Category Archives: Contemplative Practices

An Experience in Psychosomatic Studying: An Epiphany!

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The definition here of a contemplative practice surprised me, as it is referred to as a skill. While most will see it as something to participate in, an action that’s not necessarily capable of someone describing it as being good at it or being bad at it, it’s highlighted in this blog post that it provides an increase in focus and comprehension qualities. When analyzing this statement myself, I realize the relationship between the distant facts in coursework and the everyday reality is woven with the threads of the learner’s perspective.

The reference to the living systems practice also reminded myself of another contemplative practice which stood out to me, exotic foods. Being a first generation American in Washington, I have experienced first-hand the view historical American generations have on food unfamiliar to them. I was raised on both sides of the coin, by my Egyptian family and the American society.

Most Challenging Foods - The Secret Traveller

Via The Secret Traveller

The heightened emotional response to these contemplative practices was affirmed and enhanced when I experienced a direct and intimate connection to course work. This involvement resulted in me stretching my hand out to reach for this intimate connection to course material I did not have a direct, familial connection with, to develop it instead.

It is this epiphany that I’ve concluded from this blog post. I want to agree with and applaud the description of contemplative practice being a skill of both emotional awareness and informational awareness. Without this skill, what are we really learning? I feel as if everybody can agree that facts and feelings rest gently on a sensitive scale, even if it doesn’t seem like it. The two, much like everything else in the world we share, are interconnected in a complicated, yet beautiful system.

The food system is not failing people, it is working how it was invented  

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Before I took Political Science 385, the relationship between the food system and racism was not an explicit connection I made. I was in a bubble of ignorance, clouded by my own privilege of being considered white passing, socioeconomically privileged, and cis-male. I asked myself, “how could the [United States] food system possibly be racist? – it’s food, right? It was not until I stepped back, flipped through a couple of history books, and put myself in a different vantage point that I connected the dots: the United States is built on oppression and systemic racism, the food system is just one of the many layers that it lurks.

Systemic racism can be traced back to the very creation of the United States. The brutal colonization of the indigenous population for their land, forced slave labor and unjust laws stripping people of color from land ownership are just the beginning of injustice that minorities have faced in our food system. The very backbone of our modern-day food system has been created by the very populations that are left behind.

Not only has the entire system been built on oppression, the very laws that are meant to protect people from harm has had a long history of dismantling Black and Brown empowerment. Before Jim Crow laws were enacted in the United States, African American’s owned 13 million acres of land in 1902, by the end of 1997 years of Jim Crow, they only owned 2 million acres. White land owners now pass on their externalities to people of color, while they reap the benefits of their new found land. Many working longer hours for lower wages than their white counter parts.

There is so much more happening behind the scenes than the average consumer might think. Buying something as simple as an avocado, a banana, or chocolate, it is easy to forget about the hundreds of miles, hours, and workers it took to get where it is now. The food system is not a farm to table concept like people may think, it is much more complex and inner connected.

One thing that I will always hold close to me from this class is that you cannot look at one part of the system and generalize about the whole. The history of oppression in agriculture cannot survive on its own, it is interdependent on a long and brutal history of colonization, institutionally racist laws, biased social norms, and labor.

The food system is not failing people, it is working how it was intended.

Work Cited:

Food Justice & Racism in the Food System

New Research Explores the Ongoing Impact of Racism on the U.S. Farming Landscape

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-15686731/cocoa-farms-in-ivory-coast-still-using-child-labour

Alien Land Laws in California (1913 & 1920)

Photos: https://communityfoodfunders.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/History-of-Racism-and-Resistance-in-the-Food-System-Visual-Timeline.pdf

The Collective is Made of Individuals (Re: Contemplating Climate Complexity)

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I’m writing in response to Aisling’s post about contemplation, numbness, and the idea that our individual efforts do nothing other than make our personal selves feel better. I’m here to argue against that last point.

She is correct that, numerically speaking, one person doing something isn’t going to matter on a global scale. One person not eating beef isn’t going to eliminate the emissions produced by those cows. One person not getting their driver’s license isn’t going to be noticed by any politician or lobbyist. One person buying fair trade isn’t going to make trade fair.

