A student went to consult with his Zen master to write him a wise concept… The master wrote: "Attention." The student asked "is that all?" The teacher wrote: "Attention," "Attention."
The disciple, a little irritated, said that he did not see anything wise in that word. The teacher silently wrote: "Attention", "Attention", "Attention". The frustrated student asked again what he had meant by the word “Attention”. The teacher replied: "Attention" means "Attention."
We, as that student, would like to know what his teacher meant, but in Zen Buddhism, teaching is done through koans, phrases like: When can we go shopping? “The cypress is in the patio”; that apparently do not make sense and, whose answer cannot be reached through rational reasoning. Because the goal is to deconstruct the mind, so that it uses another cognitive procedure, be it through intuition, prayer, meditation, contemplation, simple silence or dreams, to find an answer.
William James (in his classic The Varieties of Religious Experience) explains that the “faculty of attention is the ability to re-undertake a scattered and vagrant attention, which more often than not is the root of judgment, character and willpower." And he adds, "that an education aimed at the perfection of this faculty would be the education of excellence." I must confess that lately, I am more lethargic than what I am aware of.
The physician and researcher on the mind, Richard J. Davidson went on a spiritual retreat in India; There he received a kind of electric shock or, inspiration, that this education of excellence was meditation. (Meditation as a cure, Chapter 7, Daniel Coleman and Richard J. Davidson. Mondadori Libri Sp A, Milano 2019).
I must admit that this concept of Attention, attention, attention comes in handy because lately I am dispersed. Bombarded by media, my thinking wanders from terrorism, to political problems. Corruption, violence, alternative truths that circulate on the internet, the Covid-19 pandemic, my personal problems and, the disconcerting measures of governments that claim to work for the people, but the truth (in most of the countries) is that they look more to their interests of political and economic power than to the health of the people.
Many of the human problems come from not paying attention to what happens to us personally. We do not do introspection. We are blind looking at what we want to see, but not what we must see and discern.
Einstein said: "Intellectuals solve problems, sages avoid them."
With the pandemic we must avoid problems, and be focused on our wise and spiritual being. Do not allow ourselves to be destabilized by problems, because crises are not a single problem, but an accumulation of small problems that can alter our peace of mind, produce fear and in some panic. But, as has been observed since ancient times, "crisis" means a moment of change.
Decades ago, scientists have observed that increasing populations require more food, more houses, and more minerals for the production of sophisticated products. Relevant changes are required to avoid water and air pollution; save species of animals that disappear every day; jungles and forests that are razed to dedicate them to agriculture and livestock; which in turn pushes wild animals and their viruses to prowl urban centers. We know that political solutions abound, but wise and permanent ones are lacking. But there are exceptions.
One place where the virus was permanently eradicated, after changing paradigms, is Easter Island (Chile), located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, without many defenses and thousands of miles from continental land. The first contagion came from a traveler on a flight.
It soon spread, but in mid-April the transmission was cut off. Now they have zero cases. The president of the island's council of elders’ Pedro Edmunds Paoa, explained that, when the first infected arrived on the island in March 2020, they had few elements, a population of more than 7,000 people, which receives 100,000 tourists a year. His decision was to close the island. Part of the population considered that it would ruin the local economy, which depends on tourism. To avoid a revolt,
He found something that would unite people to defeat the enemy that was the virus. The solution was to apply the sacred word Tapu (which the English translated as “taboo”, and in Spanish “tabú”). Within the Polynesian Tapu culture represents a sacred order to protect health, life and the elderly. It is part of their ancient wisdom. It is a form of discipline rooted in Polynesian culture that has to do with restrictions, but also with respect.
Once the virus had been defeated, with the population tired of the confinement and without work, he understood that he had to look for another concept, a word-force, so as not to return to the previous state. They had to change and not depend on tourism or provisions from Chile. At this stage he used the word "umanga"; which refers to the self-sustainability that they possessed before the arrival of the Europeans. They had to go back to their ancestral culture for new solutions. They had to change the economic paradigm, go from dependency to self-sustainability. And that’s what they did. Projects, led by women, were created to produce food and employ 500 people, and others followed.
The paradigm shift, based on ancestral spiritual values, not only meant defeating the virus but also overcoming the apathy and dependence of Chile and tourists. Paoa argues that the virus and the crisis can be a blessing. As a leader for almost 30 years, he is grateful for the pandemic, as it allowed him to establish a plan for sustainability and respect for nature. He said: "Until March 2020, we had a mask covering our eyes, and we couldn't see." This example from Easter Island allows us to have hope. We can meditate being attentive and discerning what paradigm shift to make, to transform the pandemic into a blessing. This confirms what has been expressed through centuries by spiritual thinkers. Take away the masks of false beliefs covering our eyes, and think with fresh ideas bringing new paradigms.
©Pietro Grieco
See article by Mark Johanson,
1) http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20201026-the-origin-of-the-word-taboo
