Just a Minute, Please...

I've been a bit bothered lately by some ads that I've seen on television. You may have seen them as well. They are for Visa check cards and they show people in food courts and restaurants doing these perfectly coordinated movements as they purchase all their fast food with their Visa check card -- until some old-school person decides to pay with, gasp!, cash. Everything falls apart. Trays fall to the floor. People run into each other, and the poor schlump with the cash is given the death stare from the cashier and everyone in line.

That's right, people, the ten seconds it takes you to get out the cash to pay for something is simply too long to wait in our hectic lives. We've got to get that denatured, unhealthy food quickly because we've got to get on with the important stuff of our lives -- presumably all made to flow sweetly if we use the check card.

The more I learn about the path of yoga, the more I am disturbed by ads like this. I was talking about it with my students yesterday before class. I feel like our culture tells us to produce and consume, produce and consume -- that is the way to live a great life, to be happy. But I believe that production and consumption are ultimately shallow substitutes for that which we really need. We yearn for connection with each other, with ourselves, with the earth. And this is something that cannot be manufactured and cannot be purchased.

One of the yamas (ethical restraints) of the eight-limbed path of yoga is aparigraha, which is often translated as non-greed. It's often described as not taking more than you need. If we listen to the advertisers, our need is endless...but I think that the cleanse teaches us that our need isn't, in fact, endless and is often satisfied with far simpler fare in terms of food -- and that's a lesson that can translate into other areas of our lives. But, here's what really struck me as I was considering these disturbing ads in the context of my yoga...the niyamas, which are observances (things you actively practice), include santosha, which is often translated as contentment. So, I am to take only what I need and then actively practice being content. That's a pretty radical notion, don't you think?

In fact, it seems to me that in the United States we believe that contentment is a state that descends upon us, as after a huge Thanksgiving meal (notice how contentment can easily slide into discomfort if you are a little too full!). Yoga philosophy tells us that we should restrain ourselves from taking too much and then actively choose to be content -- not just wait for it to happen to us. When I think of this, I recall hiking and camping and just hanging out with friends -- nothing fancy, just being out in nature or being among people I love, preparing simple meals together and laughing, laughing, laughing...The Visa check card was absolutely unnecessary for those experiences. And I was absolutely content.

As Gandhi said, "Renounce and enjoy..."