Why we need discernment
To stay the course and build working-class power
Hi friends,
I hope you’ve been holding up okay the past few days.
This week has been bittersweet. Bo turned three years old! Trump was inaugurated. Our first Engaged Dharma Book Club discussion was relevant, interesting, warm, awesome? Thanks to everyone who joined; I’m pumped to continue reading together and exploring other great books this year.
Since Monday’s onslaught of terrible news, I’ve thought a lot about what Buddhist practice can offer us in the time ahead. It’s clear there’s enormous work to be done. Millions more of us need to get mobilized and organized—and we need to do so with intention and strategy.
No matter where you are in your activism—whether you're just starting to get involved or you're already fully immersed in social change—we all need a sharper sense of clarity and focus.
Meditation is widely recognized for improving concentration, but what’s less often discussed is how it also sharpens our discernment.
Discernment can be understood as our ability to make decisions. Our capacity to perceive what type of actions we should pursue or avoid.
Do we want to watch the insane clip of Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute for the 15th time and spend the next 30-mins reading hand-gesture experts breaking down this absurd moment of the day?
Or do we want to use our precious, fragile human life to foster community, cultivate joy, and actively build working-class power?
It's important to stay informed, but discernment is the quality that allows us to see beyond our cravings and distractions. It helps us move past the urge to doom-scroll or numb out with online shopping, and instead choose a more intentional response.
Instead of reading another op-ed, you could use that time to find your local mutual aid group and send an email to one of the organizers. Or take the step to join an organization like Extinction Rebellion, your local DSA chapter, or United We Dream, and figure out how you can contribute.
We all need to cultivate this level of awareness and discernment. Trump and his billionaire friends don’t want us to become organized or create alternative forms of care—they want us distracted, glued to our phones, and spending endlessly on Amazon.
Buddhist meditation strengthens our ability to choose wisely, empowering us to consistently make decisions that foster the world we seek to build.
Shamatha, or peaceful abiding meditation, may seem simple at first glance. The basic instructions are to rest your attention on the sensation of your breath, and to be aware of any internal or external sensations that arise and fall. When you notice you’re engaging in some train of thinking, you bring yourself back to your breath.
The split second you notice you’re no longer applying the technique, you have a choice: to continue engaging in your thoughts or to gently and precisely bring your focus back to your breathing.
This is where the magic happens.
Every time you choose not to further engage in whatever planning, ruminating, thinking path you are on and bring yourself back to your body—you are cultivating your strength of discernment.
What’s helpful to keep in mind is the volitional energy behind this seemingly mundane choice.
Meditation can feel insignificant, especially in the face of mass social change we urgently need. But sharpening our ability to focus and make choices serves as its own source of fuel—a fuel that propels our actions and movements from a grounded, embodied (and therefore usually more wise) place.
We must take our spiritual practices—and our commitment to our mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing—as seriously as we do any aspect of our activism and organizing.
It’s not only practical and more humanizing; it’s honest and real. The revolution will not come from our collective fumes and burnout.
Last thing—people often confuse the kind of discernment needed in meditation and in life with a rigid, disciplinary mindset. The precision and focus that comes from practice aren’t based in speed or aggression; they’re based in depth and presence.
For me, discernment is the practice of cultivating true honesty with myself. It’s about asking: How am I avoiding facing the truth? Where am I making excuses to stay comfortable? What am I really afraid of, and why?
It’s from this line of inquiry that I’m able to see myself clearly, and decide what path and seeds I want to nourish or let go of.
My friends, I offer you the same contemplations as the political circus plays on and the executive orders continue to roll in. It’s a painful, messy, infuriating time; and we still have work to do, people to care for, worlds to build.
Below is info on the next book club, seminar, and my mentorship program for those looking to deepen their meditation practice as this new administration takes hold.
In love and solidarity,
Adriana
P.S. Paid subscribers—I’ve included a couple of additional links for you (a poll to pick a consistent time for our monthly talks and workshops), an invite to submit questions to the podcast, along with the recording of this month’s book talk discussion.
Engaged Buddhist Studies Seminars 📝
Intro to Socially Engaged Buddhism | Sunday, February 23rd (Time TBA)
In February, I’ll offer an introductory workshop on Socially Engaged Buddhism (SEB) for paid subscribers. We’ll cover its history and origins in Asian liberation movements, core tenets, manifestations in the West, and how SEB framing can help not only mobilize Western meditators but shape existing social movements.
Engaged Dharma Book Club 📚
The Next American Revolution by Grace Lee Boggs | Sunday, March 30th (Time TBA)
Our March selection is The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs. The late Grace Lee, social activist and philosopher, assesses our current crisis—political, economical, and environmental—and shows how to create the radical social change we need to confront new realities. We’ll host weekly Chats via the Substack app and a live Zoom discussion on the book.
Engaged Buddhism & Meditation Mentorship ⚡️
If you’re an activist or community organizer who is feeling stressed, anxious, maybe burnt out or disillusioned, I encourage you to check out my mentorship program. I support you in deepening your meditation practice and integrating the dharma into the nuances of your personal life and organizing. Learn more here.