Race is Not Tangential to Meditation | Rhonda V. Magee
Rhonda V. Magee, Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, discusses how racial justice is central to mindfulness practice. She explores the "inner work" of racial justice, the disutility of shame, and practical ways to use mindfulness in difficult conversations about race.
Deep Dive Analysis
14 Topic Outline
Introduction: Meditation's Role in Addressing Race and Difference
Motivation Behind 'The Inner Work of Racial Justice'
Law's Complex Role in Racial Justice and Oppression
Mindfulness and Waking Up to Whiteness
Personal History and the Legacies of Racism
Understanding Racialization as a Social Project
The Dominance of Whiteness and its Unseen Influence
Shame, Defensiveness, and Cognitive Dissonance in Racial Discussions
Mindfulness as a Tool for Engaging with Racial Realities
Practical Application: Using RAIN for Inner Work
Contemplative Storytelling and Recognizing Implicit Bias
Navigating Political Correctness and Right Speech
The Dangers of Predatory Listening and Cancel Culture
Mindfulness, Freedom, and the Messiness of Human Connection
6 Key Concepts
Racialization Project
This refers to the social process by which something called 'race' is created, maintained, and given meaning in different ways across different times and places. It's a construct that shapes identities and societal structures, often implicitly, influencing who matters and what opportunities are available.
White Supremacy (Cultural Legacy)
This term, as used in the discussion, refers to the historical and ongoing legacy of laws and cultural commitments in a society where whites have systematically mattered most in important institutions. It's about the pervasive cultural patterns and structures that benefit a dominant racial group, not solely overt acts of hatred.
Dual/Double Consciousness
A concept describing the experience of navigating multiple worlds, particularly for individuals from marginalized groups who operate in both their community of origin and the dominant culture. It involves seeing oneself through the eyes of both one's own group and the dominant society, leading to a unique, often code-switching, perspective.
Neurotic vs. Appropriate Shame
Neurotic shame is a defensive reaction that shuts down inquiry when difficult topics arise, preventing self-reflection. Appropriate shame, however, can be a 'quickening' that calls forth inquiry into one's responsibilities, what one has been unwilling to see or do, and prompts a desire to minimize harm.
Predatory Listening
A communication pattern where one listens to another person primarily to catch them making a mistake or saying something 'wrong,' with the intention of shaming or 'canceling' them. This approach undermines constructive dialogue and fosters an environment of fear and defensiveness.
Intent vs. Impact
This distinction highlights that a speaker's intention (e.g., to speak truthfully, not to hurt) may differ significantly from the actual impact of their words on a listener (e.g., causing hurt or offense). Recognizing this difference is crucial for mindful communication and repair in justice work.
7 Questions Answered
Rhonda wrote the book because she felt called to integrate her inner mindfulness work with her outer work in law, especially regarding race and racism. She realized the need to bring contemplative practice explicitly into legal education and broader conversations to help herself and her students sustain in this difficult work and address suffering.
Race and racism are fundamental aspects of human experience and societal structures. If mindfulness is about being aware of 'all that is,' then ignoring race indicates a practice that has grown through a racialized lens. Engaging with race becomes a 'crucible' to test and deepen one's meditation practice, revealing unseen biases and structures.
From the very first Immigration Act of 1790, whiteness was privileged as a basis for naturalized citizenship, codifying racial hierarchy. Even after the Civil War and Reconstruction Amendments, systemic forces continued to limit the promises of inclusion, necessitating the Civil Rights Movement to expand rights and challenge the dominant, often unseen, white-specific view of institutions.
Shame can be a barrier by triggering defensiveness and shutting down inquiry, especially when people feel personally attacked. However, mindfulness can help distinguish neurotic shame from an 'appropriate shame' that calls for self-inquiry, prompting individuals to examine what they've been unwilling to see or do, and to take responsibility for minimizing harm.
Mindfulness supports this work by cultivating the capacity to 'Recognize, Accept, Investigate, and Nurture' (RAIN) one's reactions and biases without immediate judgment. It involves pausing to observe physical sensations, emotions, and subtle thoughts that arise when encountering difference, thereby creating space for inquiry and conscious response.
