Lama ROD OWENS on Liberatory Rage /191
Lama Rod Owens courtesy @lamarodowens
We are angry, angry about each injustice we witness or experience, angry about politics, angry when we are unable to communicate, angry over wounds we haven’t been able to heal - anger is something we are all familiar with, yet amidst this familiarity, our relationship with anger is strained. This week on For The Wild, we are joined by Lama Rod Owens to explore anger’s purpose in liberation. Rather than denying and feeling guilty over our anger, or policing and demonizing the anger of another, how can we allow it to alert us to imbalance and injustice? How do we make space for anger as an illuminating and guiding force? And as we empower our feelings of rage, how do we recognize that anger is paradoxically both a privilege and a necessity under white supremacy? As we make space for our own rage, we are called to the work of denouncing the oppressor’s strategy of invalidating emotional expression, we are called to recognize and witness each other’s anger.
“Instead of suffering consuming me, I work to consume the suffering…”
Lama Rod Owens
Lama Rod Owens is an author, activist, and authorized Lama (Buddhist Teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. Owens is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community and has been published and featured in several publications including Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin and has offered talks, retreats, and workshops in over 7 countries. Lama Rod facilitates undoing patriarchy workshops for male-identified practitioners in Brooklyn and Boston. Lama Rod’s next book project will explore transformative anger and rage and is due out June 2020.
Alongside our exploration of anger and rage, Lama Rod supports us in navigating the changing of worlds we are experiencing. In recognizing these moments of great turning - our work is to tend to our grief and massage our trauma, as tumultuous as it may be. Rather than running away from the unknown or the uncomfortable, Lama Rod reminds us that it is only through experiencing hardship that we develop a sort of emotional buoyancy and resiliency to the ongoing suffering of life and the totality of our experiences. Through this ever-inspiring conversation, we explore embodiment, whiteness and violence, the crumbling of old narratives and patriarchal structures, and how we can find aids in spiritual and religious practices.
♫ Music by Rupa & the April Fishes, Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Nathan Salsburg, and Bird By Snow
Episode References
Love & Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger
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For The Wild is a slow media organization dedicated to land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. We are rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth, and consumerism. As we dream towards a world of grounded justice and reciprocity, our work highlights impactful stories and deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times.