A Force for Good

I am reading this book A Force for Good.   It's about the Dalai Lama's vision for the world.  The Dalai Lama consistently talks about being compassionate, and kind.  He wants us to care about one another; regard each other as equals, regardless of color, economic status, country of origin etc.  He's teaching us a concept of universal oneness.

I have never personally met this man, but I have attended his talks, and all I can say is that I love being in his presence.  I don't know how to explain it, but he exudes such a feeling of goodness, and everything that is right with our world.  Every now and again our world shines with this type of individual.  But we need more.  We all need to model after these individuals that represent peace and goodness, to make our world a better place.

One of the places he suggests we start is of course with ourselves.  I touched briefly on this with an earlier post called Practice A Little Bit of Self Discipline.

He expands on that by asking that we take responsibility for managing our minds, and mastering control over negative emotions, and cultivating our positive emotions.  He asks us to challenge the status quo of corruption, bias, greed, and look towards reaching out and caring for others, protecting each other from injustices and having concern for our environment.

Most of his solutions are tied to compassion.  But being compassionate is far more reaching than you may think.  It's not just being kind, but it's also protecting yourself from harm, and negative influences.  It's about standing up for your rights and the rights of others while recognizing that you do this from a core point of compassion.  It's about controlling your emotions so that you stand up from a position of clarity, and not anger.  It's about acting from positive emotion, not the negative or destructive emotions that often fuel our desire for standing up for ourselves.  It's recognizing that we need to stand up from a position of integrity, and protect what is right, but not diminish or harm the person that has wronged us.

It's great to think about being compassionate, but without action it mean very little.  He urges us to act.  Without action, compassion is simply an idea, or a word.  It doesn't really mean anything until we act on it.  So start with yourself.  Be kind, help others, stand up from a position of clarity.  Confront what is wrong and stand up for those that cannot stand up for themselves.

It is for these reasons that we must learn to control our emotions, and our minds.  It's a great book, a recommended read.  I'll probably be writing a little more about it.