Happiness leads to empathy
(Hey, I had no idea they would be a debate about monastic life on Edgeryders!!! That is really cool!!!)
Everyone follows their own path and does what is believed to be the best for its own life. There is no doubt that the many who devoted their lives to monasteries beforehand did something good for humanity.
These were isolated cases of rare exceptions. Since 5000 years, such cases of enlightened human beings have been documented. However, we are witnessing a rise of these cases right now. I see them emerge, because I edit daily the Twitter account of an institute on consciousness. They ask questions, they talk about their experiences. They look for answers. They try to find what they should do.
Wanting to be happy and reach happiness, this should be the noble goal of every person. The path is the same in every human heart (although many are not aware of it). It is one for all mankind. And this path is leading to one world, one humanity, one happiness.
What happens, once happiness has been reached by an individual, a perennial condition of happiness sets in, often called spiritual extasy, or illumination. There is an expansion of the individual consciousness. It creates transports of inexpressible bliss and intensely absorbed state of ecstasy. Better than any sex or any ‘normal’ physical sensation.
Once the condition of happiness is reached, one gets ‘stuck’ with it. It doesn’t stop. It is constantly there, hour after hour, day after day, year after year. We often see monks with a blissful smile. This is because they really feel happiness, at every second of their lives. Since there is nothing to worry about happiness anymore, once the individual understands that is there to stay, he/she turns to other life challenges.
He/she who awakens, even for a minute, his or her life is transformed.
The individuals who reach this state become very active in their communities and they usually tend to have an impact, as this perennial condition of happiness leads to a greater regard for truth, a greater measure of self-mastery, altruism, absence of envy, malice and hate, and a greater sense of empathy for all human beings.
For instance, look at the impact that Ghandhi had, a leader of the independence movement of a subcontinent carrying a population of more than four hundred million. Such unique individuals become instruments in causing mass upheavals to change the fate of empires and the multitudes under their sway.
Currently, mankind is at a critical state because a good number of the many leading minds lack some of the essential qualities needed for a balanced evolution.
The nuclear devices and the present precarious conditions of the world are the grim outcomes of the disproportionately evolved personality of many leaders.
I worry considerably about these issues. But I tell myself that the technological leap to an almost unlimited power of destruction must have been foreseen, somehow. I cannot accept the idea of an irremediable harm done to mankind, and the rest of the living species.
I believe in this quote from Gandhi, ‘Be the Change you want to see in the world’. I like to repeat it often. I look forward to hear a head of government say that. I will get an adrenaline rush in the spine, when I hear this from their mouths. It is coming…
Already, Edgeryders and Council of Europe are telling citizens participants that they are not standing at the extremity of the power chain anymore. They are citizens experts. They are decision makers. If we keep pushing in this direction, good stuff will probably happen.
