Chris La Rue: Election Brave Space Series

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and structures of belonging.

This 8 weeks series consists of mini episodes which are being produced in partnership with The Hive, A Center for Contemplation, Art, and Action, as a part of an ongoing class they’re offering locally called Election Brave Space: Compassionate Resilience For Our Shared Future. The intention of these episode is to introduce a variety of simple tools and practices to help you navigate this politically tumultuous moment, leading to and through the election.

Chris La Rue has been the Executive Director of The Hive since 2023. As the “chief storyteller,” Chris seeks to amplify the story of transformation The Hive has to tell: one in which people integrate the wisdom of our contemplative traditions in ways that make meaningful collective change possible. He believes that The Hive is uniquely positioned to create a better world by helping individuals find their people, and find their practice.

The Hive is a grassroots mindfulness community curating multi-week classes, workshops and a Membership community. It has been formed by facilitators asking the question, "What are the resources that lie within our vast lineages, traditions, and modalities of healing, and how can we place them in service of the common good?" In this series we’re hearing from The Hive’s 6 core faculty members.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation.

Transcript

 We're recording this on Friday, November 1st and this episode's probably coming out Tuesday on election day. And,  the thing that found me this week was really  the type of contagious shared anxiety as this election approaches.  I felt that in 2020 when I was working in a coffee shop and, over 500 folks were coming in and out on election day and it was like the buzz of everyone checking the polls. And what I totally had to throw out of the window was this sense, like I'm going to be able to move through this time completely clear headed and rooted and Zen and mindful, like, that just was not an accessible state for me, or at least it didn't feel accessible at all. and what we've been learning in these election brave space sessions is like, that hasn't been our goal. Our goal hasn't been to like, transcend this anxious political moment and find some kind of separation from it. But it's been this question of like, what does resilience look like?  Resilience is like a tree, like you you've probably heard the phrase like bed don't break, this notion of we're going to feel the fear, we're going to feel the anxiety. If If you're paying attention at all right now, you're feeling the heightened anxiety about this election. So what's it like to say, yeah, I, I'm going to allow that. I'm not going to resist that or judge that or even shame that fear and anxiety, but I'm going to accept, yes, that's the case right now. Like the wind blowing a tree. it just has a way of not resisting, but just accepting, but yet there's a, sway that you come back to.   what are you coming back to? What's the, What's the thing that you return to when that fear does take authority?  that's the question that I've been finding a lot of hope and energy in and for us in these, Hive, it's been, what's a real mindfulness based skill that we could practice right now that's in service of us creating a more courageous, compassionate and curious world.  What is the work that's for me to do in the world. So much of the information that most of us are receiving this election season, it can feel disempowering. And it could feel like, holy smokes, the issues that are being talked about here are bigger than me.  it can be hard to imagine what's my own agency and responding to this moment. And we could lose ourselves in this collective response of disconnection and this disconnection part is important to name too, because rather than this election season being a shared ritual of us turning toward one another and saying, what new world do we want to make together? Unfortunately, at least in my experience, it's felt much more like a ritual of disconnection of here are the people that are in here are the people that are out. and A lot of attacking one another and defending the other parties attacks. you know, today, Later on today on Friday, I'll go vote and the thing that I'd like to return to when I do feel the fear and the anxiety come ashore  is this question of who are the people that I'm in a relationship with? Who are my people? And how can I be a part of strengthening that social fabric? Because that social fabric is not on the ballot. Whatever happens on Tuesday, whatever happens on Wednesday or Thursday, the thing that will be true is that I have responsibility in my community. I have people that I am responsible to. I have people that have made commitments to be responsible for caring for me, and so those threads of responsibility will remain. And if there's any hope in creating an alternative world, it has to be through those connections. It has to be through those relationships. So where I want to turn to now is a loving kindness meditation that you might  pop in your headphones, maybe as you're voting on Tuesday or as you're doing the dishes and hearing news about who's up in the polls.  begin this practice, let's just completely.  the window any expectation that this is going to be a way for you to completely regulate and be the most, mindful you've ever been in your life. That's not a realistic expectation  for most of us right now. But this notion of, can you imagine a tree that has blown in the wind and if that wind for you represents the fear that anxious response to this moment, that it could bend. And it can sway, and it can feel the hit of this moment, but it also has a state it returns to. And it doesn't return to in a rigid way forever, but it sways and returns, and it sways and returns. And that's what this loving kindness meditation hopefully helps us do. 

