J W:
terry:
I think no action is indicated.
Well, no action is indicated from the article itself, which is I guess my main criticism of the article. It points out the flaws of Mindfulness but offers no solution or better alternative. Maybe that part's in one of his other books.
But my question, 'how do we make it better?' was more directed reflexively, as in, what can we here as Buddhist (or non-Buddhist) practitioners do to contribute towards the society that we want to be a part of? ...maybe that's a rhetorical question.
aloha jw,
It is the essential question, one of those questions a person can obsess on when taking psychedelics, an existential question: "what is there to do?"
Taoism can be distilled to two principles:
1) non-interference
2) suspended judgment
Consider how we got here. Here we find ourselves, "thrown" iinto a world that's happening happening happening and we have to catch up and do as others do just to tread water.
As lewis carroll had it:
"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else—if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
We find ourselves doing all sorts of things and entangled in all sorts of commitments and obligations that we have more or less fallen or stumbled into, as a result of the "doing" that we have been doing since we were born.
Now that we are aware and are capable and presumably competent we can ask ourselves the question, "what can we do to make our world a better place for sentient being?" Note that in order to improve something you have to understand it and know how to make it better. Think about how little we really are able to do that, other than correct obvious abuses in our immediate vicinity.
A taoist would say, 1) don't interfere and 2) suspend judgment. Aka
wei wu wei, "doing non-doing." "Let the mud settle" is the classic way of putting it.
Danger is the result of ambition. Every creature by nature is doing its best, what else could it do? To assume that "things" are all wrong and that we should take immediate action to fix society through systemic change involves a number of dubious assumptions about our competence and insight.
It's easy to see that our society is less than ideal. And it is easy to change our own attitudes and behave better. Attempting to change others is difficult, unethical and hubristic.
Consider children, who learn from your example and discount what you say if it doesn't reflect actual behavior. If you lecture children on how they "ought" to behave, the children will turn around and lecture their peers similarly. If you behave with character and rectitude, they naturally follow your example.
It seems like a limited activity, to depend on a good example and make no effort to change people. To let them be free and sort it out for themselves. In rural neighbor island hawaii it is our culture to put up with people's foibles, and let them work it out, until you get tired of it and make them stop. We're not much into lecturing each other on how to act.
If you can simply be genuine, you are a culture hero of the first water. If you can be happy, you are a national treasure. As an activist who suffers from inner demons, you cause more harm than good.
terry
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
(Talking Heads)
And you may find yourself
Living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself
In another part of the world
And you may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house
With a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, well
How did I get here?
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!
Water dissolving and water removing
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again into silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
You may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
You may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? Am I wrong?
And you may say yourself
"My God! What have I done?"
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up
Time isn't after us
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Letting the days go by
Same as it ever was
And here the twister comes
Here comes the twister
Letting the days go by (same as it ever was)
Same as it ever was (same as it ever was)
Letting the days go by (same as it ever was)
Same as it ever was
Once in a lifetime
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Songwriters: Brian Eno / Christopher Frantz / David Byrne / Jerry Harrison / Tina Weymouth