Meditation for Militants: A Conversation

with Justin Miles

Justin Miles and Jeff Salzman
May 12th, 2015
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Jeff talks about integral activism with Justin Miles, founder of the Miles Center for
Integral Living in Baltimore. Justin is a former member of the Black Panther party,
Buddhist meditation teacher, and therapist. Jeff also looks at the role of cynicism in our
political discourse, and takes a couple questions from listeners.
Written by Brett Walker
If we somehow can turn our attention towards our internal worlds, then we'll find the
strength to stand up in the face of injustice, and stand up in the face of the injustices
that we commit against ourselves. -Justin Miles
After the last weeks podcast about the protests in Baltimore, Corey deVos, editor of
Integral Life, put us in touch with a friend who lives there. Hes an integral
practitioner, a former member of the Black Panther party, a Buddhist meditation teacher
and a therapist. Do you want to talk to him?" Um yes!
It seems like the people making most of the noisethe protesters and the punditsare
the either/or voices, trying to blame or exonerate. So Jeff was excited to talk to someone
with an integral perspective on the African American experience at a time when the
conversation is so ripe.
Justin Miles shared a piece on Facebook that he called Meditation for Militants which
stands out as an integral voice, calling not only for a look at the economic, political and
social systems (the exteriors) but equally important, self-reflection among a community
that feels so much anger that it can turn on itself.
While some voices insist they should use that rage and bring down the system, others
assert that violence is not the answer.
As John Paul Brammer wrote this week in Blue Nation Review, the protests in
Baltimore are "not a random, unprovoked outburst by a group of opportunists. This is
how the unheard speak when words prove to be useless.
Indeed, anger has a lot of energy in it. That is why, from a tantric perspective, it can be
usefulbut only if you have the anger, and the anger doesnt have you. Justin tells Jeff:

"I think care and concern are a part of the nature of anger. Theyre part of the
usefulness of anger, wanting to go out and expand this feeling of wanting to improve
things in Baltimore city.
The other side of that, I think, the part that maybe we're not seeing, is the aspect of
needing the anger in order to go beyond the anger. We don't need to see anger as
something that's not useful or something that somehow we feel bad about. I saylet's
go with it. Let's use that as our fuel."
To be effective, an activist needs to know his own mind and heart. Otherwise he will not
be able to tell the difference between his own demons and the injustices inflicted upon
him by a system that is uncaring, and he will burn everything indiscriminately. This is
where contemplative practice comes in. When you take a step back and look within,
says Justin, what is discovered is clarity, strength and mental stability, qualities that all
revolutions are based on at their core. The ideas of social movements arise out of deep
concern and connection with our heartmind."
Justins big heart really comes through in this conversation, and we hope to have him
back on the show.
Also in the podcast, Jeff looks at cynicism, and the role it plays in our political
discourse. The integral perspective provides some relief from this tiresome outlook.
Being aware of the fourth dimension (time) and taking multiple perspectives, "we
become essentially post ideological. We become friends with life as it is, the world as it
is, and we're no longer comparing the world as it is unfavorably to some ideal"
And lastly, questions from listeners: Mark in Tennessee is wondering about the
ontological reality of visions, and Suzanne from North Carolina is questioning the
legitimacy of astrology in light of her integral awakening.

Meditation For Militants

by Justin Miles
Everyone has ideas, as if ideas are the basis of or the solution for the issues in our
communities. A deeply habituated and conditioned lack of care and concern for
ourselves and by the American system is the underlying cause of our struggles.
If the central organizing principle of a movement isn't based on inherent wisdom, the
natural intelligence of the heart and mind, nothing will change. Resistance isn't a blind
response to our anger but using our anger in a manner that displays that we understand
the root cause of our issues; a lack of trust in our basic human dignity. When we by any
means necessary experience and affirm that, we will not only know what to do but will
do it without fear of what happens to us.
If we decide to just talk about what's happening in our city without going beyond hope,
fear, doubt and anger this will just be another punctuation mark in this chapter of our
evolution.

