Details
The balance between attention to detail and openness to the Universe is a basic challenge to any seeker of a Middle Path in life. Without attention to detail, the mind becomes imprecise and dull. Study is essentially attention to detail. Yet, becoming too focused on detail in a particular subject or situation narrows the mind and lessens the opportunity for personal growth.
Specialists have made life easier for billions of human beings by making technological advances. But, sustaining billions of human beings on a small planet threatens their own ecosystem beyond the technological advances of the specialists. As the world becomes driven by the advances of specialists, working to increase profits for corporations, political structures are being overwhelmed by their default position as fixers of the demands placed on infrastructure by increased population and expectations of a better standard of life. In short, we could run out of fresh water and food, a couple of essential details.
The increasingly powerless modern human being, whose quality of life depends on mass infrastructure, is faced with the realization that she is more interdependent on all his fellow human beings, yet she knows a tiny segment of the human population. She cannot grow her own coffee. She cannot build her own smart phone. She may not even know how to germinate a seed to grow food. Even if she does, she could not grow enough food to sustain herself on an urban balcony. So, she increasingly invests her identity in a specialized role in the technological society which sustains her. This is ultimately depersonalizing.
Incorporating the specialized identity of industrial society into a humanist practice is one way to cope with the detail-Universe dichotomy. By meditating, learning about the Universe through study, developing community and focusing on mindfulness, a human being begins to look above technological, media-driven, consumption-driven society. With a dedication to compassion, peace and justice, a human being sees her power in helping others to live full and happy lives. Finding the balance between the details of making a life on a stressed planet and opening to the potential for world-wide peace and prosperity is the first step on the path to human happiness.
Specialists have made life easier for billions of human beings by making technological advances. But, sustaining billions of human beings on a small planet threatens their own ecosystem beyond the technological advances of the specialists. As the world becomes driven by the advances of specialists, working to increase profits for corporations, political structures are being overwhelmed by their default position as fixers of the demands placed on infrastructure by increased population and expectations of a better standard of life. In short, we could run out of fresh water and food, a couple of essential details.The increasingly powerless modern human being, whose quality of life depends on mass infrastructure, is faced with the realization that she is more interdependent on all his fellow human beings, yet she knows a tiny segment of the human population. She cannot grow her own coffee. She cannot build her own smart phone. She may not even know how to germinate a seed to grow food. Even if she does, she could not grow enough food to sustain herself on an urban balcony. So, she increasingly invests her identity in a specialized role in the technological society which sustains her. This is ultimately depersonalizing.
Incorporating the specialized identity of industrial society into a humanist practice is one way to cope with the detail-Universe dichotomy. By meditating, learning about the Universe through study, developing community and focusing on mindfulness, a human being begins to look above technological, media-driven, consumption-driven society. With a dedication to compassion, peace and justice, a human being sees her power in helping others to live full and happy lives. Finding the balance between the details of making a life on a stressed planet and opening to the potential for world-wide peace and prosperity is the first step on the path to human happiness.
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