Awareness In the last post on the Dalai Lamas Facebookpage, he - TopicsExpress



          

Awareness In the last post on the Dalai Lamas Facebookpage, he speaks about the level of compassion that is the result of awareness. Now what is awareness in a secular context? Awareness in a secular context has nothing to do with the theory of dependent arising, or as some call it shortly, the ego; nothing to do with God; nothing with higher consciousness or any super spiritual power. Awareness is simply being consc(ient)ious. There are different levels: 1) Simply being aware of feelings, thoughts, speech and actions. On this level, its about recognizing anger before we hit, jealousy before we start slandering, arrogance before we start disputing every argument, being self-centered before we start forcing others to do what we want. Result of first level awareness is some restraint. 2) Getting some understanding Once there is some recognition of destructive attitudes through the first level, we can think about the cause for those disturbances, get some understanding, see them in a wider perspective, realize what they do to our peace of mind and others peace of mind, so we develop the wish to diminish their impact. All humans have disturbances, but its different for everyone what is most disturbing, what might trigger it, how we can counter it. 3) Transformation Disturbing emotions are not necessarily all bad; we can use them to our advantage. We can for example change anger into indignation towards the action, into a firm conviction to struggle against injustice with non-violent means; change jealousy into admiration that might inspire us; change arrogance into self-confidence, change self-centeredness into being wise selfish, etc. 4) Connection with others Though it is self-evident, others have a similar struggle with human emotions, its hard to keep this in mind. Its easier to have understanding for ourselves than for others. Yet simply realizing they are also troubled, helps to be less disturbed by others behaviour. We gained inner strength going through the first three levels, which makes it possible to react with more patience and tolerance. We will speak and act more truthfully, based on intelligence, less on impulses. Our speech and actions will be more compassionate and effective. This in itself will surely affect others in a positive way. The result is making many friends, a sense of belonging, a warm heart, less suffering, a happy life. It is still not widely accepted, the above is so important. A lot of people actually think, it is incredibly boring. Yet all bullying, cheating, lies and corruption, dishonesty, are the result of unawareness: Denying or taking for granted destructive attitudes in oneself as normal, not something we should do something about. That is why the Dalai Lama says, there is no quick solution, but if we start introducing this kind of awareness in education, it might only take a few decades before well see more compassionate societies.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 06:33:24 +0000

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