Personal Conditioning
Claude's Journey: War Before, During, and After
7 Key Concepts
Narcotic Effect of War
War and its images have a narcotic effect, creating an obsession and compulsion to consume more and more images, which can distract from other global and local violence. This seduction requires discipline to resist.
Action Over Belief
Zen practice emphasizes that what one thinks, says, or believes is less important than what one actually does. This principle guides the focus towards practical, real-time assistance rather than mere intellectual engagement or social media activity.
Living at Peace with Unpeacefulness
This concept involves learning to accept and coexist with one's internal struggles, memories, and impulses (such as the impulse towards violence) rather than trying to eliminate them. It's about developing a conscious relationship with these aspects of oneself.
War as Collective Suffering
War is understood as a collective manifestation of individual suffering. The roots of war, violence, and suffering are individual, and by addressing these roots within oneself, there is a possibility to transform the overarching view of war's inevitability.
Active Nonviolence
This is a conscious choice not to act in violence, whether through speech or action, while fully acknowledging one's inherent capacity for violence. It is distinct from pacifism, focusing on taking responsibility for violent impulses and choosing an alternative path.
Eating as Meditation
By reciting a reflection before meals, acknowledging the universe's gift and the effort involved in producing the food, the act of eating transforms into a conscious meditation. This practice fosters gratitude and helps one eat for all who lack food, informing potential actions to help.
Dehumanization in War
Training for war involves a process of dehumanization, which makes it possible to take another life. This process leads to a loss of contact with one's own humanity, and similar forms of desensitization can occur in daily life regarding various forms of suffering.
7 Questions Answered
It requires exercising self-discipline to avoid the 'narcotic' seduction of war images. Establishing a disciplined routine, such as daily meditation and connecting with a supportive community, can help maintain this balance.
Individuals can turn their focus inward to examine the roots of war, violence, and suffering within themselves, then seek practical actions they can take in their own neighborhood or community, recognizing that individual suffering manifests collectively.
While understandable and making sense in the moment, violence is never a true solution because it perpetuates cycles of victimhood and perpetration, leaving lasting negative residuals for generations. It ultimately only invites more violence.
One can work with fear by staying present, being cautious not to be drawn into fear-driven thought patterns, and avoiding the attempt to gain certainty through intellectual comprehension. Engaging in practical, mindful actions like washing dishes, connecting with a support network, or consciously focusing on one's breath can help.
It's healthy to acknowledge a measure of guilt as informative, but not to wallow in it. Instead, cultivate gratitude for one's opportunities, transform personal acts like eating into meditation, recognize interconnectedness, and use the awareness to ask, 'what can I do?'
We are challenged to find the 'Vladimir Putin' within ourselves, acknowledging our own roots of war, violence, and suffering. Making such figures the enemy makes us no different from them; to change the world, we must be willing to live differently ourselves.
This selective attention can stem from societal desensitization and, potentially, systemic racism, where the suffering of people of color is given less importance than that of people who are perceived as 'looking more like us.'
23 Actionable Insights
1. Examine Your Own Roots of Violence
Turn inward to examine the individual roots of war, violence, and suffering within yourself. This self-reflection is crucial for transforming the collective reality of suffering, as war is a manifestation of individual suffering.
2. Cultivate Desire to Live Differently
Recognize that fundamental change requires a genuine desire to live differently. Without this intrinsic motivation, external advice or actions will not lead to lasting transformation.
3. Abstain from Intoxicants
If seeking a path to peace and transformation, commit to stopping the use of alcohol and other drugs and staying stopped. This is presented as a fundamental step for those wanting to live differently.
4. Practice Non-Killing
Commit to not killing, which includes stopping the consumption of meat, fish, and poultry, and actively choosing not to support institutions that engage in killing. This is a fundamental step in a disciplined spiritual practice.
5. Establish Daily Sitting Practice
Start and end each day by sitting for at least five minutes, bringing attention and intention to the process. This helps establish discipline and prevents being consumed by external events.
6. Integrate Meditation into Daily Life
Extend the practice of meditation and cultivated silence beyond formal sitting sessions into all aspects of daily life. This ensures that mindfulness and awareness are continuous, not confined to specific times or places.
7. Practice Conscious Abdominal Breathing
Breathe consciously, focusing on the breath entering the abdomen and noting the precise points of entry and exit from the body, without following it internally. This practice, integrated with daily activities, supports presence and self-regulation.
8. Acknowledge Feelings Without Control
Recognize and acknowledge feelings like hopelessness, confusion, uncertainty, and powerlessness, understanding that they are transient and will pass. This approach prevents these feelings from controlling your actions or state of mind.
9. Stay Present to Manage Fear
When experiencing fear, focus on staying as present as possible to avoid being drawn into fear-generated thought threads. Engage in practical, immediate actions to ground yourself and prevent seeking false certainty through intellectualizing.
