I ended my journey in the place where it all began, in my local park. This is where I created one of my first photographs. Walking in my local park, the sunset fell, and as I looked up to the sky, I saw the movement of the birds, silhouetted in the sky. I dreamed that I was a bird flying in the sky, free, and at peace, flying through the beauty of this world, into a new life.
I returned home, and here, I holed up for a while, preparing for my next journey and photography series, and going about my daily work. Thinking about love, thinking about practical matters also. I came back in my memory to all of my travels, and all of the beautiful things that I had seen.
I sat in my local cafe, and I read and read, as I am driven to do. I came across a book, “From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia” by Pankaj Mishra. I considered the state of the world during the course of history and why the cultures of the world today are in their present state.
It clearly explains the brutal and bloodthirsty control by the Western world, i.e. countries such as Britain and America against peaceful, civilised and educated communities in the vast continent of Asia. The subject was nothing new to me, and the ideas are those I share in every way, particularly awakening to this reality having travelled in the beautiful cultures of Asia, with their wonderful, hospitable and friendly people and beautiful intellectual, artistic and architectural achievements.
Examples abound of exploitation and bloodshed, directly and indirectly in every country in Asia, such as India, China, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Japan, Central Asia, and the loss of dignity borne by innocent and exploited people is immense, and stands on the shoulders of Britain and America, with their often unpleasant systems of capitalism, individual greed, competition and not co-operation, lack of empathy, lack of education and direct and indirect destruction of ancient cultures and civilisations. The problems are still occurring today, as ordinary people in the West impose their new religion on the world - and that religion is called Money.
In many parts of this book, I have been critical of colonialism, and the countries that have practised it most extensively and brutally, which has often been Britain, the country among whose people I live. This is clearly evidenced by the ruination that had befallen India, and the financial exploitation, bloodshed, poverty, suffering and loss of dignity borne by millions of people, due to Britain’s individualism and greed.
This is evidenced most clearly in books such as the outstanding “Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India”, where the clear-thinking intellectual Shashi Tharoor outlines this with lucidity and a fact based approach, behind which lies the massive suffering borne by countless millions of Indian people.
The British, through the East India company, first began its money-making enterprise of exploitation of India’s resources by settling there in the 18th Century, then practised increasingly large-scale bribery and violent murder in order to extract India’s resources, which was soon followed by the British government itself, who seized control of India with the sole purpose of capital gain. What was once in 1757 one of the most prosperous and civilised areas of the entire world, financially and culturally, during the next two decades found its resources depleted and drained in an increasingly organised manner, the sole beneficiary being the ruling classes of Britain, who funded the growth of their industry and wealth with the suffering of India’s largely innocent people.
How many innocent people died or suffered directly or indirectly at the hands of the British? The answer is in the millions. It did not extend merely to a country’s resources being looted, drained and diverted, domestic industry stultified, people dispossessed from their land and punitive taxation on Indian peoples, forced to pay taxes on over 50% of their income, solely to benefit the cruel individuals of Britain, enriched beyond their wildest imaginings at the hands of India’s population; in the end, the picture turned bloody.
Over 1,000,000 Indian people were forced to fight on the side of Britain during the world wars and thousands upon thousands died in a war that was not their own, for a country that was not their own, in lands they did not want to be in, fighting a bloody conflict to the death that they had never wanted any part of. Promised an independent country for their sacrifice, the British turned back on their word. Uprisings or disagreement were crushed with bloody violence at the hands of British imperialists.
Make no mistake, it was an empire built on wild cruelty and mass murder. Many examples abound, yet the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was perhaps the most shameful instance of where the British committed mass genocide at the bloody massacre at Amritsar. Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered his troop of soldiers to open fire with machine guns on 10,000 to 15,000 unarmed, innocent civilians, murdering 379 and wounding 1,137. The bloodbath of wanton murder was carried out freely on innocent people, mown down by machine guns for no reason, other than that the British rulers feared that the Indians might ask for their freedom and independence, even after so many Indians had died for the British in the first world war.
