I posted with a bit too irreverent of a tone but I've learned my lesson.
I get that Golden is a very nice place and no one really wants to think about people with unfortunate circumstances just out of sight. Even if it's a form of outreach, and especially if people tend to assume there's some form of potential exploitation hidden behind the outreach.
My mistake; Added to the tens of lessons I learn daily.
I guess the thing I would want to say is that it's somewhat of a privilege to be able to ignore difficulties in life, in the sense that a privilege is something you can occasionally lose. Sometimes, things cannot be escaped, no matter all our methods for escaping it. The typical means of dissociation just don't work, we take no enjoyment from our favorite shows, can't relax with video games, and self-medication just alters the tone of what's going on instead of taking us out of it. In those times, since you can't escape anyway, you may as well commit to attending to what's there. Or even just learning "how to ride the bicycle" of attending to what's there so you can do it when you feel like a trapped animal. (I find this really useful in the dentist's chair, and it becomes more useful at the middle age crisis onset and beyond in general.)
So I would say that if you have been trying to be chill, but nothing is working, and you're feeling like you're being torn between your convictions and safe inaction, where every option is a bad one, then maybe come out for a zen class tomorrow at noon at the library, but also please RSVP first so I can let you know if I don't have enough cushions before you show up. I can show you how to do it in a chair if you still want to come.
My intent is just to make myself available for anyone who may need it, but I'm trying to figure out how to best encourage people to assess that for themselves. I know a lot of sincere people can appear adversarial on the surface, as a form of projection in how justifiably attacked they feel in their life, and I want to meet them there, but I'm working on how to do it best; In this particular venture, most people just post up somewhere and see what presents itself through the door, but a lot of the people who could most make use of this never make that leap. Many of them socially quarantine themselves out of either fear (or knowing) that they are not in a state to be welcomed by others. Those are the people I was calling out to in the last post that got so downvoted.
I think many zen teachers, resigned to their inability to inspire interest, can begin to feel pretty elitist about who does and doesn't care about this sort of thing. I don't want to fall into that trap.