10. Exercise Media Consumption Self-Discipline
Be cautious about the ’narcotic effect’ and ‘seduction’ of war images and news by exercising self-discipline to avoid obsession and compulsion, while still staying informed. This prevents being overwhelmed and getting lost in endless consumption.
11. Diversify News, Read Not Watch
Avoid social media for news and instead read from a diversity of news sources, including international ones, to gain different angles of perception. This helps stay informed without being drawn into the ’narcotic effect’ of visual media and avoids apathy.
12. Connect with Like-Minded People
Join a group of like-minded individuals to discuss consuming thoughts, feelings, or perceptions arising from media exposure. This provides a support system to prevent fostering dependence or compulsion.
13. Prioritize Action Over Belief
Focus on concrete actions rather than just thoughts, words, or beliefs. Regularly ask yourself ‘what can I do?’ to translate intentions into tangible support and service.
14. Engage in Local Support
Seek opportunities to provide real-time, on-the-ground assistance in your local community or neighborhood. This addresses the overarching reality of suffering, even if not directly related to distant global conflicts.
15. Practice Mindful Eating with Gratitude
Before eating, recite a reflection acknowledging the food as a gift and the effort involved in its production, transforming eating into an act of meditation. Eat with gratitude, acknowledging those who lack food, and allow a healthy measure of guilt to inform action, rather than wallowing in it.
16. Acknowledge Societal Conditioning
Be willing to acknowledge how you were conditioned by society and culture (e.g., to be racist or misogynistic), even if you don’t wish to embody those traits. This awareness is essential to see how such conditioning manifests in your life and to relate to it differently.
17. Consciously Choose Non-Violence
Acknowledge your inherent capacity for violence (in speech or action) and make a conscious, active choice not to engage in it. This is a practice of active non-violence, not passive pacifism.
18. Take Responsibility for Violence
If you do act violently (in speech or action), quickly recognize it and take responsibility by addressing it with those affected. This allows for correction and prevents further harm.
19. Release Reliance on Weapons
Consider letting go of the reliance on weapons, understanding that they do not provide true safety. This can be a literal act of disarming or a symbolic shift in mindset away from violence as a solution.
20. Learn to Live with Unpeacefulness
Accept and learn to coexist peacefully with internal ‘unpeacefulness’ (e.g., memories, feelings, images of past suffering) rather than trying to eliminate or forget them. This allows for a more integrated way of living.
21. Be Cautious of Intellect
Approach decisions made solely through intellect with caution, as intellectual ideas are often informed by inherited suffering and collective conditioning. Seek deeper insights beyond intellectual comprehension.
22. Embody the Peace You Seek
Commit to embodying the peace you wish to see in the world, remaining open to how circumstances may alter your perceptions and ideas about what that peace entails.
23. Make Your Bed Daily
Make your bed ’like you never slept in it’ first thing in the morning. This simple act helps establish discipline and a routine.
7 Key Quotes
Violence is never a solution. Even when it appears to work, it doesn't really work.
Claude Anshin-Thomas
I need to learn how to live at peace with this unpeacefulness.
Claude Anshin-Thomas
How do you know it could be worse?
Unidentified man
Meditation and daily life aren't two things.
Claude Anshin-Thomas
There is no just war, there's just war.
Claude Anshin-Thomas
When you heal, you heal for all veterans. When you heal, you heal the suffering of your family lineages that exist in you.
Abbot of Claude's monastery
I need to be willing to be the piece I want to see in the world and not have a preconceived idea about what that piece is.
Claude Anshin-Thomas
3 Protocols
Daily Discipline to Avoid News Overwhelm
Claude Anshin-Thomas- First thing in the morning, make the bed like you never slept in it.
- Sit for five minutes, focusing on attention and intention.
- Sit every morning, first thing.
- Sit every night, last thing.
- Connect with a group of like-minded people to discuss thoughts, feelings, or perceptions arising from exposure to images, without fostering dependence or compulsion.
Working with Fear and Uncertainty
Claude Anshin-Thomas- Stay as present as possible, being cautious not to be drawn into fear-created thought threads.
- Avoid attempting to gain certainty through intellectual comprehension.
- Engage in practical actions like washing dishes, making a cup of tea, or connecting with a support network.
- Bring attention to the gestures and actions involved in simple tasks to slow down.
- Concentrate on conscious breathing: breathe into the abdomen, pay attention to the precise point where breath enters the body, and notice the stomach contracting as breath leaves the body.
Path to Peace with Unpeacefulness (Buddhist Perspective)
Claude Anshin-Thomas- Be willing to stop taking intoxicants and stay stopped.
- Commit to not killing, which includes stopping the consumption of meat, fish, and poultry, and not supporting institutions of killing.
- Be willing to sit twice a day.
- Engage in a group of like-minded people who are practicing this way of life.