It's not your road, man. (2min read)
Reflections on traffic imitating life.
The grounds at Sarnath in Banaras, India are where Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment, and also where I recently reclined on a bench watching the leaves fall after a long meditation, thinking about traffic, and writing this letter.
In recent editions, I’ve written about the value of learning to embrace and surrender to the infinite organizing power of nature [link] as opposed to trying to bend the will of the world to our whim and force things to be as we want them.
Traffic offers a wonderful example of the value in this ancient Vedic wisdom, and a quasi-utopian demonstration of how easily we can all co-exist if enough of us were to consider others’ needs and balance them with our own.
Traffic in India is curiously chaotic and yet copacetic. The roads are seemingly completely lawless, devoid of any traffic lights, signs or lane markers, and all manner of conveyances including buses, buggies, bikes, cars, carts, scooters, and of course, livestock co-mingle freely with pedestrians, moving in all directions at once and honking their horns ceaselessly.
At first, it was mildly nauseating, and almost unbearable to listen to.
Once I realized what was going on, it was beautiful to behold.
Unlike in America, where honking is an aggressive expression of anger that can often get you killed, drivers here are encouraged to honk frequently in order to alert other drivers to their presence and avoid a collision, which, judging by the staggering density of drivers on the road, would probably shut down the whole city.
I can only imagine the level of constant vigilance required to navigate these roads, and yet, nobody seems angry or stressed, and traffic flows as easily and frictionlessly as the water in the Ganges.
The drivers calmly traverse the dizzying sea of traffic, blaring their horns dutifully, weaving in and out of lanes, and somehow, it works—collisions almost never occur, despite India having just surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation.
But it would never work in the States, where accidents occur daily on every major roadway and people routinely die in road-rage-fueled altercations.
That’s because too many Americans are out for themselves, constantly looking to get ahead of others, aggressively asserting themselves in an attempt to arrive at their ever-important destinations just a few seconds earlier and half-distracted by emails or social media on their phones while doing it.
In order for any collective to be in coherent flow, all members of that collective must be equally aware and respectful of others.
Just one person cutting across the interests of others throws off the very delicate balance.
A few years ago, when I was less heavily meditated, my good friend Kamel, who grew up in Lebanon, once rode in my car in LA. When he saw me cursing the driver in front of me for driving too slowly, he casually remarked…
“You know, it’s not your road man.”
That really stuck with me.
It’s not my road, or yours.
The road belongs to us all, and the better we can learn to navigate it harmoniously, the better time we’ll all have. And the better for all, the better for me.
We’d all arrive at our destinations safely and more efficiently, and most importantly, while accumulating less stress on the way.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not really ever about the destination, is it?
Through regular practice of Vedic Meditation, we systematically remove stress and clear the way for more regular access to inner fulfillment, in effect filling our cups twice daily and allowing us to approach the world in a way that is centered on exporting that fulfillment to others instead of attempting to attain it from the world around us and potentially cutting across the interests of others to do so.
Let’s discuss these ideas and others during Collective Effervescence, our online group meditation series, this Sunday January 29 at 8am LA / 11am MIA / 5pm EU. Drop in for meditation only (first 30 min) or stay for discussion + Q&A on this and other life topics from the Vedic perspective.
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Music today is Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix, whose album Axis: Bold As Love depicted himself and members of the Experience in the image of Vishnu in the Viraat Purushan-Vishnuoopam.