Reflection questions

3/15/2021

If we already are Buddha nature, and if awakening is already here, what makes your practice of skillful offering and beneficial action necessary?
When you're busy, tired or out of resources and feel like you have nothing to offer, how do you think about your practice of beneficial action?
Is there a line between the offering you do as practice and the activities of the rest of your life? Does offering-as-practice feel separate or more important or less important?

Dennis McCarty

3/17/2021 07:15:58 am

It occurs to me that when I'm working on my long-term writing project (it's a book on institutional racism, etc.--subtitle: "The Education of a Clueless White Man.")

Anyway, when things are really rolling for me, it seems as though my *relationship* with the three poisons (my own anger, ignorance, and greed) are "gifts" that--in learning about them and how to live with them--I can offer. That is--I am ignorant, please teach me. I know I can become angry--I must remember that so as not to harm myself or others. "Let's try this a different way." I have all I need--when I forget that, my "I" becomes small and weak.

I reflect that it's often been the times when I most thought I *knew* something that I was likely to say or do harmful to someone else.

"Help me understand" mind has been valuable for serving myself and others. I easily forget that, then I have to go back to work and try to remember it.

When offering-practice-gift-wisdom-ignorance-curiosity come together, they seem to form a kind of wholeness-within-emptiness. I think it's good because then it feels as though I'm being gentle with myself and others. The distinctions fade. If I could stay in that place of wholeness/emptiness all the time, with myself and people around me, I wonder what would happen?

Mark Howell

3/19/2021 04:30:24 am

From Krista Tippet's On-Being, regarding the effect of this past year on our nervous system-

"And so, collectively, we were faced with this impossible choice — that the very thing that makes us human, which is our physical connection to other people, was the cost of keeping each other safe.

"And all of that is terrible. Somewhere along the way, part of the dynamic was, you’re either on the side of the science, [laughs] or you’re interested in killing people. And so somehow — I guess what I’m saying is, this is an impossible — it’s a tragedy. But I feel like it stopped us from actually being really honest about the terrible effects of the social isolation."

I am reading the transcript but it's a podcast too.
https://onbeing.org/programs/christine-runyan-whats-happening-in-our-nervous-systems/#transcript

Ryan Murphy

3/19/2021 12:31:01 pm

I recently started reading Radical Darma by Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah and right in the introduction I came across this statement about offering:

"No one entity has the answer, but rather it is the willingness to offer our best, claim responsibility for our worst, and fold it into the continuous moment-to-moment practice of simply being present to what is that promises to deliver our future." (p xxviii)

The juxtaposition of "offering our best" alongside "claiming responsibility for our worst" pushed me to think about offering in some new ways. Sometimes when I become tired or feel out of resources on a topic, I feel an ebb and flow of stepping back to rest and detach alongside a percolating interest to try again, only to try again in a new way.

It's the way we "fold" what we offer and what we claim responsibility for together that I think speaks to the first reflection question: If we already are Buddha nature, then what makes skillful offering and beneficial action necessary? If we are following the Boddhisatva ideal then we can recognize there is an apparent paradox at having Buddha nature while also needing to work on "folding" offering along with responsibility because this is what "promises to deliver our future" and the future of all sentient beings. I don't think that's really an answer to the question as much as it is to find some reason to keep working on beneficial action.

Continual practice seems entwined with offering because an act of offering takes place in an instant, but I think part of what makes it an offering is what events came before it and what events follow. Offering incense at my obutsudan is a special kind offering because I do it every day. But also, sitting for a sesshin is a special kind of offering because I don't do it every day.

Listening to a Dharma talk is another kind of offering. The person giving the talk is making an offering and the person listening to the talk also making an offering. When I listen to a Dharma talk I always feel a little tension between just listening (not trying to reflect or take notes) and listening to find. When I "find" something in a Dharma talk, it often feels like an insatiable interest that arises...an interest to learn more about what I just heard.

I'll wrap this reply by sharing a word that came up in a Dharma talk last night, a word that interested me (in the sense described above). This term is "Robai-shin" or what has been translated as "Grandmothers' Mind." I imagine the "shin" part of this term is the same "shin" as "Sanshin." After looking into this, I found an article in Lion's Roar that quotes Dogen as describing Robai-shin in this way:

“You can understand all of Buddhism, but you cannot go beyond your abilities and your intelligence unless you have robai-shin, grandmother mind, the mind of great compassion. This compassion must help all of humanity. You should not think only of yourself.”

