Know ‘Truth’, Live True

Just sitting...bzzzz...giving blood

‘Truth’? What’s truth? Okay, so this is really about what passes for truth.  At least in that regard, more people are able to agree on scientific ‘truth’ than any other ‘truth’. Interestingly, science is proving (through brain imaging) that there is more pleasure in giving than in receiving ^(1,2,3). Of course wise people have known this for ages. It is an essential pillar of most religions.

Science also lends empirical support to the spiritual view that ’self’ is illusion (e.g., the ephemeral effect of billions of neuronal connections), and that reality is Oneness (e.g., the inherent ‘non locality’ of quantum mechanics). I find a real benefit in having these ancient viewpoints confirmed in the non-religious ways that science offers. Science can be a much more impartial observer in such matters.

I’ve written enough on Oneness reality and ’self’ illusion, but little if anything on the art and science of giving, so here goes…

The subject of giving centers mostly around social altruism, where giving is about helping others. But there is only so much we can give, until we’ve given all we have; there is only so many ways to help until we run out of ways. Moreover, there are dire unintended consequences that result when we overdo giving to others. For one thing, it fosters dependency in the recipients (of giving) which cripples them in the long run. As the old saying goes, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’.

Fortunately, altruistic giving is not the only path! Buddha’s Eight Fold Path ⁽⁴⁾ offers ways to give that have virtually no negative unintended consequences as long as they are directed inwardly towards how you approach life in your ‘heart of hearts’. Four of the steps specifically concern the mind: Right Understanding, Right Mindfulness, Right Attentiveness, Right Concentration. Note also, that carrying out the other four steps hinge of these four. ‘Mind only’, as Buddha once said.

Alas, we are not innately pulled to Right Attentiveness, Right Concentration, etc. On the other hand, it is not that we are not innately inattentive and unmindful, either. It is just that we are not innately Right. So, what is the difference between ordinary attentiveness and Right Attentiveness? In a word, Balance (with a capital B!) Not too much, and not too little. Too much attentiveness, and one becomes obsessively focused and can’t see the forest. Too little attentiveness, and one can’t even see the trees, let alone the forest.

Nature employs this difference to help thin the herd, I imagine. This makes doing Right ‘whatever’ difficult. The confession that ‘even the sage treats some things as difficult‘ must, at a minimum, pertain to this. Maintaining balance requires paying attention, moment to moment, along with enough reflective awareness to see if we are paying too much, or too little, attention. That is a tall order!

What can we do? Use free will, or whatever passes for that, which holds a special difficulty for our species (a point I belabor endlessly).  This is where ‘letting your sole desire be the performance of your duty‘, as Buddha put it, comes in handy. When any action is approached as personal duty (Dharma) it becomes a way to channel watchfulness: yoga, sweeping the floor, walking… and yes, writing this blog.  Also, action that is one’s duty is likely to be more balanced than any action driven by whims of the moment. In fact, even action prompted by whims of the moment can be balanced, if Right Attentiveness is awake. (On a practical note, watching life attentively helps avoid some of the potholes in life that would otherwise trip us up.)

So, as long as life is action, we might as well get the most out of it, by giving our utmost attentiveness to it – Right Attentiveness, that is. I’m talking moment to moment watchfulness, which is invisible to the outside world; there are no medals or merit to be had here. Again, no action, from washing the dishes to winning an Olympic race, is actually special in respect to watchfulness and integrity (living true).  Needless to say, from a taoist perspective, all action is grounded in mysterious sameness.

In summary, watching life attentively -  a giving of mind to moment -  just feels better that life would otherwise feel. I find that knowing the ways science corroborates all this, helps me practices it [more] assiduously.

⁽¹⁾ In Europe, taxation rates are high, and services are funded by government spending, whereas in the United States, low taxes and higher philanthropic donations are the norm. Not surprisingly, in Neural Responses to Taxation and Voluntary Giving, we see this:

Subjects experienced a hedonic reaction when tax revenues were transferred to a charity, and subjects who showed greater neural activation under this regime were more generous when charitable contributions were made voluntary. The sense of well-being in the voluntary giving condition surpassed that seen when subjects were taxed.

⁽²⁾ Research using brain scans is lending empirical support to the long held belief that ‘it is better to give than to receive’. Consider this quote from research on charitable donations:

Remarkably, more anterior sectors of the prefrontal cortex are distinctively recruited when altruistic choices prevail over selfish material interests.

⁽³⁾ Or consider this study on the brain effects of donating money to a cause. In The Act of Giving Effects the Brain, we see this:

In the automatic transfer of funds to the foodbank, pleasure areas of the brain (that are traditionally stimulated by food, sex, sweets, shelter and social connection) were significantly activated.  In the second part of the study when the subject chose to donate the money, the effect was even greater.

⁽⁴⁾ Study the Bhagavad Gita a little, and you will probably notice the rational seeds from which Buddha’s message later sprouted. This verse, for example, could pertain to the useful role science has in a spiritual life, “But the man who knows the relation between the forces of Nature and actions, sees how some forces of Nature work upon other forces of Nature, and becomes not their slave.”