Local Man Meditates, Hates It, and Remains Libertarian
- Aidan J
- Jun 19, 2018
- 4 min read
Ron Swanson is my favorite character from Parks and Recreation, and during my second time through watching the show, I latched onto his meditation side plot in the episode “Live Ammo.”
Personally, I think this is a masterfully crafted experience of meditation, and so I’m going to explain my perspective on why this side-plot is one of my favorites of the show.
If you don’t know the show, then I’ll try to explain the characters before I delve into the plot. Chris Traeger is pretty much the epitome of a middle-aged man in a midlife crisis, who feels tremendously sad, but somehow always keeps his appearance on the show light and peppy. He’s a vegan, does CrossFit, meditates, and follows all the hip trends. However, the journey is through Ron Swanson, an extreme libertarian that seems to be partially anarchist, an environmental conservationist, and a strong, self-sufficient man. Rather stoic, Ron keeps a calm head at most points, only sometimes changed from interaction with ex-girlfriends.
Chris convinces Ron to go to a meditation center to test his flexibility. Ron is apprehensive of this New-Age behavior, so he asks someone whom he believes is experienced, Chris’s ex-girlfriend. Here, the girlfriend tells Ron that it will be long, boring, and will make him wish he were dead. Ron does as he is told, yet surprisingly he engaged in the activity pretty far. He says, “No, I was not meditating. I just stood there, quietly breathing. There were no thoughts in my head at all. My mind was blank. I have no idea what these other crackpots were doing.” When Ron tells Chris how he failed, Chris replies “Incredible. It takes a ton of work for me to get to that kind of a clear headspace no matter how hard I try,” to which Ron replies “don’t try so hard.”
It's amazing how closely that fits the meditation regimen in Eastern thought.
In the proposed path of Enlightenment in eastern thought by Alan Watts, the disciple seeks their master and ask for the cure for their ailments. The master will typically advise meditation in the sense Ron used, where the mind goes blank. The disciple will try, perhaps for years, to seek what they suppose is nirvana. When they finally can repress all thoughts, they finally revel with the teacher. They rejoice, yet the master stares at them with a curious expression in his eyes. He asks, “why?” Why have you done this, what has this accomplished, does this actually improve anything?
The disciple does not know, the disciple feels anger, and cuts himself off. He tries to find nirvana from this meditation, but he is unable to. He feels fooled by the master, his recent years a waste. A form of manic depression overwhelms him, so he feels true solitude, sadness, and despair. Yet, these emotions allow him to see clearly. The master played a little game with him, just as he did, just as the sun did when telling time, just like the trees did when they made the forest. It’s simply an illusion. And thus, the disciple breaks free from themselves, and reaches what is known as Enlightenment. Thus is the cycle of meditation, with every teacher-student iteration.
"Don’t try so hard."
Chris tries to reach Ron’s stage of meditation, desperately, and takes all resources to that. As Ron is already stoic, and he already respects the world in much the same way a Buddhist would, it certainly makes sense why meditation would come naturally to him. Yet, he always felt there was something wrong, something incomplete about the experience.
“No, I was not meditating. […] I don’t know what those other crackpots were doing.”
And that is due to the teacher, the old sage, the ex-girlfriend, informing him of the excruciating dread it will cause. Of course, Ron has not passed the trial, the game, but he does not feel like he needs it. He chooses to live in his previous life style but does still use the tool of meditation as a disguise for Chris for the closer.
Now, of course, this is a projection of my understanding of that eastern tradition onto a mainstream western television show. Yet, the show was still able to connect to the core about a popular social trend and explores it deep enough where this analysis holds up. It’s part of the reason why Parks and Recreation is a great sitcom, even if you don’t enjoy the humor.
I don’t think the show is endorsing or denouncing meditation though. And so the question remains, why did the show include it, and why was I compelled to analyze it? The show can say that it was merely a vehicle for jokes, but I have nothing. I guess, for me, that plot shows how a short and optional event can capture as much, maybe even more meaning than the large structure, such as Leslie’s running for office. And I guess that is what art is.
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