The author of that article, Susan Moon, explains this compassion further. Whereas parental compassion must focus on the "nuts and bolts" of child care, "grandmothers—both literal and metaphorical—can pay attention to the background, to the water and the air. We can tell the babies stories about the stars." While Robai-shin is a kind of compassion, I wonder how this points to different kinds of offering. I wonder, how offering can pay attention to the background? How is "offering" different from "giving?"
------
Sources (that could be included on the resource page)

Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, by Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, with Jasmine Syedullah. 2016. North Atlantic Books

"Grandmother Mind," by Susan Moon, Lion's Roar, September 1, 2007. Located at: <https://www.lionsroar.com/grandmother-mind/>

Mark Howell

3/24/2021 05:23:58 pm

Ryan, I think you are correct about your interpretation of "Robai-shin" as the same "shin" as "Sanshin." Dogen presented the three minds in Tenzo Kyokun. Okumura Roshi has a translation [1] and I think Uchiyama Roshi / Thomas Wright does as well [2].

[1] Dōgen, T. D. Leighton, and S. Okumura, Dōgen’s pure standards for the Zen community: a translation of the Eihei shingi. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996.
[2] Dōgen, T. Wright, and K. Uchiyama, How to cook your life: from the Zen kitchen to enlightenment. Boston: Shambhala, 2005.

Iris

3/21/2021 03:27:58 pm

Facing things directly, with compassion

Hoko said, mindfulness without ethics can allow someone to be a mindful sociopath. That idea really struck me at the time. It got me thinking about how body and mind make up wholeness and I can’t separate one from the other without losing something important. Recently I’ve been reflecting that the experience at Sanshin has shifted, from nourishing the wholeness of body and mind to an emphasis on mind while body is slowly neglected. It’s manifesting for me with conversations at Sanshin not rising sufficiently to deal with escalating issues.

There are two obvious (to me) paths in dealing with issues: first, with weekly dharma talks; second, in supplemental groups. Clearly I understand during the run up to (and including) the election why it was important not to take an official stand, especially in weekly dharma talks. “All” are welcome there, regardless of political affiliation. It was difficult to experience that time of trepidation and anxiety without feeling comfort from the sangha and I had hopes that the discussion on politics through a Buddhist lens would be the place for this. I was really disappointed to discover a careful “let’s include everyone” attitude when dealing with hugely difficult topics. I realize now that those in charge of the event haven’t been significantly affected by the issues and see them only as political. No, it’s not any sort of “safe space” to put those who have strong emotional body-responses (fear, anger, despair, grief, etc) to the aggression and abuse Trump perpetuates in the same space as those who are active pro-Trump sympathizers as well as others who are comfortable allowing that energy. I felt compelled to say something for the sake of others who might be as freaked out as I was and I practiced speaking as skillfully as was possible for me in that moment. But it was an upsetting experience that shook me deeply and I haven’t been able to articulate why until now.

After the insurrection there has been, under the guise of “not being political”, what feels like a denial of trauma to body and mind for many. I’m sure plenty of people were unaffected on any deep level, witnessing a political event that doesn’t affect their individual lives. Others may have found it just part of the ongoing trauma to their community and actually feel like this non-response was in line with all the other non-responses to the other events they experience. Others of us, and this is where I’m coming from, have the luxury of fitting into regular mainstream society while also feeling apart from it, but in it well enough to benefit from the safety and hoping that will continue. This event was extremely upsetting to me. The historically referencing, overt white supremacist violence that flaunts our laws and norms is extremely triggering to me, as a direct threat to the bodies and freedoms of my friends, my family, and myself.

Facing what happened is not about denying compassion to any particular group. In fact, by avoiding facing it is at the very least denying compassion to the group that feels harmed. More than that, it denies the pain that’s being experienced “on both sides” – those suffering from delusion that manifests violently and which represents the erasure of certain freedoms and the very existence of actual human beings, and those suffering from the violence TOWARD them, directly (or on a regular basis) or indirectly. Not allowing the space to share fear, anger, and grief made it seem like even having these reactions wasn’t appropriate to experience in the sangha.

