Posted by Madrone Phoenix.
As we’re gearing up to start another semester of Prison Dharma Network programs at the ACI (Rhode Island’s own extensive prison system), people often wonder why we do this kind of work. I tossed the question to Fleet this morning, asking him “What would someone get out of going to volunteer in the prison and why would anyone want to do such a thing?”
His response:
It is not so much about what one would get out of volunteering in the prison, but more about the opportunity one has to support other human beings who are in a difficult situation. Most of us – compared to the majority of prisoners – have been dealt a better hand in life and have often come from more resourced circumstances. By going into the prison, we have an opportunity to give something back. Personally, I feel that any kind of service, where we are actually focused on meeting the needs of other people, is one of the most transformative activities we can engage in for ourselves and others. It is to our own benefit, indirectly; yet, if we have that mindset or motivation going in, it does not work so well. However, if our mindset is genuinely focused on others, the indirect benefit is that we are not focused on ourselves, which is very healthy thing.
Many of the world’s wisdom and faith traditions – religious traditions, shamanic traditions, philosophical traditions, psychological traditions – all agree that our primary hindrance is selfishness, or an exaggerated self-interest. It is quite understandable how we get there and why we find ourselves so focused on our own needs, our own wants and our own desires. We do this because we think that is what is going to make us happy. But all these traditions, throughout human history, have found that focusing on ourselves – in that small-minded way – actually makes us unhappy. Spending some time, where we are actually focusing our attention on the needs of others, not in some rescuer way or savior role, but in a conscious and genuinely caring and compassionate way of being there and supporting others is a very healthy and transformative use of our time and energy.
I find that when I do this kind of work, whether with prisoners or similarly when I’ve done hospice work and visited patients, I always return from those engagements feeling a tremendous sense of peace and well-being and even joy. People who do this kind of service work universally say that they receive so much more than they give. People have often said to me, “I wish I could give more because I receive so much.” However, we can’t go into service work with that attitude. If we go in with the attitude of “What’s in it for me? What am I going to get?” then that undermines the whole process. The indirect benefit to ourselves actually comes from spending some time where we are not focusing on our own needs.
Prison work is not for everyone. At the same time, I think it is a very important form of service and social engagement for those who are inclined to do it. In Jungian terms we talk about the shadow – those fragmented, denied and disowned parts of the self – that show up, often running our lives, in the forms of negative impulses, addictions, inappropriate humor, compulsive and self sabotaging behaviors. This shadow works on collective level as well, and
our prison system is clearly one of the darkest elements of the societal shadow in this country.
This Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) has become a self-perpetuating, multi-billion dollar industry that feeds off the suffering of human beings. In the process, it has de-funded education, health care, and other social services, completely turning our social system on its end. Instead of putting our resources where it would keep people out of prison and help people to lead valuable, rewarding and healthy lives, we are shifting our valuable and limited resources to building prisons and warehousing prisoners. By de-funding the health, educational and social support services and programs in all those under-resourced parts of our society, we are guaranteeing the next crop of prisoners for a mindless, self-perpetuating industry.
This is a really important part of our society on which to focus our attention and compassion. If we are interested in transformation and a more peaceful, healthy, sustainable society, then I think those of us who are interested need to address that shadowy world inside our prisons and bring some light there. If nothing else, we can acknowledge the innate goodness and dignity of all beings by simply bearing witness to the lives of the children, women and men who are caught up in that system.
January 19, 2012
Prison Work