In two major schools of Tibetan Buddhism it is agreed that we are all buddhas arising out of pristine awareness and that we have been clouded over from this knowledge by our delusions and mental afflictions, and that our practice is meant to uncover this knowing. Imagine what the world be like if we all lived as enlightened beings….what a beautiful world that would be!
I have always felt that we are all far more than we ever could imagine ourselves to be, that there is certainly something divine in each and every one of us. For Christians if we are all made in the image of God how can this not be true? I am not so sure about the beliefs in Islam or Judaism as far as where we actually originate, although I am pretty sure that in the Kabbalah this same belief is held that we are all in fact divine, arising out of the light of pure consciousness, and it certainly seems as if Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi, the 13th century Sufi poet and mystic, certainly experienced a deep connection and realization of the divine.
It often strikes me when observing very young children that they seem to be experiencing another reality (that seems quite lovely) other than the one that we inhabit just besides them. There is a blissfulness that sadly disappears with the years. Does the conditioning in society do this, and is the impact different among different cultures ? I think the answer to both is Yes.
Anyone I know who has traveled to Tibet or spent time with Tibetans quite often remarks that they are so calm, kind and caring. Clearly growing up in a culture where Buddhism is an integrated part of daily life has left a very positive impact on these people, lucky for them. And…. we must remember that Tibet was invaded by the Chinese in the 1950’s. Over a million Tibetans have been killed, and thousands more were imprisoned or fled the country. Many valuable artifacts of Tibetan culture have been destroyed by the Chinese since that time. And still, the kindness and compassion expressed by Tibetans is almost unfathomable, including those who had been imprisoned for long periods of time.
When priorities are different in any given society, we clearly can see the results – both good and bad. All we need to do is look at how America has changed as the priority of fame and wealth has increased over time. When the news media spends more time on celebrities like the Kardashians, than real news, any society is in trouble.
There has also been a growing secularization within society (in both the east and west) while at the same time there has been a radicalization of religion, among Christians, Muslims and Jews, all in the direction of deep conservatism. All we need to do is look at the dominant Christian opposition to women’s reproductive rights, in order to protect the precious unborn child, yet once that child is born there seems to be little concern if the mother can care for the child and herself. If there was an authentic concern for the child there would be massive support for programs providing healthcare, school lunches, food stamps, educational opportunities and on and on to help that child develop to her/his fullest potential, as well as the mother. Sadly this is not what we are witnessing, and reality is the direct opposite of this. Basically what I see is a strident desire to force any woman who becomes pregnant to conceive but no desire to help the mother or child after delivery. I don’t even think that pre-natal care is much of a concern, just that the baby must be born, although not necessarily cared for.
We see a similar sort of hypocrisy among many conservative Jews. A tyrannical zeal to protect Israel at the cost of the people who lived in Palestine before the creation of that Jewish state, now called Israel. How can any religious person, of any faith, believe that they are being just by basically enslaving and persecuting another people? The fact that this is the same faith that less that 75 years ago was also being persecuted and killed is an irony that is unimaginable to me.
How can this be? I would have imagined that having gone through the holocaust would have made people more compassionate and caring, and more determined to “never again” allow anyone to be treated as they had been, rounded up into ghettos and then systematically attacked and killed. Now, just to be clear I am not equating the treatment of the Palestinians with the murder of six million Jews but up to that horrific mass murder and attempt at genocide there are many similarities between the Israeli treatment of Palestinians and the treatment of the Jews prior to their being sent to concentration camps. Plus many Palestinians are systematically arrested and then quite regularly attacked by the country that is supposed to be responsible for them, at least according to international law.
And we all have been overdosed by the media on the dangers of radical Islam, to the point that many moderate Muslims, who also are opposed to the radicalization of their religion, feel threatened. From the revolution in Iran in the 1970’s (usually any conversation about the Iranian revolution ignores the fact that a democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, had been overthrown in 1953 with the assistance of the US and UK and a new president installed who was basically a pawn of the west.) to the current growth of ISIL, in order to look at this honestly and productively we must acknowledge the truth of the West’s role in this radicalization of Islam.
Not to get lost in the very divisive issue of Israel, the religious right or radical Islam I will move on but bring this up to illustrate the radicalization of religion that has taken place while much of the rest of society has abandoned religious and/or spiritual practice, so as a humanity we have moved farther and farther away from the possibility of knowing who we truly are. I think that when we look at the world today we can witness the impact of both of these two opposite phenomenon.
There is such a lack of compassion in the world today and as far as I know all religions speak of being kind to your neighbor, but we have turned our back on our neighbors…..
Whether it is denying or avoiding the homeless, who seem to be in every city in America from the largest to the smallest, to allowing children to go hungry.
When we sit back and watch the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza where over 2100 Gazans were killed compared to 66 Israeli soldiers and 5 Israeli civilian deaths. The UN said that seven out of ten Gazans killed were civilians. The Israeli army was ordered to basically shoot anyone and bomb apartment buildings and private homes. We cannot say that we are our brothers keeper when we sit back and allow our tax dollars to support such actions.. There is no way to justify thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths compared to 5 Israeli civilian deaths except to say it seems some lives matter more than others to many, including our political leaders.
When we witness black men and women being assaulted and murdered by our police, and jailed for reasons white men and women are not jailed for, we cannot say that we are a caring society or even a “Christian” one as many politicians are declaring themselves to be, at least as far as what Jesus Christ was teaching. He would never have allowed anyone to be targeted based on the color of their skin.
We cannot say that we are a compassionate people when we allow climate change to continue unchecked knowing that entire populations will lose their homes and countries to rising sea levels creating a massive displacement and refugee crises. We in the west still feel cozy in our homes and see this is a problem for ‘other’ people far away. But all we need to do is look at the growing refugee crises in Europe from people fleeing war in their homelands from Syria to Libya and many other countries where there is ongoing conflict. Imagine what will happen when tens of millions must flee their homes because they are now underwater. If we truly cared we would be mobilizing like we did in WWII to shift to green resources and phase out of fossil fuels, which are a leading cause of climate change.
The issues that we witness today could not exist if we all recognized that we are all pretty much the same, and that we must come from the same source whatever name we use to describe that source. If we are made in God’s image we must all be pretty miraculous. If we arise from the same source we are in fact all brothers and sisters and yet we treat each other so poorly and with such violence.
The world would shift in an instant if we all realized this and awoke from this dream of separation that we live in, and if we truly wanted to create a better world. I believe every faith could acknowledge this. If we seem different from one another all anyone needs to do is recognize that we all bleed the same kind of blood or witness a group of young children together. There is no recognition of difference based on the color of one’s skin or religion, this is something that children are taught.
Maybe we need some serious un-learning in order to shift to humanity’s potential.
There is far too much suffering in the world today for it to be ignored by anyone who considers themselves religious, spiritual or just a good human being. It starts with warming our hearts to ourselves and then to everyone around us. It is as simple as a smile or a hello to a stranger, or an extra moment with our beloveds to tell them how much we appreciate them. The world around us could change momentously with loving kindness and compassion, and the reality is both of these do far more good for us on the inside while we change the world on the outside.
So what are we waiting for?
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