Yes, we all see an incomplete picture of reality. I don’t want to assert my incomplete picture onto others. And also, let’s not get lost in the false attitude of “let’s all get along” and deny the actual pain that is there. I know I’m not the only one who has needed comfort and support from my religious community in this time, even if my particular experience might be unique. Others are struggling, silently, and for what reason? They are quiet in the overall attempt not to alienate Republicans. That feels EXACTLY political. Why not turn to Buddhist teachings to illuminate the delusion of white supremacy that we ALL suffer from? We with white skin benefit from it but everyone suffers in it. All of us need to hear teachings around this, even Republicans would benefit from it. They are suffering too!

I know that from past trauma and from my marginalized identities I’m particularly sensitive to others questioning and minimizing my perceived reality (gaslighting). Also it’s triggering to me NOT to talk about something big and awful that’s going on. Because of my particular background, I found the process of trying to turn to sangha for comfort retraumatizing. I don’t know why I was so insistent

Iris

3/21/2021 03:33:09 pm

I don’t know why I was so insistent about trying to speak up, when I was still unable to process what was happening and unsure of my own feelings and responses. I was so deeply upset I didn’t think about how weekly dharma talks were not “the place” for these conversations. I simply hoped my way toward connecting with others who might be upset like me (and Nate). I admit I was not skillful in that. Furthermore, this was not a safe space in which I could even admit to myself the extent of my enormous fear and worry. When the insurrection WAS named, the feedback was not “Is there a way to rephrase without making this a conversation about politics?” – the feedback was an admonishment, “Let’s be careful, we need to be mindful of Republican sangha members and we don’t want them to be uncomfortable.” I knew intuitively that this reaction (and everyone else’s silence) amounted to prioritizing the comfort of those who (passively or actively) align with the violence. But I didn’t want to admit that either. Nor could I face that I was terrified of being vulnerable on a recorded call. After some failed attempts I realized I was too freaked out to speak honestly and that no one else wanted to speak up about personal experience and I stopped trying.

In YOBA I was hoping for intimacy and community where we are allowed to face the pain and suffering of the various areas in which we have interest. I hear a lot of words and very little substance. People dance around ideas, allude to this and that, and nothing is said. In the face of what actually happened recently, which hasn’t been faced or resolved in our sangha, it is insulting and disorienting to create a gathering of general ideas and concepts related to HELPING OTHERS. How did we forget to start where we are?

I don’t mean to belittle or minimize. Beneficial action is a valid and important idea to pursue. The point is, when a large trauma is allowed to pass unacknowledged, those who are harmed can’t just go along with the everyday life afterward. I clearly have a lot of healing to do, and I am actively seeking it, including counseling, mostly outside my sangha. I bring all this up only because others may be suffering as well and it is part of my own beneficial action practice that I say something when I see harm done.

Ryan Murphy

3/21/2021 06:12:51 pm

One sentence in your post really stands out to me, Iris.

"Others of us, and this is where I’m coming from, have the luxury of fitting into regular mainstream society while also feeling apart from it, but in it well enough to benefit from the safety and hoping that will continue."

This resonates with my experience: feeling tensions but also being able to settle back into comforts and safety. Working with the uncomfortable strikes me as special kind of offering, particularly when you do so in order to share it with sangha. I feel like your post is calling us in, and I'm thankful for it.

Sawyer

3/22/2021 01:37:30 pm

Thank you Iris.

The violent storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters happened the day before Sanshin's January At-Home retreat, through which I was planning to sit completely. I'm living right now alone at my family's cabin on an edge of Yellowwood State Forest, and I remember feeling rushes of thankfulness that my Dad was with me here at the time, and would be staying on as tenzo/friend through the weekend. I remember saying to him before the sitting began (pretty rattled), "I'll be completely defenseless..."

I was rattled even more thinking about a friend of mine who lives in town (Nashville) -- a woman who is seventy, diabetic with several other health issues, feels herself pointedly to be surrounded by what she calls "a hotbed of Trump extremism," and lives alone. Offering her also my Dad's support ("call him anytime if you need/want" and also "we can bring you here if you need/want") was all I could think to do -- also letting her know that I'd be sitting still and "not-doing" for the weekend, as appropriate a response to the violence as I felt capable of at the time (she also has Buddhist, as well as Daoist, leanings).