 So we could start this practice, you could find your feet on the ground.  One of the ways that folks have been helping us get grounded at the Hive has been noticing your feet first and foremost. In a very head centered culture, it's an interesting way to ground to notice the thing that's furthest from your head. So notice your feet, wiggle your toes.  Press down into the earth and feel the earth pressing back on you,  and then I'm gonna invite us to consider this force of loving kindness in the world that is in the world that is in you  it is in us I want you to bring to mind Someone that you look up to someone that you love very much and someone who embodies Loving kindness  this could be an elder. This could be an ancestor like Adam talked about a couple weeks ago  can you hear them say these words to you?  May you know love and happiness.  May you be free from fear's authority  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  Your body, your heart, your mind, can you let them receive these words from an elder, from someone you look up to? May you know love and happiness,  may you be free from fear's authority,  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  Now as you're receiving that, what's it like to consider that those qualities of loving kindness, those qualities of compassion, curiosity, courage, they're not other than you, they're also part of you. The same universe and world that gives rise to those qualities in the world is what gave birth to you. And so can you give those same qualities back to yourself?  May I know love and happiness.  May I be free from fear's authority.  May I stay connected to the work that is mine to do.  And you can just whisper those words to yourself or say them silently to yourself. May I be free. No love and happiness.  May I be free from fear's authority,  and may I stay connected to the work that is mine to do.  And then in this imaginative space, I'll invite us to  expand this field of loving kindness to include, again, someone you love very much, but maybe someone that is maybe younger than you or someone that you have responsibility for or  have a nurturing kind of relationship with. Maybe it's a sibling or a child in your life. Maybe it's a parent you're taking care of or someone that you nurture.  And can you say to them, can you imagine them in all of their vulnerability and tenderness? May you know love and happiness.  May you be free from fear's authority  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  May you know love and happiness.  May you be free from fear's authority,  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  And next I'll invite us to expand this field of loving kindness for someone that we have a more neutral relationship with.  Or someone you don't know at all. Maybe it's a neighbor that you walk by, but you don't know their name yet. Or maybe it's the cashier at the grocery store. But someone  for you is maybe more anonymous, but someone that you see somewhat regularly in your life. You could expand this field of love and kindness to include them and just say,  May you know love and happiness.  May you be free from fear's authority.  And may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  And what we're doing here is you could almost imagine you're cradling all these people in this field of loving kindness that is holding you and it's holding all these people that you're calling to mind.  And then we'll expand this field again, and this might be difficult and triggering. So be easy on yourself here. But the invitation is to see if you could expand this field of loving kindness to include someone or a few people that are problematic for you.   And if this is related to politics for this election season. I talked about earlier how this could feel like a ritual of disconnection where there's division among us. Maybe there's a family member who is voting differently than you, and you could feel the distance between you grow.  And as you do this, you don't need to give up ground or your own agency for the world that you want to be responsible for making, there's no pressure to give up ground on issues that are important to you and to the world you want to make. And at the same time, how can we not  let this moment convince us that we're ultimately separate from one another. There's teachers in various contemplative traditions who have this way of saying, what's in them is in me.  What's in them is in me.  And it's not a way of giving up ground on things you care about, but it is a way of saying we're tied to the same fabric and we won't be ultimately separate from one another. So what's it like to nurture that connection? Even if this person is problematic for you to say, may, you know, love and happiness.  May you be free from fear's authority,  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  May you know love and happiness,  may you be free from fear's authority,  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  And then lastly, we'll expand this field of awareness again and include the whole earth. And so really engage your imagination here. Maybe you start by just including your neighborhood in this field of love and kindness,  your city,  your bio region,  the more than human life around you,  and the whole earth.  May you know love and happiness, may you be free from fears of authority,  and may you stay connected to the work that is yours to do.  And then as we close this practice, if you had your eyes closed you could look around, take in the room you're in.  And just consider what work might I do in the next 24 to 48 hours to strengthen this social fabric that I'm tied into  you can imagine yourself weaving yourself in with loving kindness where maybe there's someone that you feel called to reach out to, who's isolated right now,  or just to call someone you love, someone who loves you and just receive their loving kindness in this moment  and hopefully like a tree. That's something that we could return to even when we feel the fear knocking us back and forth. Can we return to our people? Can we return to the work that's ours to do