Matthew McConaughey's Bumper Stickers and What Yours Say About You
What are you cultivating within yourself and projecting to the world?
Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh had several useful metaphors for what goes on inside our heads. He describes the Buddhist psychological concept of “store consciousness,” which is essentially our long-term memory. I could review this entire psychological process from a Western point of view, but I’ll perhaps save that for another post.
According to Thay, we all have seeds that sit in our store consciousness. You can think about them as those seeds that sit in the basement of our minds. We can water certain seeds--give them energy--so they break through our waking mind and dominate our thoughts, words, and actions.
Some of these seeds might be destructive when they grow out of control, such as anger and regret. Anger can be motivating when it is stripped of the ego. The ego just lets anger flourish because it grows so easily and can claim power, giving the ego the illusion of dominance.
When anger is watered ever so slightly by factors and circumstances outside of us (like conspiracy blogs and some cable “news” channels), it’s up to us to bind it so it serves to create change. We must continually cut anger back like kudzu.
Seeds of regret are those we can water ourselves if we choose. Sure, sometimes the basement of our store consciousness will be flooded by the words of our parents or other oppressive entities. Those seeds of regret can grow into flowers of self-compassion if we fertilize them with awareness. We all make mistakes, but we can and should learn from them so we can move forward in our life path.
We must continually cut anger back like kudzu.
We can also choose to water the seeds of compassion, truth, and peace. No, this isn’t about toxic positivity that can easily choke someone else’s necessary growth. These seeds grow much more slowly and take a little bit of patience. That’s because these seeds understand nuance—that no situation is black or white.
It’s not about what’s “evil” or “bad,” but more about what’s useful in generating qualities such as compassion, balance, and progression. We can try to hurry things along, but haste entices weeds and kudzu to grow out of control. Then we feel powerless to regulate any of our emotions. Our minds are crowded with too much to see anything clearly. No wonder we can’t sit with ourselves.
However, what we cultivate within may result in what we project into the world. Or we might keep our inner world locked up and project something very different.
In Matthew McConaughey’s book, Greenlights, he pastes several bumper stickers that serve as guideposts for living. While these are short phrases that might sustain us, we also have to ask what bumper stickers we carry around with us every day. They tell the world a lot about ourselves and what we think of others.
One of my bumper stickers says, “Just be nice.” I always laugh when someone behind me is honking their horn because I didn’t aggressively turn onto traffic when they wanted me to. Another says, “140.6,” which is a reminder of my ego needing to tell others that I suffered through 140.6 miles of torture in an Ironman. Yes, I’m still quite a work in progress.
You’ll see other people’s bumper stickers that show a kid peeing on something they dislike. Others will be a little more obscene about what they hate. What are you saying about yourself when you walk around proclaiming what you hate? Do you think this will change other people’s minds?
These only serve to further separate yourself from others. Sure, it might give you an illusory feeling of belonging to others who hate the same thing, but that’s not going to help solve your problems. It’s just passing the blame onto other people so you can continue living in ignorance.
Ooops. Sorry, got a little judgmental there. I’ve recently seen a lot of hateful yard signs and bumper stickers. Again, I’m a work in progress.
We’re always sending a message to others, whether we intend to or not. How you see and treat others can be a bumper sticker whether you’re aware of it or not. After all, 95% of what you communicate is nonverbal. Are you aware of your bumper stickers? It requires a little svadhyaya, or self-study, and a lot of humility.
Sometimes that guy is a total jerk, but sometimes that guy is a jerk because he’s reacting to our being a jerk. I know I’ve been a total jerk to others, so I shouldn’t be surprised when others are jerks as a response.
We can’t blame others for why the world isn’t working the way it “should” when we don’t look a little more closely at what we’re doing to stir our pain and the pain of others. We shouldn’t expect others to change if we aren’t willing to investigate what we need to change within ourselves. We don’t cancel someone or ghost them because they said something that offended us. Perhaps it’s a sign that we take everything personally, and some things really aren’t about us. Then again, sometimes they are.
In sum, it’s important for us to first become aware of the nature of the thoughts that stir up in our minds. What do we ruminate over and why? What seeds are we cultivating that allow these thoughts to flourish? Are they helpful in our spiritual walk and our encounters with others?
Then we see how these seeds influence our interactions with others—or do they? Do we cultivate seeds of compassion and humility when we’re alone, only for us to sow individualism, competition, and separation when we’re with others? We can easily feel spiritual malaise if our inner life and outer life aren’t in agreement. We might not be aware of that dissonance or hypocrisy, but perhaps others are.
Spend some time to self-reflect and observe. Pay attention to the seeds you’re sowing and the bumper stickers you’re sharing. Then ask, am I truly walking with God?