I did sit through that weekend, and afterwards talked through some of the strangeness and fear both with her and with my Dad. How to do this within the spacious potential of sangha, in a way that relieves suffering, balances us, and deepens practice, somehow over disembodied Zoom-space... facing things directly, with compassion, like you say...

Mark Howell

3/24/2021 04:37:45 pm

to Sawyer who said, "... also letting her know that I'd be sitting still and "not-doing" for the weekend, as appropriate a response to the violence as I felt capable of at the time..."

Thank you for sharing this. Sitting is an excellent alternative to violence and you were wise to choose it. Dogen wrote, “…even if they face circumstances in which they could commit wrongs, and even if they seem to mix with friends who do not commit wrongs- wrongs can never be committed at all. [1]

Also,

“Dorin says, “Not to commit wrongs. To practice the many kinds of right.”
“Kyo-I says, “If it is so, even a child of three can express it.”
“Dorin says, ‘A child of three can speak the truth, but an old man of eighty cannot practice it.” [1]

I think you realized Dogen’s teaching in your actions. You practiced it.

_/\_

[1] K. Nishijima and C. Cross, Eds., Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō. Book 1. BookSurge, LCC, 2006.

Sawyer

3/22/2021 02:48:51 pm

A chance for some of us to participate in something together:

The Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College in New York is sponsoring a "Global Climate Dialog." They've invited universities in all fifty U. S. states and I think fifty other countries to hold their own webinars on April 7th focused on what would need to happen at their state/regional level to "solve climate by 2030."

In Indiana, IU is holding the webinar, with speakers affiliated with IU and Indiana NAACP, and they've titled it "Electrifying Indiana." The idea is for each regional webinar to offer three tangible local/state-level actions that can be taken towards a just renewable energy transition. They're encouraging college and high school classes and also religious groups to hold viewings and followup discussion.

If anyone else wants to attend (April 7th, 1:30 -- 3:00 PM, though I think it'll also be recorded), I guess send me an email, so we can all know who's involved:

sawyer.hitchcock@gmail.com

Then if it feels worth it and people are interested, we could potentially find a time to Zoom a followup discussion about the talks, what we might be able to offer beneficially around here etc...? If anyone else has particular interest in addressing climate change etc. as an area of practice and might want to help with possibilities for forming discussion after the webinar, I'd be glad to know that too.

Here's Bard College's 'Global Dialogs' info page:
http://www.solveclimateby2030.org/

And here's Indiana's/IU's regional webinar info page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11U0K-AfkFl-IlLJA6vcRZOydbNUzXiEInJ88tAAzkys/edit

And what feels like some relevant insight from Shodo Spring, a climate/environmental activist as well as one of Hojo-san's Dharma heirs:

"Beings are numberless, I vow to free them... This vow exists at the level of illusion. In the Absolute, there are no sentient beings to be freed and certainly no "I" to make a vow. In the relative world, where we live every day, this vow is a way to relate to what seems like others. The first vow defines my relationship with the world around me, with every sentient being." (from her essay "Finding Home in the Vow," in the Sanshin-published book "Boundless Vows, Endless Practice")

Mark Howell

3/23/2021 08:24:03 am

There seems to be a big block in YOBA about what can and cannot be said and that block has been drawn in terms of political ideology. It is a difficult to work with a barrier based on politics but there is wisdom in not making comments that are political triggers. If one person says something of one ideology, there is a danger that they could upset someone with the opposite ideology. But that alone is not the danger. The danger is that the other will say something in return that upsets the original speaker. Then both parties are upset and the conversation ends. The problem is not the conversation, it is the use of ideological narratives of habit. I propose we drop ideology and pursue the conversations from a place of practice, exercising right speech and right thought.

Daishin's closing remarks last night were spot on (paraphrasing here): have trust in oneself and take refuge in the Buddha, dharma and sangha. Beginning nearly a year ago, the pandemic, riots and political/media chaos completely rocked my boat. At that time I found great comfort in two things: realizing Tenzo Kyokun and taking refuge in the Three Treasures. There is great wisdom in the teachings and great power in the practice.

