The Dance

... Nor will it do to confront the opposition in public with polite and non-violent sit-ins and demonstrations, while boosting your collective ego by insulting them in private. If we want justice for minorities and cooled wars with our natural enemies, whether human or non-human, we must first come to terms with the minority and enemy in our own hearts, for the rascal there is as much as anywhere in the “external” world --- especially when you realize that the world outside your skin is as much yourself as the world inside. For want of this awareness, no one can be more belligerent than a pacifist on the rampage, or more militant nationalistic than the anti-imperialist.
The Book
So What? Pp. 133-134
Alan Watts
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There is nothing more powerful in a dispute than when it is offered the possibility that the “other” is has legitimate concerns. There is nothing more impotent and frustrating than when the “other” insists that there is no common ground to stand on. Progress comes when I cease fighting the duality within and see my own inner conflicts in the same light as I do the major conflicts of the world. This can only be done once I fully understand that what is “inside” is no more apart from the world than a wave is separate from the ocean. An important step in this is to be able to feel the rhythms and sense the underlying beat in order to dance with it. To see the rich as greedy, immoral, white old men, is not so much different as from seeing the poor as welfare queens, or lay-abouts sucking off the energy of those who work for a living. While one side raves against the other, nothing but stasis is possible. Neither will gain anything of value for any period of time other than the haves and the have-nots continuing the strife. There is no music to dance to when one side strives to win completely over the other… either to oppress the poor or to obliterate the rich. We are all hurt by the callous disregard for the "other"... especially those who are caught in-between.
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