Militancy and meditation are two words that are rarely seen together but there is a
genuine connection between them. Militancy means to resist in an unwavering manner.
Meditation means to pay attention while resisting the urge to believe that the
conceptual mind is the sole author and totality of our experience.
In meditation what is experienced is not just a soft, mushy, sucka like peace where one
is numb. It's actually quite the opposite. What is discovered is clarity, strength and
mental stability, qualities that all revolutions are based on at their core; the ideas of
social movements arise out of deep concern and connection with our heartmind. When
we act out of a confused mind it's easier to be destroyed, co-opted, controlled and
separated from the inside and outside. When we see the mind as a tool of liberation that
has no beginning or end it is unbreakable. That is the mind of Marcus, Martin, Malcolm
and Huey. With that mind we are focused on what is necessary even if it is
uncomfortable, scary or different.
With that mind we will use this as an opportunity to wage a protracted resistance to
poverty, poor education, unemployment, under development, broken families,
substance abuse, police brutality, declining mental health and violence against
ourselves and others. We will both shut down this city until it responds to our demands
and we will spend time building our societies in the way that we think it needs to
improve.
Discover this mind with me, not as a means to stop the anger but to genuinely
experience and express our anger in a way that is useful. At the heart of our anger is
wisdom. We must feel angry to get there. Once we expose the wisdom then the
question is what are the best means for us to get our needs met. That is the essence of
the Black Panther Party, the UNIA, the Civil Rights Movement and all other
movements combined. What happened in all those movements is a realization of our
inherent wisdom and capacity to deal with our own problems when we trusted in our
own inherent goodness. What tore those movements apart was moving away from our
own inherent goodness, wisdom and strength through being convinced by outside
forces to do so and by slowly decreasing our connection with the enlightened qualities
of our minds on our own.
That which delights in temporary experiences of pleasure and aggression is called ego.
Ego destroyed our movements and ego will destroy this one if we let it. If we only go
as far as the dualistic mind of ego (the protesters are right/the protesters are wrong/the
police are right/the police are wrong), if we think the solutions are based on more
thoughts that inevitably stem from the egos tendency to embrace either pleasure, pain
or indifference, the ability for this to turn into a genuine movement will fizzle out
quickly.
In between the painful moments we have to practice returning over and over and over
to the source of our liberation and our suffering, our minds, to make sure that we
understand the difference. Then we can't be fooled by ourselves or others. Then the city
will know that it's fucking with serious people who can't be bought, placated or abused
into silence. Then the city will know that there is a threat greater than violence; an
unwavering, organized, educated and mobilized citizenry whose minds and bodies are

in sync. Nothing can destroy that.

So please be angry but don't act as if the only responses to anger are to protest or to be
violent. That just displays that we have feelings. Neither one of those behaviors
indicates that we know what to do with our feelings besides ask someone else to do
something with them. Let us not reduce our anger. Let's genuinely feel angry. Dive in.
Look around. What's it made of? Let's know it intimately and not forget it.
Let's act militantly in an unwavering stance against wildness as if that fixes anything.
Let's act militantly against being pulled into battles of the ego. Let us act militantly
against the fear of resistance against the issues in Baltimore City, whether that means
shutting the city down regardless of how long it takes, or getting arrested, or missing
work or getting hurt. Let us act militantly in our own communities to explore and serve
the needs of others. Let us act militantly and maintain warmheartedness, not
descending into the mind of non feeling and coldness. Let us militantly be fearless by
feeling fear and moving forward into resistance even if it means feeling afraid.
Especially if it means feeling afraid.
Let the source of our struggle be that which has no origin, that which is not given not
taken away, that which has no fixed position, that which has never known defeat; our
minds. Realizing this as fact we are already victorious.
The Daily Evolver | Episode 122 | Meditation for Militants
https://www.integrallife.com/node/266816