--
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
-William Blake

Mark Howell

3/23/2021 08:27:09 am

One other thing...

Poet David Whyte shares clear insights in his offering "Living without Enemies: Refusing to Name as the Essence of Kindness." Reading it is time well invested.

https://simplebooklet.com/davidwhytebrochure#page=2

Dennis McCarty link

3/24/2021 04:43:39 am

I really appreciate your two comments, Mark. There is, in ministry/chaplaincy work, a saying that someone can do harm by "doing [or saying] the right thing in the wrong way."

IMHO, this is worth working on. For example, the assault on the Capitol building is a fact. It happened. We can't (I don't think) pretend we didn't happened.

As I mention in a post I added earlier today, the heightened state of danger/harassment directed at people of Asian descent. That's also a fact.

If we are to practice clear vision, I really believe we need to find ways to talk about facts. Of course, talking about facts can provoke feelings. Were I a member of the sangha of Asian descent, I would be concerned (in fact I'm as Euro-American as you can get, and I still feel worry about Asian Americans.) There needs to be a way to name those feelings.

I think the challenge that we're learning to figure out is how to have those conversations in the "right" way. That is, there may be discomfort. As trust builds within the group, I really hope we can "sail closer to the wind" in having discussions about facts--and also sharing our differing feelings about them.

I'm still learning to do this. I think we all are. At some point, someone is going to make a mistake. But I was told early on, "Zen is the practice of 'fall down seven times, get back up eight times.'"

I really liked what Daishin said about needing to build relationships of trust--applying that to this group. I look forward to learning to trust one another enough to say "I disagree" and talk in love and trust about the disagreement; or make a mistake, name the mistake, and talk in love and trust about that.

I REALLY appreciated our last session and hope to have more like it.

Mark Howell

3/24/2021 04:57:14 pm

Dennis, thank you for your post. Maybe we can pick one of the two facts, the assault on the Capitol building or the heightened state of danger directed at people of Asian descent, and explore the topical question, “What beneficial action(s), informed by our Zen teachings, can our sangha make as an appropriate response?”

Dennis McCarty link

3/24/2021 03:14:58 am

I believe we ought to be talking about this. Just my opinion, but I can't think of a beneficial action that would be more appropriate than concerned members of this group participating in this cause. (Not as representatives of Sanshin Zen Community--just as well to leave their name out of it. But as human beings practicing compassion for other human beings who are in danger right now.

I feel sorrow that I missed this vigil. I hope to make the next one.

https://bsquarebeacon.com

Sawyer Jisho Hitchcock

4/1/2021 05:58:19 am

here are some gathered selections of loving-speech relating to "politics" from ancestors, teachers, companions -- hopefully not too lifted out of context. many words, likely too many. anyway may they help us going forward.

from "The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo" (which some of us are reading from on Wednesday nights):

Kodo Sawaki Roshi --

"We're always falling into ruts. Politicians and their followers, many schoolteachers, and opinion leaders work hard to manipulate people into biased, habitual ways of thinking. The ways we're distorted are subtle, deliberate, and complicated. When we're liberated from this distortion, we will find the true wisdom of Buddhism" (21).

"When I asked [Sawaki Roshi] about the Suez Canal affair, I was very impressed with his answer, although I didn't quite understand what he meant. He said, 'You should cover the canal with Buddha's robe'" (23).

Kosho Uchiyama Roshi --

"Buddhadharma is a religion that allows practitioners to open clear and fresh eyes, unimpaired by habitual ways of thinking. To clarify the warped and deadly situation in Japanese politics, each and every one of us must open our eyes and criticize current conditions. Buddhism in its true meaning must be a living teaching in these times" (22).

Hojo-san --

"Sawaki Roshi compared these small time crooks with world leaders, because while many people worship dictators as heroes, such figures merely occupy positions of power. We can consider Shakyamuni and other Buddhist masters as examples of the opposite kind of hero, who renounced wealth, power, and privilege for the sake of the Dharma" (22).

Amidst student protests over "American Imperialism" and the Vietnam War at Komazawa University in 1968: "Part of me felt guilty about not participating in the social movements. However, another part thought that quietly studying Buddhist teaching and practicing zazen was the best way to engage in the world" (38).