Contemplative storytelling involves openly sharing personal 'race stories' or moments where one's biases or conditioning became apparent, such as reacting to different languages or unexpected racial identities. This practice normalizes the presence of bias, creates spaciousness around difficult emotions like shame, and helps dissipate resistance to inquiry.
Political correctness, while aiming to heighten awareness of language's potential for harm, can sometimes lead to brittleness and 'cancel culture.' Right speech, in contrast, is a more radical invitation to speak truthfully and minimize harm from a place of clarity and compassion, acknowledging the difference between intent and impact, and inviting humility, forgiveness, and repair when mistakes occur.
55 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Clear View for Wise Response
Understand that “non-action is not inaction”; by cultivating a clearer view of your own mind and the overall situation, you can respond wisely in the world instead of reacting blindly.
2. Meditate for Life Improvement
Practice meditation with the goal of becoming a better person and improving your overall life, rather than solely focusing on becoming a better meditator.
3. Use Non-Doing to Inform Doing
Engage in periods of “non-doing” (like meditation) to profoundly inform and enhance the effectiveness of the rest of your life, which primarily consists of “doing” or sleeping.
4. Apply RAIN to Internal Reactions
Use the RAIN (Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Non-attachment/Nurture) acronym to process internal reactions: Recognize what’s happening, Accept it without resistance, Investigate the specifics of your reactivity (anger, fear, underlying threats), and approach it with non-attachment or nurturing compassion.
5. Skillfully Relate to Shame
Actively engage with the complex of emotions and reactivities associated with shame, using mindfulness to develop a more skillful relationship with it, rather than avoiding it entirely.
6. Avoid Shame for Clearer Reasoning
Recognize that shame can shut down reason and lead to defensiveness, hindering broad, fair-minded thinking; therefore, strive to minimize shame in discussions to promote constructive engagement.
7. Approach Issues with Compassion
Address challenging issues, especially those inherited from societal legacies like racism and sexism, with as much compassion as possible, recognizing that we inherited these conditions.
8. Begin Compassion with Self
Initiate the practice of compassion by applying it to yourself first, acknowledging that you will naturally “flinch” or react uncomfortably when confronting your own ingrained biases or cultural conditioning.
9. Act from Clarity, Minimize Harm
In every moment, strive to act and speak from a place of clarity, with the intention of minimizing harm as best as you can.
10. Recognize Reactivity, Choose Response
Cultivate the ability to recognize your initial reactivity and consciously choose how to respond, rather than reacting impulsively, especially in challenging interactions.
11. Mindfully See Without Judgment
Employ mindfulness to “open up and cultivate the capacity to just see what there is to be seen,” temporarily setting aside judgment to better apprehend and relate to reality with greater purpose and intentionality.
12. Test Meditation in Real World
Actively apply the insights gained from your meditation practice in everyday interactions with other people, such as at the DMV or the office, to see how you respond to real-world challenges.
13. Test Practice with Difficult Issues
Engage with contentious social issues, such as race or other forms of difference, as a “crucible” to rigorously test and apply the principles of your meditation practice.
14. Examine Racial Thoughts for Humility
To uncover your own neuroses and biases, pay close attention to the thoughts that arise in your mind concerning race, which can lead to humbling self-discovery.
15. Mindfully Observe Mind’s Sorting
Practice mindfulness to observe how your mind automatically sorts and makes judgments, especially when encountering people of different backgrounds, to challenge your self-perception of fairness.
16. Examine Assumptions About Difference
Pay close attention to how you deal with all forms of difference (pigmentation, chromosomal, ideological) and the assumptions you bring to these interactions, using meditation to untangle these thoughts in a useful way.
17. Recognize Universal Mind’s “Craziness”
Through self-observation, recognize the “craziness” of your own mind and understand that this is a universal human experience, fostering empathy for others.
18. Understand Universal Mind, Lessen Judgment
By observing your own mind and recognizing its universal nature, you can develop a deeper understanding of how life conditions shape others, leading to less judgment and more compassion.
19. Acknowledge Bias’s Evolutionary Roots
Recognize that humans evolved with a predisposition for bias, which helps explain its presence and makes shame unproductive when addressing it.
