EMPATHY<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIn this meditation, I started with the question, \u201cwhat does it take for a person, let alone a religion or a nation, to put The Golden Rule into actual practice?\u201d I began to go from the simple surface words into the deeper challenges that \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do unto you\u201d brings forth. The first thing that seems obvious is the need for empathy to realize the Golden Rule,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I begin with the observation that my default state of awareness is self-centeredness. I see things through my perspective. Through meditation exercises and the efforts to apply those insights in daily life, I have learned how limited is that perspective. I have also learned that with a little awareness and some effort, I can overcome it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A meditation exercise that I have often done involves imagining deeply another person\u2019s experience. For example, I have tried to imagine myself as a member of a different religion, a different racial group, a different gender. You might call these exercises of empathy, though a cynic, might call them exercises of psychological projection. However, if you realize that you cannot really \u201cwalk a mile in someone else\u2019s shoes\u201d, the poor meditation exercises show me my own projections, my own prejudices and about others: how I think that they think is sometimes the heart of what needs to be overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Self-centeredness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n In my self-centered state, my desires, my points of view are of foremost importance. Questions that are raised within me are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is there room in my heart to take another\u2019s interests into account when I need to make a choice? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can this help in our approach to solving climate change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How much importance do I give as to how I affect others? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do I see myself in isolation or as part of a group, where each of us affect each other? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can I truly empathize with others who are very different than me? Am I truly curious and interested about others? What are my unconscious prejudices and entitlements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tragic history of humanity especially includes dehumanizing the \u201cother\u201d. It is what is needed in order to kill another in war and genocide. It helps a lot to see a person as so different from me that they don\u2019t feel pain and suffering as I do. Seeing ourselves as separate helped perpetuate slavery, and today it fuels racism, the gender wars and religious prejudice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dehumanizing the Other<\/h4>\n\n\n\n Can I renounce my\u00a0tendency to categorize others and dismiss them based on those categories?\u00a0 Can I see the humanity in each person?\u00a0 In a world that is every day \u201csmaller\u201d, where we are likely to encounter people of different appearance, beliefs, and habits than us, this is not a trivial question.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, our survival as a species may depend on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A real test of this renouncement occurs when I feel wronged. While I may feel sad or hurt at first, this can easily morph into anger. And anger can move quickly and long lastingly into aggression and revenge. While I may not act upon these feelings, through meditation exercises, I have seen how these thoughts arise, linger and where they go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to avenge. I feel good about this feeling. It is the underlying story line in most action films. They are watched by millions every day and a kind of unconscious programming of how to react is taught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This discussion makes me uncomfortable because my hurt is real. It is easy to see that the ability to renounce my desire for revenge is challenging!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, justice needs to be served when it can. However, my self-centeredness always tips the scales towards me!<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/noscript>We are part of the change<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social Media and the Golden Rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Ed thinks that The Golden Rule is threatened by our increasing reliance on the internet, especially social media. He gave the example of online hate speech and bullying that is so prevalent. He says that it is more difficult to dehumanize a person who is right in front of me than to dehumanize someone that you know only through your computer. They are not as real to me as the person in front of me and thus, you have less empathy for them. Combine this with \u201cmob\u201d psychology, where my individual conscience is overwhelmed by a group with whom I identify. This now helps large groups to easily organize to attack others all over the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can I renounce this insidious programming of my mind by others who have a stake in creating more conflict? Can I think and act on my own, defying the \u201cmob\u201d psychology based on anger and hate. Not always so easy when the costs of that defiance are added up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE UNKNOWN, RENOUNCEMENT AND WONDER<\/h5>\n\n\n\n If \u201crenounce\u201d can simply be seen as letting go of something I could have, then it is easy to see how it applies with respect to living out The Golden Rule. It is a movement that is counter to the movement of obtaining everything I might desire. In Tibetan Buddhism, the world we live in is called the world of desire. You don\u2019t have to be a Buddhist to understand this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can I make \u201cEnough\u201d a real value? Can it help climate change?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n When I get out of my self-centeredness, I encounter unknowns and if I can become comfortable with the unknown, I am able to see less anxiously and less defensively.\u00a0 So I meditate on the Unknown and I come to realize that the \u201cknown\u201d world is infinitely smaller than the unknown.\u00a0 It is out of contact with this, I open to the unknown and that leads to interest and curiosity outside my \u201ccomfort zone\u201d.\u00a0 I learn to renounce, to the degree that I can, the fear and its attendant defensiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/noscript>Beauty and wonder awakens consciousness<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWonder and beauty that has been all around me goes unnoticed. I realize the amazingness of common, overlooked things \u2013 like the trees around me \u2013 the amazing artistic expression in music that I have only half heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeeing the universe in a grain of sand\u201d is possible anytime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walking upright on this planet, feeling the light of the sun, I walk down my block. I realize that my \u201caloneness\u201d is more a feeling than a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reality is that I am a transient part of all of this for all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Behind the door of silence I discovered something I did not expect: Renouncement. \n Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":105497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[265,263,190,51,25,264,262],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nClimate Change, Renouncement and the Golden Rule | Cafh Global | Global Spiritual Community<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n