Moving

Those who awaken

Never rest in one place.

Like swans, they rise
And leave the lake.

On the air they rise
And fly an invisible course,

Gathering nothing, storing nothing.

Their food is knowledge.

They live upon emptiness.

They have seen how to break free.

---The Dhammapada, Canto VII, The Master,

Shambhala Pocket Classics Edition, 1976

My propensity for moving house frequently is a matter of endless amusement among my friends and family. I have moved about 30 times in the past 40 years. As a single man in an urban setting with a job which paid a moderate salary for most of my career, I often moved out of economic necessity. Rent increases motivated me to look for more affordable digs. Sometimes I moved for environmental reasons: Noise, rough neighbors, homophobia, bad plumbing, sparking electrical systems. These various factors threatened my serenity and/or my person. Since I value both, I moved.

After certain events prompted my early retirement from nursing, I utilized my moving skills and my real estate skills to secure better housing and some financial security simultaneously. Not an avid capitalist, I was not a flipper for the thrill. I turned over property in which I lived to achieve peace with myself as well as some financial independence.

I am now moving again. Having placed my house under agreement, I have taken an apartment in a location that suits my current aspirations and relationships. I have been fortunate that my pursuits have placed me in the hands of a responsible and personable property owner. And, I feel this move has advanced my inner journey to be at one with myself so I may continue to try to become the human being I would like to be through my humanist practice.

A substantial part of the beauty for me of this move lies in the realization that the people who are purchasing my house are experiencing an advancement in their life journeys as well, from what I have been told. To achieve a sense of harmony between commerce and humanism in my life is important to me. While I have always held to a personal code of ethics in business, I have not always felt harmonious in the process of buying and selling. So many who buy and sell are obsessed with winning. And, where there is a winner, there is a loser. I have been in both roles, and I have not found much sustainable happiness in either.

I find now that I am able to see the role of consumer and the role of vendor as potentially cooperative, as opposed to competitive. This is rather antithetic to modern capitalism in the U.S.. I don't care. I relish being an odd ball in most things.

So, I intend to keep moving. My grandfather often said, "Stay where you are; keep moving." I believe he meant internal movement was more important than changing the external or circumstantial. He lived in the same apartment for decades. I am learning to cherish moving in itself, internally and circumstantially. It just seems to agree with me.

Aggression

Human life comes with aggression. It is simply part of being an animal. It is hormonal. It is hard-wired. Learning to first recognize aggression in one's own consciousness and behavior is a challenging practice. Road rage, cutting into lines, racing others to check out counters...these are easy examples. However, the harder examples are the subtle forms of aggression that occur when we compete unconsciously with others. This competition is increasing as the world becomes polluted and overpopulated. Resources are dwindling. Capitalism encourages aggression. In fact, anyone who is awake can see the increase in female aggression in the new economy of the US, where women are striving with men for economic equality or dominance. This alone explains to me why capitalism does not bring peace. An economic (survival) system that is based on aggression has not and cannot possibly foster world peace. Propaganda about professional (capitalist) sports as a medium for cooperation and peace is so obviously flawed, when one considers the history of violence at Olympic games and the increased occurrence of drug abuse and corruption in the whole arena of professional sports. People increasingly find surrendering their aggression in capitalist societies frightening. It is the surrendering of a significant defense against poverty and the delusion of control. Yet, no human, male or female, will evolve beyond basic animal behavior and consciousness without surrendering voluntary aggression as a first step to enlightenment, mindfulness and compassion.

How to practice the surrender of voluntary aggression in daily life? First, it is important to recognize the simple physical signs and behaviors of aggression, such as increased heart rate, blood rushing to the face, increased vocal volume, clenched jaw and/or fist, increased driving speed, rushing, and many other signs which must be observed, accepted and recognized in the moment they occur. Otherwise, how can anyone practice control of aggression?

Then what? The daily practice to control aggression by recognizing impulses to be aggressive takes many years to develop. It also requires patience with and acceptance of one's own animal instincts. That is, patient acceptance that we are indeed animals. If a person is wedded to religious notions of man as non-animal, that person will never understand his aggression. Let alone control it and evolve away from it. He will live in denial of it.

Finding and fostering affection and compassion in one's life for oneself and others equally facilitates the process of managing and evolving beyond aggression. I recommend it. It takes time, meditation, determination, and, above all, practice, practice, practice.