20. Intend Awareness of Race
Make a conscious decision and set an intention to bring awareness to the aspect of racial experience in your life.
21. Wake Up to Hidden Realities
Cultivate awareness to “wake up to what we’re looking at,” especially regarding the often unseen or unacknowledged structures and legacies of racism within various contexts, including mindfulness.
22. Perceive Dominant Structure’s Invisibility
Be aware that dominant cultural structures, like whiteness, can be difficult to perceive precisely because they are pervasive and normalized, making them seem like the absence of a specific identity.
23. Challenge Race-Neutrality Assumptions
Actively challenge the “confusion” and “ignorance” of assuming that “race neutral” institutions lack racial specificity, recognizing that they often reflect the dominant racial identity and experience.
24. Recognize Systemic Racial Structures
Understand that race and whiteness are systemic, structural constructs that all individuals within a culture are invited to negotiate and relate with, rather than solely individual psychological issues.
25. Acknowledge Universal Race Navigation
Understand that everyone in the American context, regardless of background, has engaged in some form of “navigation around racism and race” to find their place.
26. Center Before Difficult Work
Before engaging in challenging or demanding work, take time to center yourself, cultivating awareness and being with yourself as a stable ground for how you live and relate to whatever circumstances arise.
27. Cultivate Sustainable Hard Work
Use contemplative practice and mindfulness to find a sustainable way to engage in difficult and emotionally taxing work, such as racial justice, to avoid burnout.
28. Mindfulness for Complex Work
Employ mindfulness practice to cultivate the capacity to “stay with the complexity” of challenging work and efforts to make a difference.
29. Integrate Mindfulness Professionally
Explicitly bring mindfulness practices into professional or educational settings to offer greater support to those you work with or teach.
30. Mindfulness for Tough Conversations
Employ meditation and mindfulness techniques to navigate “incredibly painful and awkward conversations about race” in a practical and meaningful way.
31. Practice Mindful Communication
Engage in “mindful communication,” which encompasses both right speech and right reception, to navigate the complexities of human interaction with greater awareness.
32. Use Mindful Communication
Employ “mindful communication” as a preferred approach, especially when navigating sensitive social justice topics, to avoid pitfalls like self-aggrandizement or hardening identities.
33. Distinguish Intent from Impact
Recognize the crucial difference between your intent and the impact of your words or actions, and cultivate humility and compassion to hear feedback and reflect on what transpired when harm is caused.
34. Engage in Meta-Conversations
Approach communication, especially around sensitive topics, as an invitation to have an intentional, dynamic, and mindful “meta-conversation” about how you will interact with each other.
35. Cultivate Mutual Kindness for Imperfection
Foster a “robust space” for communication by asking others to hold your imperfections with kindness and being willing to offer the same grace to them, understanding that mistakes will happen and repair work may be needed.
36. Stay in Conversation Despite Conflict
When mistakes and conflict inevitably arise in human interactions, commit to “keep staying in the conversation” rather than withdrawing.
37. Recognize and Name Avoidance
Pay attention to and name instances where you actively avoid difficult conversations or clench and move away from uncomfortable topics, as recognizing this avoidance can be a significant opening for change.
38. Gradually Engage with Discomfort
Instead of avoiding difficult topics, cultivate the capacity to “let a little more of this in” over time, recognizing your growth, to discern your responsibilities and “right action” regarding issues like race and racism.
39. Create Space for Naming Shame
When shame or other difficult emotions arise during self-reflection, create spaciousness to name and recognize these feelings, which can help dissipate resistance and prevent getting stuck.
40. Notice Bodily Reactions
When encountering unexpected or uncomfortable situations related to difference, pay close attention to what is happening in your body as an important source of information about your reactions.
41. Share Personal “Race Stories”
Open up and share personal “race stories,” which are moments where you notice thoughts or reactions related to race, even if they are uncomfortable or embarrassing, to foster self-awareness and discussion.
42. Practice Contemplative Storytelling
Engage in “contemplative storytelling” by openly sharing personal “race stories” or moments of bias, normalizing this practice as a way to explore and understand your experiences.
