Exploring the Possibility of Peaceful Living
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Good Evening All,
Over the last two days I have been away to our Zen Center offering opportunities for practice.
Gathering together to sit zazen is a wonderful beginning. The sangha offers us an opportunity to share our energy and thoughts before and after zazen, as well as providing a source of inspiration.
On the long drive back up into the mountains to my refuge, I listened briefly to the world news. War, death, anger, destruction seems to be everywhere. We distrust everything it seems, including our shadows. And it would seem that listening to such news is both disturbing and toxic to our spirit. Yet, I sense an opportunity in this news: an opportunity to dream of alternatives.
We often hear about survival of the fittest. This credo of Social Darwinism is used as a justification for a strong defense, aggression, pre-emptive strikes, all manner of violence. It is a rationale for the wrng-headed notion that we live in a dog-eat-dog world. It seems to be a basic assumption we hold about human nature.
I ask that we consider revising the terms a bit.
There was a philosopher sort of person, Peter Kropotkin, I believe, who wrote a book sometime ago called "Mutual Aid." In it he talks about the notion that the societies which are successful provide or render mutual aid to one another. I ask, what if the "fittest" society or person is actually defined as the most "compassionate"? That is, if compassion and mutual aid were the foundation of our understanding of fitness, how would that change our understanding of survival?
This is a small shift really. One that already is happening daily. For every single act of aggression and meanness we witness or hear about, there are hundreds of acts of kindness. Thes wonderful small acts of mutual aid go unseen, uncounted, and unheard. They are not on Fox News as they have little dramatic impact.
We are, in fact though, a species that cares for one another. We fight and we kill, but we do so in a misplaced effort at protecting something. There are always better means. We are a smart species. We can figure out a better way. What it takes is a commitment to explore the possibility that peace and compassionate action are core values and necessary ingredients of a fit society.
Lets make that commitment together.
Sodaiho
Over the last two days I have been away to our Zen Center offering opportunities for practice.
Gathering together to sit zazen is a wonderful beginning. The sangha offers us an opportunity to share our energy and thoughts before and after zazen, as well as providing a source of inspiration.
On the long drive back up into the mountains to my refuge, I listened briefly to the world news. War, death, anger, destruction seems to be everywhere. We distrust everything it seems, including our shadows. And it would seem that listening to such news is both disturbing and toxic to our spirit. Yet, I sense an opportunity in this news: an opportunity to dream of alternatives.
We often hear about survival of the fittest. This credo of Social Darwinism is used as a justification for a strong defense, aggression, pre-emptive strikes, all manner of violence. It is a rationale for the wrng-headed notion that we live in a dog-eat-dog world. It seems to be a basic assumption we hold about human nature.
I ask that we consider revising the terms a bit.
There was a philosopher sort of person, Peter Kropotkin, I believe, who wrote a book sometime ago called "Mutual Aid." In it he talks about the notion that the societies which are successful provide or render mutual aid to one another. I ask, what if the "fittest" society or person is actually defined as the most "compassionate"? That is, if compassion and mutual aid were the foundation of our understanding of fitness, how would that change our understanding of survival?
This is a small shift really. One that already is happening daily. For every single act of aggression and meanness we witness or hear about, there are hundreds of acts of kindness. Thes wonderful small acts of mutual aid go unseen, uncounted, and unheard. They are not on Fox News as they have little dramatic impact.
We are, in fact though, a species that cares for one another. We fight and we kill, but we do so in a misplaced effort at protecting something. There are always better means. We are a smart species. We can figure out a better way. What it takes is a commitment to explore the possibility that peace and compassionate action are core values and necessary ingredients of a fit society.
Lets make that commitment together.
Sodaiho
