Hi Everybody,
One of the main reasons for writing this book was to see how classical Buddhist teachings about how to live a fulfilling and value-creating life stand up in relation to the really facinating and illuminating findings that are coming out of the latest social and psychological research. My view basically is that it's important not to have our head inside the box so to speak, but to measure what we learn from Buddhism against what else we know about the world and the way life, as indeed both Shakyamuni and Nichiren asked us to do. Don't accept our teachings on face value they made clear, question and debate them to ensure that they make sense in relation to your life. And that's basically what the Case for Buddhism does. It looks at Buddhist teaching in relation to the vastly increased understanding we now have of the way people function. That's why this next sub heading is...
A brief sideways look at the research
' It is remarkable just how much research there has been over the past decade or so, seeking to define what kinds of things make people feel good about themselves and their lives and their relationships, what kinds of things people have in their minds when they talk about a sense of stability, or a general sense of completeness and well-being, when they look across the totality of their lives. And that is of course an important point to emphasise, that we are talking about the totality of people's lives, the average sense of stability and well-being, rather than the inevitable short-term fluctuations from day to day or week to week.
This sort of research has steadily grown from a trickle a decade or so ago, to a veritable avalanche. And I have to say straightaway that it's a great pity that many of these findings never or rarely see the light of day, beyond publication in some...for most of us...remote and inaccessible journal such as the Journal of Behaviour and Social Psychology, or the Journal of Applied Psychology or the American Journal of Sociology, to be read by professionals in the field and quoted in their equally erudite papers, later to be published in the same relatively inaccessible journals! It's a great pity because the plain fact is that this research is opening up for us a whole new world of insights into what it is that can really make people's lives sing; make them places of joy and satisfactionand fulfilment. Really important stuff therefore for all of us.
Take for example something as seemingly simple as getting people to keep a gratitude journal. That means just taking the time once or twice a week to actually write down a handful of things that you feel truly grateful for in the current week. Pretty simple yes? But several studies reveal that something that simple and easy to do can give a genuinely powerful and enduring boost to your sense of well-being. And what's more, this highly desirable result seems to hold true, whatever your actual life circumstances happen to be at the time. If you think about it, all thse people are doing is actually taking the trouble to express their gratitude, even if only to themselves!
Another group of findings relates to the fact that quite clearly, positive changes in our own life state, as Buddhists might express it, an increase in our general sense of well-being, is not in any way limited to our emotional or mental activities, inside our heads so to speak, it is undoubtedly a whole body or whole life experience. As one of the most respected and most prominent researchers in the filed has expressed it recently, when we have a deeper and more stable sense of well-being in our lives...
' we also improve other aspects of our lives...our energy levels, our immune systems, our engagement with work, and with other people, and our physical and mental health. In becoming happier we also bolster our feelings of self-confidence and self-esteem, we come truly to believe that we are worthy human beings, worthy of respect. A final and perhaps least appreciated plus is that if we become happier we benefit not only ourselves, but also our partners, families, communities and even society at large.'
Now those are all qualities we would dearly wish to achieve for ourselves and others aren't they? So clearly these findings are not dealing with some marginal stuff lying somewhere out on the edges of our experience. They touch upon issues that lie right at the centre of our lives from day to day, our ordinary daily lives.
And the key point that I would ask you to grasp is that the issues that the scientists and sociologists are talking about, not the language or the phraseology that is used of course, but the basic issues themselves, would be immediately familiar to anyone who regularly attends Buddhist discussion meetings or seminars, since these are the very issues that are discussed at such meetings. These are the very qualities that a Buddhist practice is seeking to to initiate and nurture in our lives. Buddhist teachings that is, and these sociological studies are walking across the same ground..our daily lives...and expressing very similar ideas about enhancing them.
Now I find that very exciting. I hope you do too!
That's it for today. Tomorrow I'm off to Antibes in the South of France. I love the place. I used to have a house there and I've been going there every year for longer than I care to admit to. So the next episode won't be until mid September.
I look forward truly to seeing you again then. And again I express my gratitude if you find it possible to introduce anyone else to the blog. It takes a fair bit of effort to stick at it, and that effort would be doubly rewarded if you managed to introduce another person.
Best wishes,
William
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