At the time, I didn’t understand my actions. Fifty-some years ago, I was at a Saturday yard sale in the hills above Traverse City, Michigan. I had an armload of purchases when I heard screaming behind me. I whipped my head around to see a large passenger van loaded with children, which had been parked but was now rolling backwards down the road in front of the house. Dropping my items, I sprinted across the mowed yard, watching a scared, crying little boy start to exit the moving van through the front passenger door. I could see he would be crushed between the big vehicle’s open door and a row of mailboxes mounted on heavy timbers. As I ran towards him, I screamed at him to get back in the truck. His startled look moved him back inside in time for me to slam the moving door shut as the van rolled past the line of mailboxes. As the stationary row of mailboxes passed between the rolling van and the running me, I was vaguely aware of the other adults behind me screaming and yelling. Crying children’s faces lined the van windows. At the downhill end of the mailboxes I was able to reopen the van door and leap across the floor to hand-press the brake pedal. From that position I reached up to shove the column-mounted gear shift into park. Then I sat up to set the parking brake and climbed out the driver-side door. By this time the other half-dozen adults had run across the yard to the vehicle. One of two women, whom I assumed to be mothers, was crying and holding some children while another shaken mother scolded a child. I was so shocked by the event and more so by my response that I simply walked to my vehicle and drove away. Without a word, I left my yard-sale purchases scattered across the lawn.
Sometime later, I began to understand what had happened that day. In the 1960s and 70s, Eastern traditions of yoga, meditation, and martial arts were making their way into some areas of popular culture. As a curious young man, I signed up for a yoga class from a famous guru. I followed instructions and learned the poses but didn’t carry through much beyond the months of class. However, I have carried one of that guru’s teachings all my life. He stated in one of his sessions that, “True sight is action. If you are trekking up a mountain trail when you see a large boulder rolling down, you instantly jump aside without thought or hesitation. True sight is action.” His example explained my actions that day at the yard sale. The image of the backwards rolling van containing frightened children had stayed with me.
The guru’s lesson was a metaphor, of course, for the “boulders” that roll at us as we travel the life we are given. Jumping aside from a real rock is the right thing to do; however, side-stepping the metaphorical “boulders” just allows the problem to roll along onto other people downhill. Protecting oneself from these issues is best accomplished by acting for the greater good for all. There are a lot of boulders of varying sizes rolling around these days. If “true sight” isn’t acted upon, some will crush us individually while other boulders destroy whole societies. Climate change is one enormous boulder already transforming known trails into novel routes, disrupting human existence all around the globe. Scientists of all kinds have had their factual sight focused on these major impacts since the time I stopped that van. But most people haven’t acknowledged the crisis as they are focused on other things. They aren’t watching the trail ahead of them but are instead looking aside at distractions of convenience, technological advancement, and the opportunities of enormous profits and wealth. If true sight is action, then “actions” (results, consequences, privilege) will identify what is seen. Successful economic actions such as becoming a billionaire or trillionaire will indicate a narrow focus on accumulating money. Actions that limit voting rights indicate a focus on fixing elections for a desired outcome. I don’t know what the vision is that motivates action resulting in enormous reductions in food assistance, forcing millions into hunger.
Some distractions from issues of inequity are rolled out as big boulders but are actually pebble-sized. Competing brands of toothpaste, deodorant, or clothing are promoted as significantly important by advertisers using sex appeal to increase market share. These advertised values of appeal have little actual benefit to people. The real threats rolling at our well-being in commercialization are the dangerous chemicals and waste contained in many products demanding our purchase. Another big distraction is the new gambling profit centers being created as “prediction markets.” The promoters see profits while eager participants see a possible leg up on tight budgets or big wins on insider information. For all the “fun” of prediction markets, some observers see serious negative influences on elections, sports, and world events. Distractions are, by definition, a cover-up of nefarious activity or a way of diverting attention away from health and well-being onto the promise of social status, appearance, and wealth.
Some of what looks and feels like huge boulders are actually gas bubbles. These have no solid form save for the stink of hubris, narcissism, and fear. These gas bubbles are given solid impact due to cowardice housed in “going along to get along.” Disavowing sworn oaths to protect and defend the American Constitution helps to cover a nebulous bully bubble with a thin crust like an M&M candy, but far less digestible. Those individuals behind the gas bubble who believe in the ugliness of money and power over humanity are shoving landslides of boulders onto the paths people walk in America and around the world. Visions of profiteering go way beyond actions of self-preservation by placing value on other people being rolled over.
You may think I make too much of this yoga teaching of metaphorical rocks insisting on real action. Just ask the survivors in Nepal and Tibet of the thawing rocks and glaciers killing their families while world leaders and policymakers look away from a warming climate that is melting global glacial systems. Ask the Swiss who have had to abandon some mountain villages and ski slopes due to warming weather. The focus of most world leaders is often on more expedient personal or regional issues than on the clear global need for immediate and long-term climate action and support for those suffering from famine, drought, conflict, and displacement.
I don’t mean to criticize a day and a dollar spent on distractions. A vacation from troubles and recreational purchases are important for health and happiness. But we imperil ourselves and humanity if we spend a lifetime being distracted from the real threats to our world created by us humans. And we humans must address what is genuinely threatening to our existence. How about if we use the sharp tool of courage to deflate the gas bubbles and air out that stink? Let’s not get caught up in accusations of culture wars at the expense of environmental survival. Then we can use “true sight is action” to address the real boulders rolling down from on high.
