Bullies are our call to action

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A man told me once that all the bad people
Were needed. Maybe not all, but your fingernails
You need; they are really claws, and we know
Claws. The sharks—what about them?
They make other fish swim faster. The hard-faced men
In black coats who chase you for hours
In dreams—that’s the only way to get you
To the shore. Sometimes those hard women
Who abandon you get you to say, “You.”
A lazy part of us is like a tumbleweed.
It doesn’t move on its own. Sometimes it takes
A lot of Depression to get tumbleweeds moving.
Then they blow across three or four States.
This man told me that things work together.
Bad handwriting sometimes leads to new ideas;
And a careless God—who refuses to let people
Eat from the Tree of Knowledge—can lead
To books, and eventually to us. We write
Poems with lies in them, but they help a little.                                                   

                                                                  –ROBERT BLY, “BAD PEOPLE” taken from The Zero Point Agreement: How to be who you already are

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Bullying can occur anywhere—whether online through platforms like Facebook and email, in national politics, or even at family gatherings. Bullies typically resort to threats, either direct or indirect. They might threaten to reveal your perceived weaknesses, hint that your job could be at risk, or harass you persistently until you comply with their demands. Often, they insist that their perspective is the only valid one.

How are we to respond in an ethical and meaningful way to the bullies in our lives?  (Write about this) How might our spiritual practice help us here? (Contemplate how your spiritual practice helps you with bullies). 
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I've learned that no one can diminish us through bullying when we stay grounded in our principles and focus on what we are creating, rather than being drawn into external drama, no matter how real. When our minds are set on ethical principles, the bully can't distract us, because our attention and energy are dedicated to practicing those principles, creating something meaningful, or being engaged in something simple yet helpful. 

Bullies try to manipulate events and people to get what they want. They try to get us on the defensive. But they can only succeed with our consent. Don’t consent. Sometimes we don’t consent to bullying by taking action; other times we remain still and disengaged. We must each discern for ourselves how to respond to a bully or bullying environment. Bullies present an even greater challenge to our spiritual integrity when they manage an environment (work, politics, family, or a nation, for example). If we were raised in an environment where no one spoke up, we learn to be quiet to survive. Sometimes we learn to live under the radar of the abusers and bullies. But the bullying continues. So, living under the radar or not speaking up or feeling manipulated often means the bully is driving our bus and we are sitting in a back seat scared as they swerve about on the road.

Sometimes we have to do what it takes to get off the bus; other times we have to get our hands on the steering wheel. 

Write about how a national bully presently impacts your daily life and what actions you might take to focus your life on your principles, your creative endeavors.  What contemplative action (which are based on ethical principles) might you take to take hold of the steering wheel? What does getting off the bus mean to you and what might that look like in your life? 

An excerpt from The Zero Point Agreement: How to Be Who You Already Are (p. 150). Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. 

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I wanted the plums, but I waited.
The sun went down. The fire
went out. With no lights on
I waited. From the night again--
those words: how stupid I was.
And I closed my eyes to listen.
The words all sank down, deep
and rich. I felt their truth
and began to live them. They were mine
to enjoy. Who but a friend
could give so sternly what the sky
feels for everyone but few learn to
cherish? In the dark with the truth
I began the sentence of my life
and found it so simple there was no way
back into qualifying my thoughts
with irony or anything like that.
I went to the fridge and opened it--
sure enough the light was on.
I reached in and got the plums. 
 
​           –WILLIAM STAFFORD,  “THINKING ABOUT BEING CALLED SIMPLE BY A CRITIC”, Taken from The Zero Point Agreement: How to Be Who You Already Are 

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