Instead of Divide and Conquer, Love and Connect
Written by Radhule Weininger
This reflection came to me in meditation. It seems that everywhere we look right now — in politics, among nations, between communities, and even with our neighbors — the divide-and-conquer strategy is at work. Set people against each other. I win, you lose. I am right, you are wrong. I am in, you are out. My child is first in class, which must mean others are below. If you have less, I have more.
Divide and conquer doesn't only operate externally. It works inside of us, too. How often do we push our inner life around, brushing aside our difficult emotions, declaring war on our fear or grief, trying to conquer the parts of ourselves we find inconvenient? The same strategy that fractures societies fractures our own hearts.
What is the opposite? Not just tolerating each other. Not living with a fragile truce. It’s something more radical: loving and interconnecting.
Finding Our Deepest Nature
The poet Rumi wrote: "There is a field beyond right-doing and wrong-doing. I'll meet you there." This field is not a fantasy or a spiritual bypass — it is, I believe, our deepest nature. The Dalai Lama puts it simply: “We all want to be free of suffering and be happy. Whatever our political party, immigration status, religion, spirituality, or lack of one — we all want to be safe. We all love our children. We all carry the same wish, in our bones, for wellness and belonging.”
This is not a small thing to recognize. In our current political and cultural moment, it is quite revolutionary to turn inward and ask: What is the common ground? Can I rest in something deeper than human-made divides?
The trouble is, we cannot think our way into this recognition. We cannot read or discuss our way there. Our social condition drills into us every day that we must win or we will lose. That sense of scarcity and threat runs deep. It has shaped us since childhood.
John Makransky, a teacher of Buddhist philosophy and meditation, tells us that undoing it requires practice — real, repeated, embodied practice. Beyond recognizing the field of shared humanity, we must learn to rest in it and, over time, become it. John remind us that we each have a kind of superpower. We are capable of feeling what others feel. We share common circumstances as well as common interiority.
When we awaken to the notion of a separate self being driven to defend its territory, it begins to lose its grip. We discover that we are what Thich Nhat Hanh called interbeings, not isolated units but nodes in a vast web of care. We are all connected to a deeper common ground, one of knowing and caring, which Christian mystic Meister Eckhart called the Groundless Ground.
Resting in the Field of Shared Humanity
Some may wonder: Does resting in this field of shared humanity mean we stop speaking out? Does living in the spirit of interconnection require us to go silent in the face of injustice? I think of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. They stood up fiercely against injustice and did not look away. They accomplished this by being rooted in their own spiritual traditions. They rested in the field of care, and from that ground, their actions were both sustainable and wise.
Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.” I understand that to mean not that we must become enlightened before we act, but that we must act while remaining rooted in the deeper, sacred ground. From there, we can stand in the field of shared humanity and stand against what harms people. These are not opposites. John describes it as something like a jujitsu move. Joanna Macy called it the tantric flip.
Welcoming Our Feelings as Fuel for Change
When we welcome our feelings of outrage and longing for justice into the field of care rather than suppressing them, those feelings become fuel. We are resting in the field of care when our way of being shifts from ego-consciousness to a deeper, wider space of wisdom and compassion. Outrage and longing for justice are transformed into energy for compassionate, skillful, sustainable action rather than burning us out or pulling us into the vortex of reactivity.
That vortex is real. Exposure to the constant flow of news, commentary, and social media posts reminds us of injustice. When we listen, we are triggered to react, react, react. Pure reactivity, without being connected to the deeper groundless ground beneath it, ultimately consumes us. It may help some individuals in the short term — and of course that matters — but it does not change the larger picture.
I invite you to ask yourself: How do you touch that field in your life? Is it in nature? In music? In prayer or meditation? In the presence of a dear friend, a child, or an animal? In the silence? What brings you into that sense of inter-beingness, that quiet knowing that we all share the same wish for safety, love, and freedom from suffering?
What We Can Do Now
Find that place. Return to it. Let it become not just a rest stop but a home. From that home, offer what you can. We are not, at our deepest level, separate. We are not in competition. Each one of us, regardless of politics, religion, or where we were born, benefit from recognition of our common humanity.
Because consistent practice is so important for changing our habits of thinking and reacting, we encourage you to:
Use Mindful Heart Programs’ resources, including recorded meditations live, online guided meditation sessions. View the daily calendar.
Attending in our upcoming Beginner’s Mind series to learn about and practice the four types of meditation that we teach. Visit Events to register.
Visiting John Makransky’s Sustainable Compassion website and listening to the recorded meditations that are available there. John will teach a day-long MHP session on Opening to the Unconditional Love and Wisdom of Our Buddha Nature at Santa Barbara Middle School on April 25. See MHP Events for details.
Our programs are supported by donations. Our mission is to make the benefits of meditation accessible to all. Let’s connect and practice together.
