There is nothing wrong with seeking happiness or peace of mind. It is the natural motivation behind all our thoughts and actions. Where we have gone wrong is in assuming that whether or not we are at peace depends upon what is happening in the world around us. ...
This attachment to the material world as our primary source of happiness lies at the root of much of the craziness that humanity perpetuates upon the world. It is this that leads us to consume resources we do not need, to treat other people as elements in an equation, to discharge our refuse out of sight, and to mistreat and abuse our own bodies.
...
If we are to stop abusing our world we need to let go of our attachments. ... In a state of non-attachment we no longer believe that what we have or do will provide the peace that we seek. As a result we are free to care more fully for other people, and for all living beings.
Thus the most important fight of all at this crucial stage in our evolution is not the fight against hunger, the fight against inflation, the fight against pollution, or the fight against corrupt governments. Each is very necessary and cannot be relaxed. However, they will not be won until we have also won the fight within ourselves: the struggle between our self-centered mode of thinking and the inner knowing that there is more to life than gratifying our ego-centric needs.
－ The Global Brain Awakens,
Peter Russell
This attachment to the material world as our primary source of happiness lies at the root of much of the craziness that humanity perpetuates upon the world. It is this that leads us to consume resources we do not need, to treat other people as elements in an equation, to discharge our refuse out of sight, and to mistreat and abuse our own bodies.
...
If we are to stop abusing our world we need to let go of our attachments. ... In a state of non-attachment we no longer believe that what we have or do will provide the peace that we seek. As a result we are free to care more fully for other people, and for all living beings.
Thus the most important fight of all at this crucial stage in our evolution is not the fight against hunger, the fight against inflation, the fight against pollution, or the fight against corrupt governments. Each is very necessary and cannot be relaxed. However, they will not be won until we have also won the fight within ourselves: the struggle between our self-centered mode of thinking and the inner knowing that there is more to life than gratifying our ego-centric needs.
－ The Global Brain Awakens,
Peter Russell
2 comments:
Kelsey my god you know I love you, but I really disagree!
I think there is a great danger in seeking happiness and peace of mind when the fact that we are unhappy and are not at peace is normally heavily symptomatic of deeper problems that DO have resonances in the world around us in very real concrete ways. One of the most obvious being the way our society is structured "against" nature, which almost makes necessary a lifetime of work to re-integrate ourselves into a sustainable and diverse ecological context.
As for being attached to the material world... I think harsh seperations between the material and the ideal always ultimately backfire and that the desire to seperate the two so extremely is also symptomatic of a desire to renounce material life precisely BECAUSE it is unbearable. One would never have to renounce the physical if it was bearable or pleasurable... But it precisely because it is so messed up that we desire to renounce it. We cannot deal with the injustices so we erect another world where they don't exist. Unfortunately, from this world, it is very hard to effect positive change to the material world.
I don't think we need to let go of our attachments but rather, we need the exact opposite - to reintegrate ourselves into the material world as intensely as possible - to grow our own food, to provide our own energy needs, to consume less and create and interact more with others, with plants, and with other animals. To observe the world with endless curiosity instead of renouncing it.
To find real concrete solutions you don't necessarily need to be spiritually aware or self-conscious, you just need to have a bit of care and ethics about you. I think spirituality is a way to give ourselves strength to deal with things we wouldn't normally be able to, and it is this about it that I admire. But lets never kid ourselves about the philosophical status of this belief... It is a symptom! And a symptom is precisely the way our unfreedom appears AS freedom. It is always freedom "within" - and what we are "within" will not change unless we make a point to change it. Whatever gods, fates, or metaphors we need to do this, fine belive in it for strength. But lets not for a second think that the solution will issue simply from this spiritual awareness. And in my mind, focusing on it too much distorts the multi-natured complexity of the problem. Not JUST a spiritual problem, but also a social, psychological, ecological, cultural problem.
I just fear a bunch of peaceful minded happy people that don't realize their happiness and peace actually presupposes that somewhere else in the world someone is suffering b/c they refuse to see the material connectiosn and presuppositions for their desire. I don't think breeding complacency is the answer, and peace of mind does not ensure a warrier victory if that warrier is in a minoritarian position! It just makes the warrier more accepting of loss in advance, and that doesn't seem like a real devotion to the solution!
Don't get me wrong... I AM bashing spirituality (ha!). But please know that I think there is enormous potential for it, but ONLY if it is integrated in material conditions and never ever severs its relationship to concrete life.
For all of us dear brother
yours
-Tom
hey, bud
i haven't ignored your comment. just give me a little more time to respond -- probably through the next blog entry (or one after that).... not having the internet at home slows things down.
l&p
k
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