It takes policy. It takes systemic change. It takes corporate and governmental action. But you know what makes up those corporations and governments? Individual humans. You know what makes up those masses of tens of thousands of protesters? Individual humans. You know what began the Organic Farm Movement in western culture? Individuals. You know who began to advocate women’s rights in the United States? Individual women. And together, those individuals had and have a voice. They have strength. Together, their individual actions created a tidal wave that started an international movement, that changed long-standing laws and discrimination, that brought us to where we are today because if each of those individuals said, “my choices and my voice don’t do anything, so why bother?” then it would have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think we often forget no massive change has happened wide-scale out of nowhere. It grows.

I want to be clear that I’m not saying everyone has the ability to speak and act equally: that’s a part of our inherently exploitative society. But those who have the ability and knowledge shouldn’t be silent because others can’t speak. If anything, we owe it to those who are disadvantaged and silenced to fight for a better future for us all. As a whole, we are not powerless.

Letting Your Guard Down in a Time of Crisis

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During a pandemic it is natural to worry about your defense systems. Will my immune system fight off the disease? Will my financial savings and food stocks last long enough? Will my government adequately protect me from hardship? In all of this, it can be easy to neglect one of your most important defense systems: your ego. Your ego acts as the immune system of your personality, reacting defensively to the information you receive and filtering it through various emotional and intellectual processes until it aligns with the way you conceptualize the world. The biggest worry during a time of crisis is not that your ego will fail to protect you, however, but that it will protect you too well. The quarantine has put my ego on high alert, and I have often found myself stressed, irritable, and defensive because of it. In a class such as ours that deals with controversial topics, this could make it difficult for me engage with challenging information, but contemplative practices have been crucial in allowing me to openly and honestly engage with ideas that challenge my worldview.

These practices work by altering my learning environment and physiological state. During a contemplative practice I am in a safe, comfortable, and quiet environment which allows me to relax. In this state of peace, my ego is able to let its guard down and I can abandon the defensiveness I feel towards challenging ideas. For example, while learning about fossil fuels, my mind is usually coming up with excuses for why I am not personally responsible for environmental damage, or why the information I am learning does not apply to me. A contemplative practice, however, lowers those defenses and forces me to engage with the material more honestly. I was not just hearing statistics, but I was feeling the information on a visceral level and applying it directly to my own life without making excuses. I also find that my ego encourages me to think linearly so I can ignore the wide range of effects my lifestyle has on a global scale; thus, contemplative practices have made it easier to think systemically which is crucial when analyzing our complex food system.

Note: I’m not sure this really came from the Buddha but I’m sure he would agree!

Overall, I have found the contemplative practices extremely helpful at improving mindfulness and self-honesty, and I now see them as a necessary step towards internalizing the things I learn. I believe that exercises like these will be critical for us as a society to be open and honest about our most significant problems, which will be necessary if we ever wish to solve them.

There is always more you can do.

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I chose to respond to Aaron Baker’s post “Is your Hunger Natural or Affluent?” (link: https://sites.uw.edu/pols385/2020/05/04/is-your-hunger-natural-or-affluent/). The question posed in his title is something I have been grappling with since I shifted to a plant-based diet due to unethical practices in the meat and dairy industry. I thought his response was very insightful, and I especially appreciated his statement “Just as hunger may be ubiquitous in the state of nature, it is equally possible for it to be absent entirely in a relatively affluent state in which the parameters of self-preservation have been redefined.” His thoughts made me consider how I drastically redefined my diet by only considering plant-based options as permissible for my self-preservation, despite there being ample other food options surrounding me. Thus, it seems as if I have redefined my “self” that I wish to preserve. My goal is not to simply keep myself alive, rather it is to maintain optimal nutrition, ethical consumption, and great taste.

Veganism News and Political Cartoons

From this, I drew a connection to “The Color of Food” (https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1372505/files/63044076/download?wrap=1) article we read in class, which described the “good food movement” amongst privileged middle-class individuals who prefer to consume organic food. The article goes on to describe those economically excluded from this movement, who rely on food supplied through the enormous food production chain that exploits people of color and “often forces workers to live in conditions that are close to poverty.” So, when I search for vegan meals, my hunger isn’t natural, it is affluent. Recognizing how much of the world struggles with food sovereignty allows me to stave off complacency as in my fight for change in the food system. I recognize a vegan diet isn’t enough, and that holistic change that provides everyone equal access to good food as I do today is my ultimate goal.

Food Sovereignty - SourceWatch

Climate change and the Individual: A response to Contemplating Climate Complexity

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This is a response to Contemplating Climate Complexity by Aisling Wade.

