The Iron Ball

My favorite Zen koan goes something like this:   “You have a hot iron ball lodged in your throat which you can neither swallow nor spit out. What do you do?”   Such is the daily news. If you swallow it, your stomach is upset for the rest of the day. If you spit it out, you abdicate your responsibility to be informed enough to effect change. Meanwhile, it’s burning your throat. What to do?   Here’s what mythologist Michael Meade suggests:   Creativity is the only outcome of conflict that can satisfy the soul.      The problem with trying to “keep up with the news” is not only that it is so consistently unbelievable, that just when I think Republicans can’t sink any lower, they do, but that the various groups working for the kind of change I’d like to see have so many venues available to them and the ease of constant bombardments. The usual pleas keep falling through my physical mail-slot, but now they also clog my e-mails and invade my texts. And when they think it’s a good idea to get my attention with headings like “HORRIBLE NEWS!” or “WE’RE ON OUR KNEES, BEGGING AND PLEADING!,” they’re actually pounding my delicate boat of hope down into the swamp of despair. The tone is debilitating and the number is exhausting.    Getting the bulk of my news from Stephen Colbert helps and limiting the amount I’m willing to read helps as well. But though koans have no simplistic “right answers,” my solution to the hot iron ball is to become large enough that the pain gets smaller. To set myself inside a grander, more life-affirming story.   In his announcement of an upcoming online workshop titled “The Creative Middle Way” (for more info., see info@mosaicvoices.org), Michael Meade says: Contemporary patterns of conflict and polarization can lead us to feel discouraged and defeated when it comes to meaningful change. Yet, transformation and healing are the secret aims of the tension inside the opposites and inside life itself.    Rather than an impending end of life, the tension of opposites hints at a hidden third that can bring healing and renew the flow of life at a deeper level. The emergence of the third thing is a form of creation, a revelation of something timeless and ingenious trying to become conscious again.     The creative middle way involves the power of becoming; becoming aware of new ways of being as well as coming to know ancient wisdom again. This inner medicine of the soul is found in the moving middle where a person can awaken more fully and life can truly transform.   I can testify that planning a class or workshop, teaching a class or workshop, improvising my way through jazz tunes, writing the next Blogpost, are all creative endeavors that indeed satisfy the soul. I’m pleased if the right candidate (ie, someone that actually believes in democracy and serves the common good) is elected, but it doesn’t feed the soul in profound ways. It’s a good small story, but it’s not the larger story we also need.    We all are carrying our own iron balls in our throat, be they political or personal and often both. How do you manage yours?