Nothing was to change, yet the brave Mohandas Gandhi inspired many of his countrymen to come together in peaceful, non-violent protest against the evil of the British regime, regardless of their religion or belief. Britain employed the tactics of “divide et impera”, divide and rule, deliberately promoting the conflict between Muslims and Hindus, encouraging promises for creating a Muslim state of Pakistan in order to maintain power and hold down any movement or unity that may have brought India’s people independence, driven by the Hindu people under Jawaharlal Nehru. And yet, when India finally achieved independence, the division between Muslims and Hindus caused a mass war of partition where further millions died or became refugees.
And yet the period during the second world war was one of the most offensive episodes in the whole of history. It is thought that around 25 million people died in India due to starvation and famine, such as the Bengal famine of 1943. Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain deliberately withheld aid from India and diverted resources such as rice directly away from starving Indians. This deeply offensive, cruel little man, through his extreme views and malicious actions, who was responsible for the death of millions of innocent people, is often glorified by the British; perhaps because he was in charge of Britain at the time that it emerged as a “winner” from the second world war, having been supported by America. Not content with imprisoning Mohandas Gandhi for attempting to unify his Indian people with peace and kindness, blustering about how Gandhi should be trampled on by a herd of elephants, humouring Gandhi’s life by asking why he was not yet dead, likewise, he perpetuated the cycle of suffering of millions of poor and powerless peoples of Britain’s own mass of lower classes. Considering Winston Churchill, when looked at in the cold light of day, and with the knowledge gained by reading any book on history regarding the nasty, ugly views of this heinous, diminutive villain, one cannot escape the conclusion that the self-interest of this awful little man, amounted to evil.
Yet the most offensive thing, as written about previously in this book, is that the British have never come to terms with the villainy of their past or the suffering that they have inflicted on the world. Unlike the Germans, who have publicly acknowledged and apologised for the holocaust and teach the horrors of their country’s past to schoolchildren, who have the opportunity for knowledge and empathy so as not to perpetuate cycles of conflict in the future, the horrors of the British empire are never even taught in British schools. Of the horrors of empire, it is something that on the whole, most ordinary Britons today know next to nothing about.
Holding such views is deeply unfashionable in Britain and merely writing about the facts of history as I have done in this book is bound to cause offence and conflict for any writer, including the brilliant and factually driven Shashi Tharoor. And yet in his magisterial book, he simply suggests that the British apologise and pay a symbolic reparation of one pound a year, payable for 200 years to atone for 200 years of imperial rule - or even, a simple “sorry” would do as well. And yet, there is not even a sorry forthcoming. Instead, anyone who attempts to explain the true horror of the situation is seen as extreme, or an agitator.
Yet that person can forgive - but not forget. That person, through knowledge and independent study will arrive at the truth. He or she will also feel the collective guilt on behalf of a society that does not even see its own evil, perpetuated in the name of money and financial self-enrichment. Therefore while one can forgive, one should not forget, or the lessons of history will repeat themselves.
Yet apologists for empire and financial, cultural and spiritual domination often argue that if it was not the British, then it would have been someone else - all empires are evil. Yet, although it could or would have been someone else, it was not. In this case, it was the British. And as it was in fact the British, they should deeply examine whether they are culpable. And to the extent that they are responsible agents, an understanding of the relationship of their nation to the world would greatly benefit all. It is a question of human dignity. People will co-operate and work together to end exploitation, once they are armed with knowledge. And like a school of dolphins chasing a shark, they will finally defeat the shark.
Apologists for British interests assert that it was a benign official administration for commercial purposes, and as such was beneficial to India. In fact, many people, from those of the empire to the present day, genuinely believe that theirs is the most valuable system and that they are doing good in the world and enriching the people they impose their ideas upon. Yet it is simply not the case that the British somehow “unified” India, just because they made themselves the center of control in the geographical area. And as Shashi Tharoor shows, those who have said that Britain brought democracy, are patently wrong; as this was denied to Indians, who were excluded from having any voice in how their country was run.
Very little, if anything at all was invested to actually help the people of India, such as investing in education and health, or other social developments that were not useful to specifically promoting British financial interests; and though some believe that the British empire left behind valuable things such as railways, these railways were built solely in areas and for the purposes that would allow Britain to transport labour and resources, and take it away from India. Billions of rupees were extracted from the Indian economy. Yet instead of helping Indian people and investing in their wellbeing, easily within the power of its British owners, when not just the labour of, but when Indian people themselves began to be treated as economic property, millions died, many of them directly, many of them in war, many through hunger, disease and poverty. Democracy was a myth, as Indian people were denied a voice, were denied representation and denied positions of power or representation in the so-called democracy. Those who mutinied were killed. The name of the game has always been holding on to power, and it corrupts absolutely. The looting frequently took place by force, or in its more benign form, was exchanged on terms of business strength and power that Indians were forced through poverty to be subservient to.