I first want to say thank you for sharing what you have — I really enjoyed what you wrote and reflecting back on what it meant for me.

= Abstract Tide Wave Water Color by Jessica Torrant

When I first learned about climate change and the detrimental impacts that it will have on our global community, I was stunned. I was stunned because no one was doing anything, no one was helping, and no one seemed to care. Education has exposed me to timely topics, but it has also unveiled my complicity. When I learned that I may be a part of the problem, I felt like a tsunami washed over me, sweeping my body away from shore.

As you have said, we will never feel the true cost of the triple inequality like the people who have contributed the least to the problem. My house will not be lost to rising sea levels, eroding soil, or wildfires either. I am in a bubble that seems cut off from the rest of the world’s problems. Though I am numb to the abilities of our government, I know that my bubble is not impenetrable. Climate change will inevitability lead to ocean acidification which will hit Washington hard, crumbling our fisheries, dissolving shellfish, throwing off salmon spawns and rippling up the food chain to us. Essentially liquefying our food structures and economy.

Even in my attempt to save the world by driving electric, I was once again reminded that my carbon foot print was bigger than I thought when we learned about renewable energy production in class. Eating plant-based diets also reminded me that my single contributions to help curve climate change does not tilt the scale in any meaningful way. As you, I feel like I have tried to help, but how can we make meaningful change as just an individual?

Food Lines: A Response to “Hunger and the Hungry”

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Having had time to reflect on a post by wisdaub entitled “Hunger and the Hungry,” a thoughtful contemplation of spiritual fasting, hunger, and food system shocks amidst the coronavirus pandemic, I will try to extend the conversation using a systems thinking approach. If we put “food insecurity” in the center of a systems map, the maze of feedback loops is dizzying, even without considering the effects of the current pandemic on the food supply network. Factor in the pandemic crisis and the triple inequalities multiply as those already least prepared for catastrophe are hit with another wave of hardship. There is no single cause or solution to global hunger, and many causes have complicated relationships among themselves.

Food System Map                                                                                     Image Source: thebigraise.fr

Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, an expert in issues of famine, declares poverty and lack of democracy as primary drivers of hunger, and suggests increased trade, tariffs and democratization as solutions, and self-sufficiency as a less powerful solution other than in times of war. A different view from physicist and food sovereignty advocate Vandana Shiva sees globalization and lack of import regulations as some of the larger systems responsible for poverty and displacement in the first place. Both perspectives would be appropriate in a systems-thinking map – the 135 million currently facing food shortage are victims of systems that cause or perpetuate poverty.

Children wait in line for food                                                      Image Source: weforum.org

If food is a human right (which, of course it is), how can we prevent projected estimates that the number of hungry may double by the end of 2020? Part of the answer is that people can’t afford food, especially with the economic fallout from the pandemic. Another is that nations who rely on imports are feeling food supply shocks deep in their bellies without the resources to grow or secure food closer to home. Increasing food sovereignty can build nimble resilience as shock absorbers for current systems vulnerable to price fluctuation and supply bottlenecks.

Widaub’s post describes fasting as “a way in which we recognize our common human fragility.” This is both humbling and empowering. Humbling in that the fragilities within  the food system are wounds pulled wide open during Coronavirus. These wounds may heal not by applying bandages of food aid and imports alone, but by empowering the world’s hungry with land, the resources to feed the land, and their children. Poverty is a reason many will not eat today. The systems perpetuating poverty are reasons many may not eat tomorrow.

Farmers in Indonesia
Image Source: viacampesina.org

 

Connections with the World System and Ourselves

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Response to Sarah  Champ’s “A refocusing Around Connection”

Feel Connected

This reflection on the Contemplative Practices ties in the very present issue of COVID-19 and the stresses it is bringing to daily lives, and the stresses it puts on the world system. I personally have never felt more transient, with my family’s summer move plans no longer set in stone, all future plans cancelled, and the uncertainty of even returning to school in the fall taking its toll on my ability to feel connected to the life I left (as I am out of state) and even the sense of self I have built over the last year. Sarah feels the same way, as there is both an internal sense of pressure to feel tied down to something, and an external through responsibilities such as coursework and household duties, but an inability to feel a connection to either. People are interconnected, and this sense of connection being disrupted has led to a more systemic approach of every individual and entire countries evaluating their connection to each other.

