Beyond the conflict ….

Personality control

Long ago the Buddha taught that misery and suffering were of man’s own making, and that in the act of focussing human desire upon the undesirable the ephemeral and the material, we bring upon ourselves the hatred and competition, and realm of death - played out before our eyes today in almost every international TV news broadcast. Liberation from this condition was possible the Buddha affirmed, but only through right: values, speech, mode of living, thinking, aspiration, conduct, effort, and rapture or happiness. Please note how simple and yet profound this code is.

Building on this mode of discipline of the personality, Christ taught the fact of the existence of the human soul, and service as a mode of establishing the right human relations recommended by the Buddha; demonstrating in his lifetime horizontally service to humanity, and vertically his relationship to the G.O.D. that was his - of which the Cross is the enduring (non-denominational) symbol. In the context of what is happening on our planet today:viz turmoil and strife, a looming energy crisis, pollution, melting icecaps, endangered ecosystems and species; the failing of political, religious, commercial and educative will to design and implement solutions in response to the best that science can offer - perhaps it is worth reviving an ancient message.

The ‘Greater Good’ versus selfishness

Wherever selfish interests exist, dissonance surely sets in.

Whatever of logic persists is soon seconded to self-interest, and the fogs of emotionalism and misconception sweep all around: participants begin to despise each other, and strife greed ill-will hatred, even vengeance retribution and death are possible, as claimants distance themselves from each other. The first thing to suffer as people seek power over others is an essential - human dignity. Perhaps the greatest failing of the human persona then, is this centrifugal tendency towards separation, when what is essential is a centripetal motion towards unity.

That is, it is blindingly obvious, that to solve problems people first have to have enough mutual respect and feeling for one another, to come together to work out and define, even if somewhat nebulously, that which is for ‘...
the greater good’.

Attaining the greater good involves a subjugation of self-interest (selflessness) in the recognition that with a little sacrifice by all, a lot can be achieved – the broader benefit summed as greater than the resultant of conflict of interests. Support for the greater good may have intellectual consensus in principle, but it cannot exist as principle alone, as there are just too many points of view - values, perceptions, interpretations, appropriations of facts, directions - concepts to integrate, embody and apply. Knowledge, logic, mind, intellect, any human system, any market mechanism, any human purpose and plan will never resolve the ‘misery and suffering of man’s own making’ unless the heart becomes involved.

‘Heart’ I will define as that centre in any human being, distinct from the mind and the ego, through which rises an energy that can only be recognised, evaluated and valued by feeling (NOT THOUGHT) - for which we have many labels (peace, unconditional love, passion, tranquillity, clarity to name but a few …) - that is the root cause of the transformation of the human personality from self-centredness and selfishness to service, along the lines identified by the Buddha and Christ.

Mind and ego limited

This statement anent the heart probably will surprise some, but I
ask you to give it some consideration. I know it may go against the grain, given ego and the feeling of superiority mind has, but look at the track record! The mess that everything is in today is courtesy of mind and ego. There are some incredibly well educated aggressors and predators on our planet!

Conversely, humanitarianism, altruism, and philanthropy on an international and national level, are just as important a determinant as generosity and kindness are to any individual. We need to look more closely at out own mental and emotional short-comings, and deal with ourselves in the light of a truer understanding and more honest undertaking. It is a little near-sighted to employ the same tools that have created the problem in fixing the problem! The reality is that mind and intellect, the so-called rational thinking faculty that so confidently awards itself supremacy over all other aspects of the human constitution, have never been able to stand alone - and the world as it is today I think, provides an overwhelming testament to that global illusion. Ego too, only serves to isolate people further from reality. That is why I am suggesting that the heart must get involved; consciously and determinatively. Every society is glued together only by the strength of the goodwill that its citizens have for one another. Unless of course you favour solutions enforced at the end of the barrel of a corporate or political gun.

Clearly the heart is the only source of Light or Understanding
immanent in a human being where goodwill and clarity prevails, radiant in its own nature, regardless of what is happening in the outside world.

And just as clearly - only through its inherent illuminative nature, throwing light deeply into dark places to ‘enlighten’ the mind and its processes - will it ever be possible to successfully clothe any noble desire ‘for the greater good’, in ideals that employ logic successfully: acknowledge facts, dispel the glamour and murky fogs that beset our every issue, serve to guide weigh and balance our deliberations, and deliver the longed for equity and improved conditions to all. This is how it works in any human being. Knowledge is the essential method if harmony is to prevail. Clear purpose planning and implementation are fundamental to the goal. But the heart has I believe, the primary enlightening role. The heart conveys illumination to the mind and a simple wisdom born of unity and kindness; without the heart the mind remains in darkness – at best mere intellection. The Hindu’s have a saying: ‘the worldly mind was born in darkness, lives in darkness, dies in darkness’. This should be written above the gateway to every university in the land with perhaps the curative: the heart illumines and makes the intellectual processes whole.

