Hi Everybody,
Saturday afternoon, blog time! We're coming to the end of Chapter 12, in which we pull together some of the many threads of the discussion in the book. I wrote this one deliberately dealing with a different issue in each chapter such as Buddhism and Belief, Buddhism and Happiness, Buddhism and Ethics etc, so that the reader could dip into chapters at random to take part in a discussion on those specific issues, and it's an approach that seems to have worked. Lots of people have written to say that they often just go back to the book from time to time, just to refresh their memories of the discussion of a particular issue. What I have found with the blog is that because each episode really flows on from the previous one, it helps to retrace my steps just a fraction to pick up the thread of the argument with each episode, so that it makes sense. I only hope that works for most people. So where are we/ We're talking about how we can make a difference as Buddhists in our own environment...
' It involves coming to understand that we are not powerless, and that we can start out by having a beneficial effect upon our own immediate environment, the sphere in which we live and work. The key thing is making a personal determination that we wish to make a difference.
Buddhism asks us to make that determination every single day.
And once again Buddhism is by no means alone in standing up for that view without compromise. Remember just how boldly John F. Kennedy galvanised the optimism of an entire nation when he put that same thought into his own words,
' First examine our attitude towards peae itself. Too many of us think it impossible, too many of us think it is unreal, but that is a dangerous defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made, therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants.'
And man can be as big as he wants. Or as Buddhism might well put it, man can be as positive and optimistic and as resilient ...as he determines to be. One could argue I think that we are very much in need of that spirit, that powerful vision at the present time.
A seismic shift in how we measure progress
And unquestionably, despite the widespread tumult, and the conflict and suffering that we see in the world, the tectonic plates of understanding do seem to be shifting. Buddhism as we've seen has been teaching this radical idea for many hundreds of years, namely that we create the greatest valuein our own lives when we concern ourselves with the happiness and welfare ofm others. That is the very basis and foundation of the Buddhist approach to life; respect for and concern for the welfare of everyone with whom we come in contact. We have seen that in the past couple of decades , modern sociological and psychological research has also come to recognise and document something very similar, namely that we do indeed experience great personal benefit, a greater sense of purpose and confidence and pleasure in our lives, when we try to live in this generous and compassionate and altruistic way.
And I have to say, speaking both as a Buddhist and as a responsible citizen, we can only welcome that remarkable conjunction of views since it can only be immensely beneficial to individuals and to the communities and societies we all live in. But the change we are witnessing I suggest goes even further than that......'
And we'll pick up on that further change I'm talking about next time, the redefinition of what we mean by progress, that is taking place in society.
See you then hopefully,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is availabel on Amazon as a paperback, and as a download on Kindle.
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