Hi Everybody,
We ended last time on the theme of personal growth, learning how to transform out basic attitude to problems and the challenges that we inevitably encounter, so that instead of being cast down by them, we use them to grow our own self-confidence and our sense of our own capability, both immensely important to our overall sense of well-being. No one says it's easy! Of course not, but it is essentially what Buddhism is all about. That's where we pick up the thread of the argument.
' And that clearly has wider implications for the people around us in all the various areas of ourn life. For as long as we are operating under stress in our lives, then we don't really have much time and space for others. But as we change, and develop this ability to handle our own challenges without being so taken over by anxiety and stress, but with courage and confidence and a growingn sense of our own capability, so we have more resource left over so to speak, to support and encourage those around us. Moreover, we find that we have more life-energy to seek out opportunities to help others. From simply giving sharing our own experiences of coping with troubles, to giving moral and emotional support, to devoting real tiem and energy to people in the midst of their own crises. Giving and sharing that is, rather than taking and consuming, that's the key change. And Buddhism has always taught that exerting ourselves in this way, focusingn outwards rather than inwards, concentrating our energies on the needs and concerns of others, rather than on our own current little crop of difficulties, which of course we will always continue to have, is what leads to the most rapid growth in our own resourcefulness, and capability, and sense of well-being.
Buddhism has been promoting this idea as a value-creating principle of social behaviour for a very long time, but it now finds ample support in modern sociological and psychological research. Richard Layard for example, has proposed that it should be built into the school curriculum for all children, so that they come to understand the basic principle of altruism that could be said to lie at the very heart of a healthy and supportive society.
' We should teach the systematic practice of empathy,' he writes, ' and the desire to serve others. This needs a proper curriculum from the beginning of school life to the end, including the detailed study of role models...the basic aim should be the sense of an overall purpose wider than oneself.'
I don't think that is being over-idealistic. It's about building the foundations of a truly supportive society. And many scientists would agre with Professor Layard. As one psychologist among many has expressed it, an act of altruism releases a wpowerful win-win situation. It triggers...
' ..a cascade of positive effects. It makes you feel generous and capable, gives you a greater sense of connection with others, and wins you smiles, approval and reciprocated kindness.'
There are two key words in that passage....connection...and...reciprocated, key because they describe the crucial nature of relationships with the group, or the community. We pick up that point next time , when we learn from the evolutionary biologists that that crucial relationmship sits right at the hear tof the human psyche.
See you then.
Many many thanks for reading this,
William
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