…. harmony is possible

Let me define selfishness as the simple relation of doing something at somebody else’s expense.

Take an issue

Take an issue: relations for example, between a coal producer, coal-fired power plant, energy consumers, a government, an economy, and the environment – on the surface these are highly regulated, however self-interest abounds. In the interaction and reactions of these human powered sectors arise mutual benefits competition and impositions, with the environment absorbing an underlying cost. It is useless to demonise one sector over another, as all are an integral part of both problem and solution: the interdependence extant in supply/demand predicating the pollution > atmospheric warming > climate change problem. Wherever the tidal mark demarcating human response (in toto or in pars) to problem components such as atmospheric warming, science, economics, the environment, social values, government policy, may lie at the end of each day - the root of the real issue at hand according to the above analysis of ‘.. the greater good’, is selfishness and all that selfishness entails.

Grant this as a truth and it soon follows: to say ‘human beings pollute the atmosphere and cause global warming and climate change’ and then focus externally on the fixes - conveniently avoids the major impairment to the process.

Technological fixes may range from simply stop doing whatever we are doing that adds to the problem; to highly technical innovative energy options. But the real issue of course is this: technology, science, the economy, politics,are quite capable of delivering the solutions we need in systemic cooperation with each other – the weakness is that all of these systems are powered by human beings. To ask for cooperation nationally is one thing, to ask for cooperation globally is absolutely daunting. Mind and ego thrive on competition rather than cooperation (as always), and in the noise and confusion, smoke and mirrors, miasma and fiasco produced, mask how little recognition there is in all of the mass media reporting and intellectual capital produced around the issue of human induced global warming - that places the main impediment to its resolution (that is our crass selfishness) at the forefront of the discussion. Picture just about any politician as they lie and whine their way through interview after interview, placing politics, party-interest and self-interest always before the masses whom they manipulate unconscionably, and I think the question of integrity is a fair call. Along the way we must ask what is it in ourselves and/or allow in our leaders which we do not call to account, that has allowed this problem to develop; and why is there so much difficulty in recognising, accepting and dealing with it?

If we were totally honest we would call dirt filth, and label it baldly as a human (self) induced pollution problem – not climate change or global warming, which are labels of consequences.

Many people may not understand the complex and often competing arguments arising from strident viewpoints addressing the pollution/atmospheric warming debate, but everybody understands selfishness quite easily. Most of us come well equipped, even as young children, with an inherent sense of justice! I would suggest that it is on the knife-edge of selfishness all arguments should divide and fall, remembering there is no anti-dote to selfishness other than selflessness. What is needed then is the ‘moral imperative’ brought to the surface for all to consider.

The heart is the richest resource

This is where the heart comes in. Selflessness should not be understood as a particular construct and infill of thought; nor a discipline, policy framework or moral code – (that may come later as people smother it with words). The origin of selflessness is in the heart, and manifests as a joyful peace within, arising as a genuine heart felt wave of anything from generosity, kindness, compassion, empathy, justice, equity, dignity, responsibility - and when partnered with a developing mind, can intelligently consciously and freely embrace someone or something without; even with an element of sacrifice involved. It cannot be worn on the face without being felt. It cannot be manufactured. The heart is its province and the mind is stilled and concentrated, consecrated under its influence – it reveals ego as the vapour that it in fact is. Selflessness embraces that which is not the self and wills it the same peace and prosperity that it finds within Itself. The heart is in my view, the richest resource people possess – and through selfishness the least understood, most under-used and rated!

A division in consciousness

Herein lies the great opportunity and division in consciousness human beings embattle: the power of a heart felt morality v. selfishness to put it simply; EITHER COUPLED WITH THE SAME INTELLIGENCE.

It is the emergence of the soul (the heart) within man that is the real struggle, against the backdrop of his personality nature and worldly affairs; and it would be good if we could recognise this and address it consciously. We all have heard how ‘it profits not a man to gain the world ….’. It is through the kindness of the Breath that comes and goes in man, giving him meaning and significance during the bare fleeting moment of his existence, that this struggle can even be fought! What we seek we are told, has always been inside of us. Our key lies not in the world, nor in mind and ego. These facts alone should pique our interest in the heart, and the statement that if that Universal Energy, the Infinite is to be discovered at all, then the heart is the best place to look. Hence the simple guidance of the Buddha and the Christ. The mind is nowhere acknowledged as the revealer of truth by these Teachers, who taught discipline and morality; but rather as a receptacle of illumination, for those who had quietened down its waves generated by the self-seeking personality: far different an attitude to the ego and arrogance instituted today! People only seem to learn humility when the tsunami breaks over what they imagined was a secure shore. At the very least we should endeavour to live more consciously; deal with our existence more consciously.