The greatest impact of this can be seen on the fossil fuel industry. COVID-19 has decimated oil prices as production continues but no consumers are using it, as car use and industrial production are halted due to economic shutdowns worldwide. Divestment in Fossil Fuels: A Preventive Public Health Strategy ...According to Forbes, renewable energy has become more appealing in fossil fuel’s place as they are not nearly as volatile economically, and increase energy sovereignty as constant imports of scarce fossil fuels are cut. Economic bailouts are being drafted for relief, and lawmakers are being given an opportunity to focus relief on more economically viable and environmentally safe instead of continuing to fund the dying fossil fuel industry. Peak Oil and Coal were reached decades ago, and the supply is only fading more and more.

The connection between individuals, the pandemic, and the fossil fuel industry’s future is clear, and it is paramount to make sure that change is enacted for the better.

Was Thomas Malthus Right?

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In response to “Is this Hunger?” by Regular Joe

 

While reading his response to the “Hunger” contemplative practice, I noticed a pattern. “Regular Joe” thought about his own hunger, relayed it to the rest of the framework of world hunger, and tried to find solutions to the problem. This is a logical process for most (Identify problem with yourself –> expand to larger view –> look for a mend or solution).

To put it lightly, this process works for a lot of things, but world hunger is a different beast. It consumes the lives of tens of millions each year, most of which we don’t see because of our privilege. America is blessed with wealth, while other countries aren’t so lucky, so it is hard for us to think of hunger in a larger context.

A frame from Interstellar, a movie hypothesizing the future of agriculture.

To fight hunger in the present and in the future, I think we have to look to the past. In his claims, Thomas Malthus believed that human population/demand for food would far surpass supply of food in the coming decades or centuries. And while this could be a danger in the future, right now, Malthus was vastly mistaken overall. He saw around him a way of food production that was sloppy and downright slow by today’s standards, so no wonder he made this claim. But humanity, harnessing innovation, created numerous processes to optimize food growth, such as high-scale irrigation, crop rotation, genetically modified organisms, etc. These are some of the processes Regular Joe references in his response to “Hunger”, but I want to look at the future landscape of agriculture.

 

“Humanity is condemned by the tendency of population to grow geometrically while food production would increase only arithmetically”

-Thomas Malthus

 

To me, I look at the future of food production similarly to what I watched in the movie Interstellar, by Christopher Nolan. In this movie (taken place hundreds of years from now), the world has transitioned most of their citizens to agriculture-based careers, rather than accountants, athletes, movie-stars, etc. Because of the growing population, more food had to be produced, in areas that were optimal for food growth. I see the optimal growing zones on earth shifting more towards the poles (because of global warming) but I see humanity making the most out of it, squeezing all they can (agriculture-wise) out of their new situation.

References

Photo: https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2471590/how-interstellar-turned-christopher-nolan-into-an-actual-corn-farmer

Quote: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-malthus-predicted-1798-food-shortages/

Is This Hunger?

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Sitting in the last bits of daylight, eyes closed, I calmly take deep breaths. Slowly inhaling through my nose, exhaling through my mouth. I’m concentrating on the emptiness inside of me, I’ve been fasting for almost 24 hours. Is this hunger I think to myself? No, it is not, being hungry means more than just missing a meal. It’s a debilitating crisis that has more than 820 million people in its grip.

Hunger is a perilous cycle that passes from one generation to the next. Families who struggle with chronic hunger and malnutrition consistently go without the nutrients their minds and bodies need, which then prevents them from being able to perform their best at work, school, or to improve their lives.

So why are people hungry? This is a complex question, but hunger is a byproduct of food insecurity, which is defined as being “unable to consistently access or afford adequate food.” A number of factors such as poverty, climate change, price fluctuations, distribution networks, and food waste all play a role in food insecurity. There is no silver-bullet solution and each region or community needs its own tailored fix. Though many agree that closing the yield gap, using fertilizers more efficiently, raising low water productivity, and reducing food waste would all go a long way in helping to reduce food insecurity.

Suddenly my mind begins spinning, my breathing hastens. This problem seems so overwhelming, what am I a poor student suppose do about this? I slow my breathing and say to myself “you don’t have to be responsible for solving the world’s problems but taking a moment to contemplate and be mindful is at least a step in the right direction.” Contemplative practices can be helpful in metaphorically dipping your toe into complex problems. They allow you to examine your place within a living system while not overly internalizing it.