Buddhist doctrine questions the primacy of the individual. During the interview, Garfield says, "A strong sense of self — of one’s own substantial reality, uniqueness and independence of others — may not be psychologically or morally healthy. It can lead to egoism, to narcissism and to a lack of care for others. So the modern emphasis on individuality... might not be such a good thing. We might all be better off if we each took ourselves less seriously as selves (emphasis mine).
What a challenge to our Western beliefs! Our culture lauds the individual, the self made man, the woman who "leans in," the rugged individualist, the person who fights alone and prevails against all odds. We believe in the myth of the West as exemplified by Gary Cooper staring down the outlaws in "High Noon" with no help from anyone (the reality of the West, of course, is that without the massive Federal dams, there would be no West to mythologize). We want to believe we're Shane (in the movie of that name), the lone gunman who heroically saves the rancher and his family. The reality is, we are the rancher and the lone gunman is more of a threat than a savior.
Have you seen that famous 1972 picture of Earth from Space?
When you look at that picture, you can see why we might think we are individual selves, operating autonomously, grabbing the bull by the horns, going for the gusto and just doing it. After all, we are completely alone in a vast Space.
At the same time, that picture argues for the inappropriateness of thinking we can operate autonomously. We're so clearly all in this together. The actions of one "self" has consequences for all "selves." Looking at that picture, it's easy to imagine that a butterfly flapping its wings off the coast of Australia can create a typhoon in Japan. More concretely, it's easy to believe that the pollution coming from industrialized countries will one day end it for all of us.
As the scientist Carl Sagan noted, "The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena...There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
Later in the New York Times interview, Jay Garfield, suggests we, "Take the future seriously as something we have the responsibility to construct, just as much as if we would be there personally." In other words, be willing to build a tree under whose shade we will never live to sit. Consider the consequences of our decisions on seven generations into the future, as the Native Americans teach us.
If we consider only our individual selves, we are doomed.
No comments:
Post a Comment