Seeking Our Common Good

The longing in our heart is the language of the One Love that lives within. It speaks to us in another tongue trying to remind us about that which we seek, we already are, we just haven't realized yet.

There is a common good, common to all, and we discover it when we allow ourselves to recognize our connection to one another. 

In his book, Beyond Religion, Ethics for a Whole World, His Holiness the Dalai Lama talks about secular ethics which he defines as the values that serve the greater good or ethics that are both inclusive and beyond religious beliefs.  

“Secularism is to imply mutual tolerance and respect for all faiths as well as for those of no faith tradition.”  HH Dalai Lama

His Holiness goes on to suggest that there that there are basically two world views.  

"To put the matter at is simplest, there are some who believe, at one end of the spectrum, that we are by nature fundamentally violent, aggressive, and competitive; while others, at the other end take the view that we are predominately disposed toward gentleness and love."

Of course there is a lot of wiggle room between these two perspectives.  I'd like to think that humanity is at its core good and that perhaps at one end of this continuum are individuals whose needs are great and not met.  Perhaps the aggressiveness we experience in others is a response to the world around them that is not meeting their needs.  And at the other end of the spectrum are individuals whose needs are met and find it easier to draw on their internal nature of 'gentleness and love'.  That both world views are just two sides of the same coin, so to speak.  One draws from external circumstances and the other, from internal experience.

It’s pretty easy to be spiritual when our basic needs of safety, satisfaction and connection are met.  Not so easy when we are in an experience that threatens those needs.

So our practice is to come down from the mountain top and learn how to walk out this philosophy in the world.  It's the art of being in the world AND of it. 

Seeking our common good requires that I acknowledge and embrace my humanity so that I can see my sister/brothers humanity; and once we remember that we belong to each other, together we can rise up and connect through our common values.

So here is something to contemplate for this week:

• What part of your own humanity are you resisting or struggling with?  
• Is it possible that this resistance is holding you back?  
• Who would you be if you loved what you are struggling with, what is your challenge trying to tell you?

Happy Harvesting!