I Have

Think of your most important experiences: the essential stories you tell about yourself. "I have an experience. This experience is my story. And through this story about the experience I have, I know who I am."

Now look carefully. In the heart of that experience you have, is there really any "I," or any "having"?

"I" and "having" are superimposed, a mirage of afterthought. Why do you need to claim that experience as yours? Have you ever asked yourself this question? If you want to penetrate life as deeply as the Buddha, you must doubt even your most fundamental assumptions.

The attempt to establish an empire of "I" and to claim experience as "mine" is not only the cause of personal suffering, but the actual root of political conflict. A political mind insists on validating "my" experience as the true story, while invalidating "your" experience as a false story. The "self-made" story of the rich person, the "oppressed" story of the poor, the fundamentalist's story of "one true religion," the American's story of "manifest destiny," the Israeli's story of "the promised land," the Palestinian's story of "the victim": each insists that the world not only listen, but adopt "my" story as truth. 

Human conflict is not rooted in economics, politics or territoriality, but in the illusion of "I" and "have."

That is why the solution to conflict never comes through economic or political revolution. Any change on the level of the conflict simply rearranges the conflict, simply rearranges effects without penetrating to the cause.

How can I root out the inmost cause of conflict? By doubting the validity of any story I tell myself about "me." How can we end world conflict? By refusing to participate in movements that project "my" personal story onto others. Real change comes, not when we engage in the turmoil of politics, but when we relinquish the outrageous claim that "my" experience should be the story of the world.

The work of uprooting our ego-story is meditation. Some people declare that meditation and work are very different. But meditation is work. Meditation is work at the most fundamental level of causality. 

If you want to do profound political work, start a meditation revolution. Serve humanity by dissolving the "I." Start the revolution in yourself, then spread it. This work is not a New Age fantasy: it is a survival technique for the whole earth.