Hi Everybody,
just back from blue and sun-kissed Antibes. Wonderful time. It's a small, slightly scruffy French town that has the sea at it s feet and the hills and mountains behind, and it's full of character. I've been going there for 30 years. Used to own a house there. Anyway, we had just a wonderful time fishing and snorkling and tennis and windsurfing, and just being together. Sarah loves it too. And we met and chanted with the local Buddhist leaders to renew our relationship with them. And some nice things were said about The Case for Buddhism!
So where did I leave off last time? I was talking about one of the central themes of the book, namely that when I spent many months looking at relatively recent studies in sociology and psychology, one of the most striking things that emerged was that the issues that the scientists and the sociologists were writing about , not the language or the phraseology that is used of course, but the basic issues themselves, would be very familiar to anyone who regularly atends Buddhist discussion meetings or seminars, since these are the very issues that are discussed at such meetings. Buddhist teachings that is, and these sociological studies are walking across the same ground, our daily lives, and expressing very similar ideas about how we might enhance them.
A second observation that is I think equally significant is that many of the papers emphasise a point that is so often made in Buddhist teachings, that many of us, Buddhists or not, find very hard to grasp or believe in. Namely that we can create for ourselves a profound and stable sense of well-being in our lives, almost regardless of the actual circumstances and events that we happen to be living through. That is, as I've said, something that is very hard for most of us to believe in, and the sociologists clearly understand and accept that enduring difficulty. But nevertheless, as they make clear, study after study reinforces the conclusion that the actual circumstances and events in our lives, however major they might seem, in fact have only a relatively small impact on our overall sense of well-being. It seems clear tha tit is our basic attitude or our approach to those circumstances that has the dominant role to play in our on-going life state. In fact so sure are they of their ground that the scientists are actually prepared to put a figure on it.
And before you exclaim in pure exasperation at such a thought, just hear this passage from the research psychologist we've just quoted from, very highly regarded in her field;
' As significant as our major life events are to each of us, studies suggest that they actually determine a tiny ( sic!) percentage of our happiness...many past investigations reveal that all life circumstances and events put together account for only about 10 percent of how happy different people are...although you may find it hard to believe.'
Indeed! I have to say at once that I am not in any way personally attached to that ten percent figure, and I'm not asking you to become attached to it either. I quote that passage simply to make the point that there clearly are grounds both from long-established Buddhist teachings, and now from objectively managed modern studies, to encourage us to challenge our deeply held assumptions and convictions that our life circumstances play the major role in our sense of well-being or not. They don't.
As another renowned social scientist puts it boldly;
'We are not simply victims of our situation, or indeed of our past. '
We have to work really hard to understand that the idea we continue to hang onto, that our circumstances are the dominant aspects of our lives, is a major delusion or misperception on our part. We are free to rise above our circumstances, as soon as we choose to do so. And the sociologists and the psychologists believe firmly that they now have a much firmer grasp on the values and the behaviours that will most readily enable us to achieve that.'
And that's where we go next, what do the sociologists have to tell us that will really help us to enhance our sense of well-being, and how does that relate to those long-established Buddhist teachings that we are talking about.
So see you then. later in the week.
It was great to be away. It's great to be back!
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and can be downloaded on Kindle.
And if you were to mention this blog to a single friend, I would be totally grateful!
'
No comments:
Post a Comment