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First, Buddhism
Many of humanity’s spiritual paths offer wonderfully penetrating tidbits (and chunks!) that have helped me in my journey. Buddha’s path, in particular, shares much common ground with the Taoist’s path… before it heads off on its own tangent. The books I recommend here present Buddha’s path better than most I’ve come across (which is certainly only the tip of the iceberg).
There is a mythical bird (in the Yoga tradition as I recall?), that can extract nectar, which is mixed with muck, and leave the muck behind. Take the ‘good’ part and leave the rest. It’s been a good way to go for a heretic like me. Of course, it drives the traditionalist, the orthodox folks, crazy. To them, their way is the Way. An uncouth person, on the other hand, has to approach life like that bird and cobble together a path that works for him. My wish is that this web site may provide some useful materials to use for cobbling yours.
By the way, you can make your own Zen (i.e., Buddhism + Taoism = Zen). My ‘problem’ with Zen is that, as a synthesis of Buddhism and Taoism, it leaves out some parts of each for me personally. So I just take from each what I wish, add my own two cents, and make a ‘personalized Zen’.
… And Beyond?
Buddha’s approach is grounded in common sense, i.e., we need to diagnose a problem’s cause in order to fix it. We simply need to know how ‘it’ is broken. His Four Noble Truths diagnose the cause of suffering and then proceed to offer a solution. However, does his diagnosis encompass modern circumstances fully? Perhaps we need to reexamine our problem in light of what is happening today.
There have always been reasons why we have the problems we have. Some believe we got kicked out of Eden, while other’s believe we are endlessly swirling around in bad karma. Maybe it’s the economic system. In any case, it is the eleventh hour and time to wake up. On that most people agree. The cause of our problem is less clear. While Buddha’s Truths identify the basic framework, they may not fully meet the challenges of our time. The following diagnosis is a blend of the Four Noble Truths and Taoist views, grounded in nature.
Diagnosis: Civilization?
First, don’t misunderstand; I’m not suggesting that we abandon civilization and return to the caves or the trees. We generally tend to look to civilization to solve our problem, which is profoundly ironic if civilization is one cause of it instead. In other words, there is a good possibility that the circumstances of civilization in conjunction with Buddha’s first two Noble Truths cause the fix we’re in. The causes of personal suffering which Buddha diagnosed are fundamental to the human condition. This will be either exasperated or ameliorated by circumstances. And circumstances are far different now than several thousand years ago in the time of Jesus and Buddha.
An important issue to consider is just how influential do either of these factors, civilization or the Truths, have to be to be serious. Not very. I liken it to having a splinter. As small as it is, it can totally ruin your day. Another example is crime. It only takes a few asocial and criminal individuals in a population make the whole culture miserable. Small influences can have earth shaking consequences, as can small changes in those influences.
Energy Has to be Used
Technology is one of those ever changing influences. What effect do tools (from the stone axe to the computer) have on us. Tools make it easier to get a job done, and thus save human energy—sweat and toil. We evolved to expend a certain amount of sweat and toil, so what happens in a natural system when that energy resource isn’t utilized fully? Remember the adage about idle hands being the devils workshop. Much of our problems began with the advent of agriculture and its food surpluses which allowed specialization… kings, priests, warriors, traders, slaves. These roles were unheard of in hunter gathering cultures.
Perhaps more significant though is the mental and emotional grounding that occurred when people expending time and energy in the hunter gatherer life style. There was little question about ‘the meaning of life’. You would rediscovered in daily. Fast forward to the 20th century and the dawning of the electric age which has freed up human energy at an exponential rate. Yet, this physical and emotional energy—so fully utilized in the wild—is still within us and still needs a balancing healthy outlet. Finding such an outlet can be exceedingly problematic under modern circumstances.
Civilization Co-opts Innate Instincts to Organize Itself on a Large Scale.
To function, civilization supplants some of the intimate family and tribal connections with its own expanded versions, (armies, teams, corporations, churches, political organizations, sewing circles). All of the expanded functions of civilization unitize our basic social instincts to operate. In short, civilization usurps our innate social needs, but does it satisfy those needs as deeply?
Historically this usurpation has taken extreme, though short lived paths. Sparta divided family severely to enhance its military prowess. Mao separated families in the peasant communes in an effort to integrate the peasants into the Marxist ‘family’. And, most pervasive in this era is the fragmentation of the family that is required to support the highly industrial nature of modern civilization. For example, father works here, mother works there, sister go to this school, brother goes to that school. This family fragmentation also manifests itself in music, food, clothes, friends,… most everything!
The price we pay is that none of these expanded functions which compose civilization ever match the intimate sense of connection which the pre agriculture ancestral family and tribe provided. Is there any solution? Not really, according to the old maxim “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”. Certainly, moderation in the sense of less civilization might make life more balanced, e.g., “bring it about that the people will return to the use of the knotted rope“. But, even if that is the case, there is no one who can “bring about” such a turning back. As with all things in nature, it will happen when the time is ripe for the fruit to fall.
A Civilization Reflects its Population
A civilization reflects the median of its population’s inclinations and characteristics. A population’s median age may play a large role in this, i.e., inclinations mature as we age, and thus so should a civilization’s. In other word, a population whose median age is 18 would result in a civilization far more ‘active’ than one whole median age was 80… or 180!