The British did not “civilise” or “modernise” India. India would likely have developed its own financial cultivation and political systems most suited to its own particular environment, had the British not exploited and imposed their own ideas and power on India. Other nations have developed independently, and there is no reason to think that what was one of the most prosperous civilisations in history would not also have done so independently. Indeed, it is currently doing so, through a fast growing economy and an independent political system that now allows India to be able to prosper, whereby almost 200 years of stagnation saw it held back from its growth in the most brutal manner.
Economic apologists for the “trickle-down” effect of material and economic improvement brought by empire or western capitalist democracy to other countries ignore the fact that there are wider concerns than mere economy, and that whether a particular system of political imposition gives the most dividends and economic worth to citizens’ lives, is a needless question. Therefore, even if, for argument’s sake, imposing so called liberal democracy, the rule of law and free market capitalism on a country would glean the most financial reward, and could therefore be the optimal system for wealth generation, this is not an adequate standard to judge the prosperity of a civilisation.
Why should it be that a political system that gleans the most economic wealth is “better” than one that gleans the most happiness and peaceful life satisfaction? It is not that one system is “better” than the other. It is simply a sign of our times that economic performance is valued more than anything else - and as shown by the case of India, it has been built on blood and suffering. Economic historians such as Niall Ferguson may believe that the British empire brought with it a political system of free market economic democracy based on western political ideals, and that this is the optimal state - yet he is making a judgment on a civilisation based on the standards of the priorities that are of his own historical period - the present day. Future civilisations could easily be assessed by different criteria 100 years from now, for example, on whether they have attained a high standard in the development of science and technology.
One could state for argument’s sake that the optimal political system is one that brings about the most scientific advancement. And this need not have come from a country that has a western style democracy as a political system. It could of course come from a communistic system that simply invested large amounts in scientific development through a centralised state. Whether it has succeeded or not depends on the outcome and the circumstances - that it had once succeeded in communist Russia, who first put a man in space, is a historical fact. Yet it does not mean that a political system geared towards scientific advancement is better than one that is geared towards economic self-enrichment with a trickle-down effect for all, or even that it is a better state than the political system of the present day-country of Bhutan, which judges its success by the national quota of the “happiness” of its citizens. In short, we ought not to make value judgments about political systems or priorities, and which is the “best”, or “optimal” system, especially when we know from the lessons of history that absolute ideas or judgments have caused so much death and suffering to the world. And this applies to stating that free market capitalism, democracy and rule of law on the western enlightenment model is inherently valuable and beneficial when imposed by the British empire on a nation such as India.
People do not need to be seen as symbols of how much money their lives can be quantified with, or debated as to which political democratic system would give most value to be extracted from their lives. Prioritising economic ideas ignores the wider ideas of what is important to citizens in life - and as a basic starting point, this is freedom from suffering and the ability to live a free and full life and developing one’s capacities in whatever sphere a nation’s citizens are free to choose. Yet, it cannot and should not be called a democracy - especially as this was not a free market and was designed only to enrich the minority of British who were it beneficiaries; for ordinary Indians truly did not have a voice.
It may or may not be the case that a particular economic system is geared towards generating a wealthy economy, whoever it is that glens the reward. It could spark an industrial revolution in Europe that could have positive developments in society’s material comfort. Some of this could even be hypothetically invested back into the country whose resources were plundered. But why should economic performance be a marker by which life should be judged? One way or another, the British empire has caused so much pain, suffering and mass death that judged against the standards of ethics and morality, instead of an optimal economic system, the British empire was an abject failure.
There is little to commend the British empire in any of the numerous Asian nations of people to whom they have brought mass suffering, death and conflict. Nor does this excuse any of the empires through history, yet the British self-interest and cruelty is so prominent that I have discussed it in detail many times in this book, whenever it arises, as I have come across its lasting negative influence, in many countries of this world.