Hoko (from her 2018 essay "How the West Was Won" in "Boundless Vows, Endless Practice" --

"The latest information from Gallup shows that Americans believe the most important problems at the moment are dissatisfaction with the government, race relations, healthcare, unifying the country, and immigration. Just slightly father down the list are lack of respect for one another and the decline of ethics, morality, religion, and the family. This is the landscape through which the American bodhisattva walks today" (152).

"Just as the fish can't see the water and the bird can't see the air, we are driven by cultural expectations that may remain invisible to us. These invisible expectations affect the way we receive and interpret the teachings. And yet, these expectations are not impurities that taint our vows. As bodhisattvas we vow to liberate numberless beings, end inexhaustible delusions, enter boundless dharma gates, and completely realize Buddha's unsurpassable awakening--and we give it everything we've got, including our misunderstandings and karmic hindrances" (161).

Dogen (from the loving-speech section of Bodaisattva Shishobo) --

"We should study how loving-speech has power to transform the world. It is not merely praising someone's ability. (Hojo-san's/Alan Senauke's translation)

the same two sentences translated by Daitsu Tom Wright: "You should realize that compassionate words have the power to change the direction of the times. They are not merely used to praise the emperor."

Rev. angel Kyodo williams, in "Radical Dharma" --

"The sheer weight of the task of unraveling a massive social-habit pattern of and addiction to violence and injustice cannot be underestimated. It comes with the requisite and convenient forgetfulness about historic transgressions of such enormity and persistence they boggle the mind. It proves daunting at the least, stunningly and increasingly complex throughout and at its edges, destructive on mental, physical, material, and psycho-spiritual levels. Even as the effort is meant to liberate, its current methodology, though evolved substantively by way of historic learning and ancestral wisdom, was forged within the very same constructs it seems to undermine: orientations toward divide and conquer, competition over cooperation, power over rather than with us and them" (xiv - xv).

Poet David Whyte, from his "Living Without Enemies," linked by Mark above:

"It is impossible for a human being to simultaneously have all the answers and pay real attention to anything other than their own manufactured thoughts; it is almost impossible to be kind when carrying fixed beliefs. It is especially impossible to be vulnerable, and because all conversation ends when vulnerability ends, it can be almost impossible to hold a real conversation" (2).

Poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, from his poem "The Course of Meal" in his book "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" --

" all the bullets in ten precincts know where to go
there's no heaven (nor any other good ideas) i

Sawyer

4/1/2021 06:01:25 am

Poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, from his poem "The Course of Meal" in his book "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" --

" all the bullets in ten precincts know where to go
there's no heaven (nor any other good ideas) in the sky
politics means: people did it and people do it.
understand that when in San Francisco
and other places that were never really there "

thanks Iris, Mark, Dennis, Ryan, and everyone else as we and all beings keep goin along here...

Mark Howell

4/11/2021 12:35:11 pm

Sawyer, thank for these pulling together these quotes from Sanshin’s lineage and other sources of wisdom. There is a lot to contemplate! I have read your list several times. Your numbered citations didn’t come through- if you still have them it would be good to get them onto the post.

If this group is so inclined, we could explore how to frame beneficial actions in the context of Sawyer’s listed quotations. For example, can beneficial actions be motivated by biased and habitual views imparted by influencers? In what way can we attain clear and fresh eyes, and see opportunities for beneficial actions with our own eyes?

I think zazen provides the answer. When we sit on our cushion, let go of thoughts, open the space, we can see with our true mind. Truth comes from there, and the seeds nourished with that mind lead to beneficial actions without karmic hindrances. [This does not apply to ideas born during thought stupor. Just having an idea on the cushion does not mean we should seize it. This is not the same thing!]

===
I am currently reading Arthur Brooks’ ‘Love Your Enemies’ [1]. He speaks of ‘contempt’ as a current and corrosive trend in American culture. How true! I believe there are many casualties from this past year and we greatly need messages of unity and healing. The book is well worth reading as a roadmap to healing compassion.
--
[1] A. C. Brooks, Love your enemies: how decent people can save America from our culture of contempt, First edition. New York, NY: Broadside Books, 2018.

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