43. Reflect on Daily Assumptions
Actively reflect on your assumptions in daily situations, such as when reviewing a resume or receiving an email, and notice any preconceived notions about a person’s background and your reactions when those notions are challenged.
44. Take Implicit Association Test
Consider taking an online Implicit Association Test (IAT) to gain a sense of your own biases, acknowledging its controversial nature but recognizing its value in understanding the pervasiveness of bias.
45. Listen to “Seeing White” Podcast
To gain insight into whiteness, listen to the “Seeing White” series, part of the “Scene on Radio” podcast (S-C-E-N-E), which can help white people in particular wake up to this often-unseen structure.
46. Join an Awareness Community
Engage with a community of people who are also committed to being more present and living with awareness in their daily lives, whether formally called a sangha or not.
47. Centering Affirms Self-Worth
Engage in centering practices to cultivate a strong sense of self-worth, which can empower you to actively participate and contribute as a member of your community.
48. Choose How You Want to Live
Reflect on your personal values and consciously choose “how you want to live,” especially when faced with societal pressures or expectations, rather than feeling obligated to act in certain ways.
49. Mindfulness for Motivation Clarity
When expressing strong emotions or taking action, use mindfulness to gain humility and clarity about your motivations, asking “where is that coming from?”
50. Embrace Messiness in Justice Work
Acknowledge and embrace that social justice work and difficult conversations are “messy at best,” accepting the inherent complexity and imperfection.
51. Practice Skillful Means in Community
Develop the “skillful means” to adapt your actions in human community, knowing when to be fierce, quiet, ask for forgiveness, or ask for permission, recognizing that communal living is inherently difficult.
52. Seek Diverse Perspectives
Actively seek out and engage with diverse groups of people, recognizing that life becomes “more interesting and better” with different perspectives.
53. Value Everyone’s Unique Experience
Recognize and value that every individual possesses a unique experience and teaching from which others can learn, fostering an environment of mutual learning.
54. Avoid Identity Hardening (“Wokeness”)
Be aware of the temptation to “self-aggrandize and to harden another kind of identity around our awakenings, our wokeness,” as this can lead to getting stuck and hinder true awareness.
55. Share Useful Podcasts
If you find a podcast personally useful, share it with others, even one-on-one or in casual conversations, as this helps the show grow and continue its work.
7 Key Quotes
The point of meditation is not to become a better meditator per se, it's to become a better person, to get better at your life.
Dan Harris (quoting Sharon Salzberg)
Race really is not a tangential issue to your meditation practice. It is the crucible in which you can test your meditation practice.
Dan Harris
Mindfulness is an incredibly useful practice for waking up to these realities. And again, I do think that the opportunity, if you will, to understand how deeply embedded we all are in a racialized world, right? It's something that mindfulness is really perfectly attuned to support us with, but it hasn't been presented that way because we've been so deeply embedded in a racialized world, we can't see it.
Rhonda V. Magee
You're not thinking your thoughts, you're thinking the culture's thoughts.
Dan Harris (quoting Sebene Selassie's email footer)
We are in these systems and they are in us.
Rhonda V. Magee (quoting Peggy McIntosh)
To live in the world is to do some harm, right? We destroy things, put our foot down somewhere, we're crushing the world. So, I mean, you know, there's got to be radical humility around it or else we can't do anything.
Rhonda V. Magee
Non-action is not inaction, that you can respond better out in the world if you have a clearer view, not only of your own mind, but perhaps as a consequence of having a clearer view of your own mind, a clearer view of the overall situation, which then allows you to respond wisely instead of reacting blindly.
Dan Harris (quoting Joseph Goldstein quoting a Taoist expression)
1 Protocols
RAIN Practice for Engaging with Difficult Realities
Rhonda V. Magee- Recognize: See what is happening, acknowledging the reality of the situation or emotion.
- Accept/Allow: For the moment, accept what is without being at war with reality, creating space for it.
- Investigate: Pause and take in what is happening, expending 'right effort' to see reactivities, underlying feelings (anger, fear), and subtle moves of resistance or denial, with compassion.
- Nurture (or Non-identification/Non-attachment): Hold the entire process with compassion, especially for the suffering that arises. This involves a commitment to being with difficulty while avoiding creating new rigid identities around one's experiences.