Arising most glaringly on the Asian civilisations targeted blindly and unthinkingly, the colonial empire caused cruelty, conflict and division, while falsely claiming that it “unified” existing conflicts. Yet, as shown by Pankaj Mishra’s “From the Ruins of Empire”, there have been individuals who sought change, and to bring the world together through their philosophy, such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Liang Quichao and Rabindranath Tagore. The latter is an Indian philosopher who influenced me deeply, as I came across one of his lectures, delivered to an audience in America in 1919. It struck me on reading it just how important and relevant it is to the current world. People could understand their common humanity and live in a way that is peaceful and harmonious, in order to create freedom and fulfil their self-capacity - and live a decent, honourable life. I felt that it applied most to the hapless victims of the modern capitalist systems such as ordinary, uneducated people in America and Britain. It would need to start with freeing their time, the most precious commodity of all in the western world.
Tagore explains that the modern world has been enlarged and brought together like never before in history and that now, people of all cultures have been brought together. Yet they are not ready for these changes, as there is still tension and conflict. It is found in the arrogance of the western world, who discredit those who bravely struggle for a larger life and bar the gates of their countries against people of other nations, in a cruel and inhospitable way. In short, they usually think only of themselves and their own country, people who are most similar to them, as “want of consideration for people held to be inferior to themselves, rising into human atrocities where privacy is secured, is not uncommon with the people proud of their colour and the impunity of their position”.
I was so moved that I decided to reproduce a section of it and quote it here. I hope I can also share it with you:
“Yet...I assert strongly that the solution is most assured when difficulties are greatest. It is a matter for congratulation that today the civilised man is seriously confronted with this problem of race conflict. And the greatest thing that this age can be proud of is the birth of Man in the consciousness of men. Its bed has not been provided for, it is born in poverty, its infancy is lying neglected in a wayside stall, spurned by wealth and power. But its day of triumph is approaching. It is waiting for its poets and prophets and host of humble workers and they will not tarry for long. When the call of humanity is poignantly insistent then the higher nature of man cannot but respond. In the darkest periods of his drunken orgies of power and national pride man may flout and jeer at it, daub it as an expression of weakness and sentimentalism, but in that very paroxysm of arrogance, when his attitude is most hostile and his attacks most reckless against it, he is suddenly reminded that it is the direst form of suicide to kill the highest truth that is in him. When organised nationalised selfishness, racial antipathy and commercial selfseeking begin to display their ugly deformities in all their nakedness, then comes the time for man to know that his salvation is not in his political organisations and extended trade relations, not in any mechanical rearrangement of social systems, but in a deeper transformation of life, in the liberation of consciousness....”
This is not just empty intellectual debate - it is reality. Understand the world. Change the world, by changing yourself. And respect others’ freedom to do the same. Then be at peace.
My desire in writing this book is to show the beauty of the world, movements of ideas that drive people’s lives, the beauty of the arts, the richness of other cultures and traditional customs, the lessons of history, the magnificent architecture that still remains. They are vast, and seem than individual people’s material, everyday lives. They are beautiful, however they do not change anything in and of themselves.
In understanding the world around us, it reveals the beautiful aspects of the civilisations of the world, through the arts, in the intellectual and cultural sphere, and gives value to our perceptions of the world, that we may then view as individuals looking at the nature of our own culture.
My recent stay in the Golgulsa temple in South Korea affected me very deeply. The practices of the Sunmudo Buddhist monks have evolved over generations to work to achieve peace and stability, and above all an engagement with our environment with all of our senses. At times we can all achieve a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of reality, the emptiness at the heart of all energy, and a liberation and joy at being at one with the world. This is the goal of all beings as they evolve, copying their genes and asserting the elements that are the lowest common denominator of all energy, which you are of, and with, for example simple elements such as carbon or oxygen, and together with them the uncertain principles of and contradictions of quantum physics. The most likely forms to evolve are the simplest, being mathematically more numerous, and beneath them is the simplest of all, and that is, nothing (or nothingness). At its root, all energy seems to come from nothingness, which an enlightened mind, through ancient meditative practice, can hope to attempt to grasp. All aspects of the universe, its suffering and liberation from it, are one, as you are, of this moment, your perception of the universe being at peace with the manifestations of its nothingness, in whatever form they arise.
