Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00041)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "kpauljohnson" <kpauljohnson@y...> 
wrote:

> > A question: why is it that, at the end of the day, it is so 
> hard to step out of the stream of self-interest and self-
centredness?
> > 
> and my reply, as usual influenced by a recently read book, is that 
> this is not an inherent part of the human condition, but it is 
> inherent in the circumstances of modern life. We are so atomized 
now, 
> with so little in the way of social support networks, that people 
> think of themselves in isolation from family, community, or 
nation. 
> The book Undoing Perpetual Stress by Richard O'Connor helped me 
> realize how unprepared we are as a species for the kinds of 
stresses 
> we face daily. Here's part of the Publisher's Weekly review:
> 
> According to psychotherapist O'Connor (Undoing Depression), the 
human 
> brain and nervous system cannot process the constant stress that is 
> accepted as inevitable today, resulting in an alarming rise in 
chronic 
> illness, depression and anxiety. Using current mind/body research, 
he 
> shows how the brain and nervous system respond to stress; how the 
body 
> manifests these changes; and how negative patterns become vicious 
> cycles of mental, emotional and physical illness. O'Connor says 
there 
> are many studies implicating stress as a major factor in heart 
> disease, diabetes, cancer and such difficult to treat conditions as 
> chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, but the health-care 
> establishment hasn't been able to adequately help patients make the 
> lifestyle modifications needed for lasting change. To that end, he 
> suggests mindfulness techniques to help readers identify mental and 
> emotional programming and defense mechanisms, make healthy choices 
and 
> form life-affirming habits.
> 
> END QUOTE
> 
> Among the items I found most interesting is that several 
generations 
> back, most people on the planet encountered only the same few 
hundred 
> individuals in their immediate vicinity, and meeting a stranger was 
> unusual. Today most people are constantly bombarded with a stream 
of 
> new strangers, and this creates stress that manifests in a variety 
of 
> diseases.
> 
> Perhaps back in the "good old days" people were as constantly 
fretting 
> about their own individual lives as they are now, but I think they 
> felt much more securely embedded in a social support network and 
> therefore were more altruistic in their thoughts and feelings.


Thank you for your reply, Paul. It is indeed very difficult to deny 
that modern life and stress are now like two faces of the same coin. 
A stressed individual will normally tend to become a prisoner of 
his/her own mindset. But there are also some inspiring examples today 
of how it is possible to change one's mindset and live in the world 
with the kind of mind that the Bhagavad Gita described as "a lamp in 
a windless place", with its own clarity and stability.

Two cases come to mind. Think, for example, of what Nelson Mandela 
went through, both before being put in jail and during the time he 
was in prison. He was persecuted, slandered, tortured. He couldn't 
see his kids growing up. His character was assassinated several times 
over. At that time, he was a full-blown Marxist, completely convinced 
that only armed struggle would bring the Apartheid regime in South 
Africa to an end. 

Someting happened to him while in prison. He came out of it a 
transformed man, a moral leader with such a stature that makes 
current powerful political leaders pale into insignificance. If he 
had come out of prison an angry and resented man there would 
certainly have been a monumental bloodbath in that country. I am not 
saying he is a perfect man. I am just suggesting that while in prison 
he found the way out of the stream of self-centredness. In his 
venerable old age he now devotes his energies to campaigning for the 
welfare of the children whose parents died of HIV-AIDS.

The other example is of a Tibetan lama recently released after 
several decades in prison in Tibet, and whose name escapes me. When 
he arrived in Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan Government 
in exile, a western journalist noticed that his body appeared broken 
due to ill-treatment and torture he suffered in prison, but his eyes 
were wide awake and luminous. When asked about his experience he said 
he was very grateful to his jailors (the ones who tortured him) 
because they gave him the opportunity to practice the Dharma!

It may be said that this are extreme examples and that the average Jo 
Blow - ourselves for example - is incapable of living such a life. Of 
course, if we convince ourselves it is impossible then that is the 
end of it. But there may be some truth in the view that there is a 
deeper, resilient dimension within the human consciousness and that 
if that can be contacted, then the whole of life is seen differently.

Antonio Damasio's book "The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion 
in the Making of Consciousness" opens fascinating possibilities. 
Damasio is a critic of the Cartesian world view and is a very 
respected neuroscientist tackling the "hard problem": the mystery of 
consciousness. In the book he says that in its most basic expressions 
consciousness manifests a sense of self, while in its most complex 
aspects it unfolds a sense of concern for others.

Incidentally, do you know where can I get a copy of the 
video/dvd "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana"? I may need it one day!

Cheers,


pedro