Coming from an eastern background, I've noticed that there are different attitudes towards spirituality in the East and the West. One of the main differences is a cultural one, but one that I think truly affects how Easterners and Westerners live their lives. That's the idea of individuality and independence. In the Western school of thought, the rugged individualist is celebrated; the American forefathers were the epitomes of rugged individualism. They rebelled against their kingdom and founded an entire country based on the premise of sheer independence. In contrast, Easterners are all about the family unit. Eastern cultures prioritize the elders and the "Wise Ones." We are always taught to put our parents, our brothers and sisters, our grandparents' wishes and desires before our own. There is no celebration of the rugged individualist. That would be sheer selfishness.
Honestly, I think its ideal to strike a right balance. Both the West and the East have strengths and weaknesses, but the brilliant thing about the globalized lives we lead is that we can now draw from many diverse schools of thought! Its important to not be so completely focused on yourself that you disregard the feelings of others, but its also important to consider our own wishes and needs and desires as well as those of the people around us. To me, love and compassion is putting another before yourself, but I think its vital that you are a whole person attuned to your own emotions and worthy of your own care in order to be able to give of yourself. That way, if you are truly aware of yourself, then you can be one with nature and the living world as well.
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Becoming one with the world.
"Let friendship be our religion, not only in our thoughts but in our actions as well." (183)
We've talked a lot about religion and spirituality in class, and regardless of what anyone believes, we seem to concede that actions are incredibly important. In fact, your actions are what show you for who you really are. Your thoughts are locked up in your head - if you don't act on it, they're nothing. You must put into the world more than you take out, in my opinion. The heart of friendship is love and compassion ( I feel like I've been saying that a lot, huh?) and if we ascribe to the belief/practice of friendship with as much passion as we ascribe to our individual religions or lack of religion, compassion would be much more prevalent in society. It would just be us caring for one another and the rest of the beings we share the world with.
"Friendliness is understood as the wish for others to be happy, and compassion as the wish to alleviate suffering. Both start with ourselves, by recognizing the fact of our own suffering and seeking to uproot its causes. Before turning to the plight of others, it is necessary to understand deeply the origins of suffering within ourselves. Such insight can then lead to a genuine capacity to show others the way to freedom from their inner pain." (169)
Compassion at its finest.
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Although love and friendliness and compassion is looking beyond oneself, its vital that you understand the emotions of grief and suffering and sources of love within yourself so you can empathize with others. I feel like I can see the phenomenon of suffering much more clearly when I go to Bangladesh, just because it is literally everywhere you look. SOmetimes I wonder if the people who live there are desensitized to it, because while my heart is twisting at the children begging for money, my cousins can walk calmly by. Its not that they aren't bothered, but because they live right next to such blatant suffering, it doesnt register - this is a defensive mechanism that has its uses in keeping one sane, but is also hard to see sometimes. But being surrounded by such pain truly does bother those who live there - they are just better at hiding the effects.
"Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength." (171)
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