Summing up

Perhaps gross profit may be the responsibility of the nations CEO’s,but debate in our society about values; the ascendance of individual, social, environmental, human and spiritual values over selfish and material values will always prevail – struggling to redefine prosperity as I see it:

First, as an evidence of growth in our essential nature: an inner potential in every human being, unfolding pulsing joyful in the realisation of SELF and in the fulfilment of the heart; joyful in the gift of Life and in the beauty of simply being Alive, in Existence Itself – reflected in the outside world, as

Second, a different kind of prosperity: a level of material provision, comfort, health, education and creative expression, such that the evolution and unfolding of the heart and Self in man may progress unimpeded.

This inner evolution I would place as of far greater priority than the current focus given to the outside world, and the misguided cult of personality manifest in all aspects of our lives.

Unfortunately, we all know selfishness will for the time being prevail, and facts will be twisted: but that doesn’t mean that we should just shut-up and put-up. What is history other than the portrayal of selfishness on one hand and the power of the human spirit to throw off shackles and rise above adversity on the other (albeit adversity visited by our own kind over one another). Governments and businesses have always imploded or been torn apart by each other courtesy of selfishness. The great political and capital oligarchies of our earth fight like deranged bulls for the material resources of the planet, tearing the environment asunder and damaging the innocent, blind to everything other than the battle. There is nothing worthy in this behaviour. It is the 6.7 billion people on this earth and the planet’s life forms who suffer the consequences. Must it be only through misery and suffering that we transform intellect into intelligence and the simplicity of wisdom (through the agency of the heart) - if our dreams of a better world are ever to succeed. Long has the human heart desired Peace! Of course just a little bit of humility and selflessness would get us all there a lot quicker and along a lot less bumpier road.

Nature has established for Carbon a just cycle, balanced and harmonious within the elements of earth water and air, and it is man that is out of step, with his own nature and by consequence, the planet. A crisis has been precipitated and humanity has to find a way forward. Many are pessimistic believing we are not up to the task, seeing the selfishness in our personality nature but not the illuminative potential that glows warmly within. Mind and intellect have developed rapidly in humanity, and perhaps the ego apace; but it is within the heart that I believe the true redeeming power and future potential lies – and by calling upon that potential and recognising its meaning and significance, its power to transform lives both within and without, we can begin at least to awaken and experience those forces and energies that must eventually renew the race, in much the same way as development of the intellect so quickly transformed our personality development over the millennia.

The heart has always promised a way forward!

The lives of the Buddha and the Christ were in reality simple expressions of all that is human, uncomplicated by the dissertations and complexities of the societies we have created - and the essentials still ring true today: a love of learning and a desire to unfold, a healthy consecrated personality with an open mind; a heart that knows the value and freedom of the energy we call Love; and a determined Spirit that knows itself, recognises itself and the Ocean from which it has sprung. Follow desire back to its source, and you will see that it is as the Buddha predicated – the personality must be disciplined by right relations. Be of some small service to somebody or something, and you will see how quickly it connects you to your heart and ‘inner self’ as the Christ demonstrated. Listen to the voice of your heart each day and feel and understand the realities that it longs for, far different to the mind. The mind has its pursuits and its usefulness: under control it is of some service; out of control it questions endlessly or serves the illusion of ego. Mind has bred monsters on this earth. The human heart has only ever delivered the good, the true, and the beautiful, selflessly, for other hearts to enjoy!

I really don’t understand this drive for paid maternity leave for all.

It strikes me as a solution looking for problem. In itself that is often an indicator of an issue, but one that is poorly articualted.

When the Equal Opportuntiy Commissionaire took this up, the case, although receiving popular support, seemed to based soley on ‘other western nations are doing it, hence Australia is backward in not doing so!’ That is an awful basis for policy.

In further education, also targetting a similar age group of young adults, if they choose to further their education then HECS enables them to fund it, while out of employment. Why is choosing to have babies any different?

As we are today without a sophicated population policy, having babies is a personal choice. In reality a lifestyle choice.

What is the justification for it being funded by the State? I can see that commercial organisations may see a competitive advantage in being the first to take it up if they, like Coles, have a large female workforce.

Population policy to have families of a minimum, and I would hope also a maximum, size, would put an entirely different complexion on this issue. But, there is no compelling driver for such a policy at present.

Is there a work policy that requires all families to be double income? Should they remain that way permanently, until retirement age? If not what is the vision for adult work?

What about family? What is the vision of ‘family’, how it will function, when ( child and adult age) and where ( low population regions)?

Why should it be for all? Do the wealthy require it, will it make any difference to their baby making decisions? Do we want the poorest in our community to commit to 20 years of even greater poverty?

Is this really anything more than popularist politics?