"in certain Buddhist circles ... debate about the ultimate usefulness of assuaging temporal suffering is making the rounds. The topic is timely, given the commercialization of spirituality and the spread of the mindfulness movement. Most of us agree that the Buddha meant his paths to be curative rather than palliative. Shouldn't we be shooting for (enlightenment) rather than, say, 'stress reduction'?
Although it can't magically wake us all up, Great Compassion can intervene by making our various situations just livable enough that we can shift our focus from pain, emotional overload, and warped coping strategies to the self-evident truths of the dharma: goodness, selflessness, and understanding lead to happiness; aggression, selfishness, and ignorance lead to suffering."
Pamela Gayle White. "Alleviating Suffering. Can Working to Treat Pain Help Us Tackle the Fundamental Causes of Human Distress?" Tricycle, Spring 2015. www.tricycle.com
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| Gaudi Blues |
Canadians tend to be easy-going, open-minded and tolerant. Interestingly, some see this as a strength, whereas others interpret it as laziness, a failure to speak up for what one needs - in fact deserves & should demand to have immediately! Those of the latter mindset are, in turn, seen by many Canadians as pushy, crass & self-centered.
Canada is, relatively speaking, a sparsely populated country. Recently it's been found that the greater the population of a city, the faster people from the city tend to walk. Could it be the same for their perceived urgency for gratification ie self-centeredness?
Meaningful change towards a higher quality of life is accomplished slowly, internally. Demanding that others and the external environment should conform to our wishes simply won't happen. Self-centeredness (egocentricity) is well-known as an early stage of human development. The sad fact is that many never outgrow this stage.
Whatever stage one happens to be in, one assumes to be perfectly reasonable & appropriate. After one has matured beyond a given stage, and has some capacity for self-reflection, one looks back with considerable humility at one's past (relatively primitive) behavior.
That is why it is so important to be at least conceptually aware of what humans are capable of achieving: well beyond egocentricity, human beings can - and must - mature to (& beyond) allocentric levels. See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/04/stressed-out-or-centered-choose-one.html
