Noticing Aggression (Day -39)

In learning and practicing meditation, we are often advised to not even try to quiet the egoic mind. Frustration from your failed efforts to stop thinking lead to more repetitive, negative thinking in a downward spiral. Just noticing your thoughts is often a great teacher. Notice how automatic they are. Notice how you've thought those exact same things before. It can even be helpful to try to run through all of your typical, old complaints and stories at as high a speed as possible till you reach a surprising moment of quiet and peace.

Most people do not advocate or act aggressively in their personal lives. But like fish not aware of water, they are not aware of the sea of direct and indirect aggression impacting every area of their lives. They are also not aware that every time they say, "That ought to be illegal", they are advocating aggression without considering voluntary alternatives.

How can people take the Non-Aggression Principle to heart if they can't even recognize aggression? Perhaps a more practical NAP would be the Notice Aggression Principle.

The Reduce Aggression Principle (RAP) and the Reduce Aggression Principle Pledge (RAPP) will be designed to make it easy to understand what indirect and hidden aggression is, and to notice it and then to consider alternatives. We are working on the precise formulation of the pledge with those goals at the forefront.

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