\u201cIn the whirlwind of daily life, we often feel so hurt and drained that we are too weak even to do the exercises that would give us strength\u201d (ibid.).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nHow true. In my own life this has happened to an extreme a couple of times. Life simply became day-to-day crisis management, tasks looming, frantic activity, breathing shallowly, exhaustion masked by anxiety. How much we all need pause from this \u2013 but not just pause, but escape to something positive so as to find peace, and \u201cfinding our own peace, we learn how to share it with others\u201d (ibid.).<\/p>\n
I find this whole idea of getting away from society so as to deepen oneself (and then to return) as very difficult for many of my friends, family, and students.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t that self-indulgent<\/span>?\u201d
\u201cShouldn\u2019t you focus on getting involved<\/span> instead?\u201d
\u201cHow is avoiding people<\/span> going to make you better around them?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThere is of course some degree of self-indulgence<\/span> in getting away from society. It is\/should be based in a recognition of one\u2019s own dissatisfaction with the status quo. \u201cGet involved?\u201d Do you mean \u201cstick around and fight \u2013 fight with yourself, fight with others, find scapegoats, place blame, point fingers?\u201d What good are the gravely ill in treating the gravely ill, the blind leading the blind? We all know of plenty of people, from politicians and talk-show hosts to our more opinionated acquaintances, that stick around and, in their own ignorance, only exacerbate the problem. Even some very good<\/span> people working on issues of incredible importance can become so isolated by their views and self-righteousness that they become simply ineffective.<\/p>\nThose people who are here, in society, helping selflessly already have that hard won mental clarity and most of them have won this (and it is no surprise that many of our greatest spiritual heroes have as well) through extensive work alone on themselves. This isn\u2019t to say we need no teachers, no friends; we need the teachings, we need support, but ultimately it is upon us to use them, and that is a very personal process.<\/p>\n
It is in this personal process of healing our selves that we grow and expand beyond the whirlwind of daily life, we get \u201ca new perspective on things, broader and more serene, [which] helps us to better understand the dynamic of happiness and suffering\u201d (ibid.). It is by stepping into this broader perspective, this deep breath of fresh air, the piano song slowly playing, the bird chirping in the tree, that we overcome many of the mental barriers that we\u2019ve placed between ourselves and our friends, family and others. With this work, this newfound freedom from<\/span> our mental afflictions, we also have freedom to<\/span> act more genuinely with people in our lives.<\/p>\nCommunity is good, but for true happiness, we need solitude.<\/p>\n
See Mattieu Ricard on Google-talks: Change your Mind Change your Brain: The Inner Conditions for Authentic Happiness<\/a><\/p>\n
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