Our Test of Courage
February 15, 2008 It is easy to be lulled into a warm, fuzzy idea that Buddhism is just about sitting in meditation and being aware that we are supposed to be kinder people.
But Buddhism is more—much more—than that.
It is taking your fair share, but no more.
It is using what you need, not all that you want.
It is realizing that you are merely one of the almost seven billion people living in a closed world-system.
It is comprehending that you are now using the water, the air, the soil, the fuel that belongs to your children and grandchildren. We used up what belonged to us long ago.
It is coming to terms with the fact that since you have money, and money is power, you are able to help drive the capitalist system. In this system, those with little money must raise the food and mine the resources to make the products that those with money want. Those with little money have no voice; they cannot be heard because the credit card terminals serving the wealthy drown them out.
To truly and wholly practice Buddhism means we understand that even innocent ignorance causes terrible suffering. But still worse is stepping out of ignorance and then deciding that we really don’t want to know the truth because it’s too uncomfortable, too difficult.
With wealth, and to a man in a third-world country working the land as his ancestors did anyone with a computer and internet connection is wealthy, goes a moral obligation.
Do we really want to cling to our lifestyle despite the knowledge that our indulgence has a terrible cost? People are starving because their land is taken by governments and multinationals who want to supply our desires. People are drowning because we are dumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, causing sea levels to rise and climate disturbances to intensify.
We are at the peak of vital resources: oil and natural gas, water, topsoil. Demand is increasing while supplies are declining. Going up the petroleum production curve took over a century. Falling down the other side could take a few decades.
But regardless of the speed of the fall, we have reached the end of cheap oil, cheap natural gas, and cheap water. As I write this, people in countries around the world are facing a terrible decision. Do they spend their money on heating or on food? They usually opt for heat. It takes longer to starve than it does to freeze to death.
For those who have no voice, for your children and grandchildren, please learn to want less, to take less. If this is not done now by choice, in the future there will no longer be a choice. And our children and grandchildren, struggling to survive in a world terribly different from the one we now enjoy, will wonder what in G-d's name we were thinking.
Reader Comments (3)
This is a brilliant entry. Sadhu!