Reflective Arts
A Tool for the Common Good
Anthony de Mello once wrote in Awareness something like, “you see persons and things not as they are, but as you are.” I cannot tell you how many times I have quoted this thought. And no matter with whom I have shared it, the response is usually a gentle nod of approval. It resonates deep inside of us, its truth is intuitive. Yet, those who study psychology, perception, social sciences, etc. can demonstrate the aphorism’s truth with studies, anecdotes, charts and figures. The world seems to agree with the notion that no one is completely objective, in fact, we have more than a large hand in shaping our world through perception, projection, and assumption, to say the very least. So, why is reflection and the reflective arts like contemplation, meditation, silence and the centering practices not more sought after in the daily lives of ordinary people?
Perhaps, the assumption is that these reflective arts belong to the spiritual elite—monks, priests, hermits, and mystics. We can thin of figures such as Thomas Merton or Thich Naht Hanh here. Certainly no one with a mortgage and a house full of kids has time for the luxuries of such deep reflection? Not unless, like monks, their job description is: contemplation, prayer, silence, work, and repeat! It is true that mindfulness and meditation are quite vogue at the heights of technocentricism a la Silicon Valley, that is to say that it has reached a status of marketability in this time of late day capitalism. It is nothing to hear of a secular CEO of some tech giant or life-style guru/angel investor such as Tim Ferriss or Ryan Holiday talk of the lessons of stoic philosophers, their meditation practice, and other pseudo-spiritual and philosophical tools that appear to have the veneer of the category called “life hacks” about them! You would be forgiven for thinking that time for this level of reflection and contemplation is reserved for the privileged class that can also afford the financial resources and resources of time to devote a week to a peyote-filled, shaman-led, “phoneless” retreat in some high desert area in the US Southwest.
It is true, in a sort of “life hack” way, that the reflective arts are helpful for personal development. And for the spiritual, they are essential, no matter what religio-philosophical tradition. In this way, the reflective arts are part of the perennial tradition. But one thing that is often missing is the fact that the reflective arts are good and helpful for the state of the public good. That is to say, they are tools that benefit the social order, and relationships within communities and between communities. How so, is fairly straightforward. If there is to be a “common sphere” or any sense of society, then it is made up of human beings who all have the ability to be reflective, self critical, and curious as well as having the equal abilities to assume the worst, project fears, alienate and “other-ise,” and so on. And Anthony de Mello was right, “you see persons and things not as they are, but as you are.” For a society to uphold the common good as a goal, or for it to at least aim above the impoverishment of sheer polarization that we seem to be facing so much of today, it would do us all well to get a better handle of “things and people,” which we do not do so well, for we really see and experience the world through our own “stuff.” Reflective arts can help anyone cut through the illusions of self-righteousness and the persistent temptation to demonize someone else, sometimes anyone else. You have heard it so many times that it has become corny to you, no doubt, that you should “seek first to understand, then be understood.” Cliche, yes, but good advice. No less corny is the other bit of advice that goes like this, “in order to be interesting seek first to be interested,” or something along those lines. Again, it is a cliche, but in my experience it is true, because people do like to talk about themselves.
The ultimate point of these ideas however, is not to be effective by using these as manipulative tools to get ahead—even if the way we want to get ahead is not so self-centered as it could be if we were people of “lesser morals.” No, the point is that such thinking opens us up to the truth of other people and their stories. Another word for this is empathy, and there can be no doubt, there is no common good for anyone without an enlargement of empathy in a community. No, the aim of the reflective arts for the common good is not about compromise or agreement. It is about understanding, even amidst disagreement. It is about understanding others and their unique points of view that bring a sense of dignity. It validates their cares at a deep level. One practiced in the reflective arts is one that has a deep pool from which to draw on for listening, teaching, creative expression, and even policy-making! But today’s world seems to offer two constants stand in the way: 1.) the world is so full of distractions that it is hard to pull oneself away for true self-reflection and contemplation, and 2.) what we have on offer to distract us is often designed to drag us into ideological silos. I fear this is producing not only a contentious world that can hardly imagine a social good or a common good, but it is also making us homogenous bores.
Break free by doing nothing. Break free by turning off, tuning out, and turning inward. I will not prescribe any traditional form at this point. For now, it is enough just to ask myself to practice the reflective arts everyday. If I do not do this, I will have nothing to say that will be of any good to anyone, for I will not see the world as it is, beyond the way in which I am twisted up on the inside. I will only see myself projected outwardly—and that is not the whole world!