The median of a population is the midpoint on the whole population’s bell curve. The bell curve spans from one extreme to the other and everything in-between. Because civilization reflects the mean, or average characteristics of the whole population, it best matches those of us whose nature are closest to the median. Folks on either extreme are not going to be well represented by the particular civilization’s paradigm and thus will have the most difficulty fitting in—in connecting.
Inevitably though, the shear scale of modern civilization probably leaves most of us feeling disconnected to some degree. The intimacy of the family and tribe is weaker now than ever. As always, this deficit can not be compensated for by civilization. The haunting sense of disconnection, to whatever degree each of us feels, evokes a sense of fear and insecurity which manifests itself in myriad ways , as Freud noticed as the industrial revolution—our industrial civilization—was ramping up. The changes which have occurred over the last few hundred years have deepened our personal sense of disconnection. This likely corresponds to the rate of technological innovation, and thus may end up leaving us feeling disconnected at an exponential rate. YIKES!
This underlying sense of disconnection drives us to seek re-connection, as never before, in countless ways: shopping, drugs, travel, work, media, sex, eating, sports, clothes,… and so on. Of course, if you concur with Buddha’s Second Noble Truth, you know that none of this re-connects us to the ‘whole’. So while Armageddon is unlikely, the next few centuries sure look to be an interesting time for us all.
What Is the Worst Part of Civilization?
Well, a little bit of everything, and I hesitate to be more specific. I want to avoid singling out a scapegoat, i.e., TV, sugar, guns, … blah blah blah… Just choose any aspect of civilization, and upon serious reflection you should be able to see how it goes too far, or rather how we take it too far! If we could, as a species, live the Buddha’s Golden Mean, things would be different. Obviously…
So this returns us to Buddha’s Second Noble Truth: The cause of suffering is lust. The surrounding world affects sensation and begets a craving thirst that clamors for immediate satisfaction. The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things. The desire to live for the enjoyment of self entangles us in a net of sorrows. Pleasures are the bait and the result is pain.
Civilization has evolved to maximize our pleasures, our comforts, our sense of security. Absent are any brakes on where this lead us, i.e., unintended consequences. Nature’s counterbalancing forces used to apply the brakes, and still do for all the other species living the wild. Human innovation, increasing exponentially over the last 50,000 years, has steadily liberated us from nature’s moderating influences leaving us increasingly neurotic. Note: I’m not looking back on the ‘good old days’. There has always been plenty of suffering… re: Buddha’s First Noble Truth.
A clear example of what happened can be seen in our diet. We are instinctively attracted to sweet and fatty foods. In the wild such rich food is always scarce, and when found, is always health giving. In the wild no one would have enough access to rich food to become obese. Well, times have changed thanks to civilization and the technologies which make it possible. And I mean all technology beginning with the stone axe and continuing right up to where we stand today.
Civilization facilitates extreme’s which Buddha’s middle path addressed. But, Buddha’s path addresses the core issue, i.e., our innate ‘thirst’ for pleasure. We fail to fully appreciate civilization’s role in this… or if we do, we go to extremes. We clamor to ban this, or push that, as our preferred panacea. We have yet to calmly consider civilization as a whole. This may be partly due to our reluctance to ‘admit’ a problem if it has no ‘possible’ solution. We just end up poking at slivers of civilization (scapegoats) that we think we can ‘fix’.
Isn’t There Anything Good About Civilization?
The same question can be asked about desire. As Buddha’s Second Noble Truth states that desire causes suffering, we may wonder if there was anything good about desire, or is it all bad. The answer to both questions is the same—moderation. Of course, how much is too much, or too little is the gnarly question embedded in moderation as the answer. However, until we realize that both desire and civilization contribute profoundly to our suffering, we’ll just keep going around in circles. The first step is, as Buddha put it, Right Understanding.
If Civilization Cause Some of Our Problem, What Is the Solution?
Like Buddha said, we have to realize the cause before we can find a solution. Currently, we are so far away from realizing that civilization may be part of the cause. Indeed, we tend to feel that civilization is a solution to our dilemma. How often do we say, “don’t be an animal”. Thus, simply realizing that civilization may be one major cause of our problem is itself a ’solution’,—a step on our journey to the solution.
Once we recognize the unintended consequences of civilization and its role in human suffering we’ll be in a better position to ameliorate the situation. As it is now, we just blame each other, the devil, modernity, politician, guns, terrorists, etc. Blaming scapegoats is a by-path plain and simple, and produces dead end remedies as history demonstrates. All the scapegoats are symptoms of our problem, not the cause.
As a species we are like teenagers who have just been given the keys to our first car. For us this translates into entering the electric age at the dawn of the 20th century. Once kids have a car, knowing the danger is vital for its safe handling. Although we use the modern technology, as yet we’re still seeing life from a ‘pre-car’, pre-electricity world-view of the agricultural and iron revolution. We are no longer living in the same world that people in Christ’s or Buddha’s time coped with. The consequences of hanging on our idealistic world-views—myths—of the past may turn out to be quite awe-full.