Do you get it? Does it matter? Well, I am not here for likes or affirmation of my selfies, I am here to represent sincerity and truth. These are the closest answers that science, philosophy and world history can provide. Too often, they are asking the wrong question. The answer seems to lead to the question, that is direct, empirical observation of reality, as it is, and not as we think it should be. That is why Buddhist practice, if not its metaphorical/aspirational ideology, through its practice itself, is the most accurate precursor to the scientific method. This is because Buddhist monks practice engaging with reality. They walk the walk, before they talk the talk, and through silence that speaks more than words can ever communicate, they see, to become aware of reality. That is, they meditate on, observe, and directly engage with reality itself.
Since reality is constructed by subjective experience, through the nature of consciousness itself, it is illusory, and contains elements of complexity that have not yet been tested against their adaptability to itself (its “environment”, to use Darwinian terminology) - before the consciousness eventually evolves into a clearer understanding of the essence of its own nature. At least, consciousness seems to evolve to the extent that it becomes most adapted to its simpler essence, an essence that is itself characterised by its evolution.
Randomness and complexity can always arise within the infinite possibilities of measurement, as shown for example by our understanding of chaos theory. It can also be embraced, without fear, as an intrinsic part of existence. This process is performed through direct observation itself. This is the reason why I travel, and why direct sensory experience forms the backbone of my intellectual experience. It is also why Buddhism is a scientifically rigorous practice.
Quantum physics shows through thought experiments such as Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the possibility of the existence of waves and particles at the same time, quantum entanglement or quantum energy’s incompatibility with larger structures’ physical interactions through relativity, and/or through the questions posed for example by the Schrodiger’s cat paradox, that there are no clear answers. Since anything can exist in possible multiverses, or does not exist at all until it is measured, its contradictory nature is ascertained for example by “collapsing the wave function”. This is to say that the process of measurement brings it into existence as reality is the only way that it can be said to exist. And that measurement is made by conscious beings, through their subjective observation, within a mind limited and shaped by evolutionary processes. Is this not the same methodology begun by the principles of Buddhist thought?
Since asking the question of whether reality exists yields the answer that it could or could not exist in any number of forms, perhaps until it is measured, with its existence not being able to be truly measured, through quantum physics we are asking more questions than any answers can be provided by us. Any such question will be met with an answer that can only be ascertained in relation to the question. So we are no closer to understanding the fundamental nature of reality. There is no way out of the rabbit-holes and paradoxes of quantum physics. Ask any quantum physicist - they will tell you that we know nothing. Some turn to Buddhism. Some turn to nihilism in a meaningless universe. The best are without judgement, of others, or of reality. Perhaps this entails a key concept - humility. This is something that the ancient practices of Sunmudo, through their metaphors of prostration and self-limitation have been cultivating, and it is a useful trait in order avoid the pitfalls of subscribing to dogmatic and all-encompassing theories such as those postulated by analogy through mathematics. It is what it is. Measure it, or as the quantum physicists teach, “shut up and calculate”.
Yet quantum physics shows that there is a likelihood that subjective consciousness is at the root of the scientific measurement that can be said to determine reality. And it is a more intuitive position mirrored by the evolution of cultural norms such as religious practices, which form the “maps of meaning” which have guided human behaviour so as to facilitate the inescapable process of evolution, whether it is of energy, or more complex forms such as the consciousness of the human brain, into its own simpler forms of energy.
Therefore it all starts from within, and fighting our own inner battle, the greatest battle we will ever face. One can limit one’s freedom in the short term, in order to attain freedom as an ultimate goal, in order that we may evolve effectively. Practices such as regular prostration or disciplined self-limitation are a symbolic practice that can attain this effectively. Liberation, if that is a value worth propagating, is the teleological consequence.
The process of fighting our inner battle is inescapable, whether the result is or is not deemed a success, since the energy of which we are composed has a direct role in compelling our often involuntary actions. Long-term predictors of actions that propagate the copying of our genes more often than not control our behaviour, whether they lead to the copying of the genes or not, are addictive, and can be dangerous - for they will never be satisfied. Yet they are an inescapable part of the process. The process is not always beneficial to serving its own goals, and it causes suffering.
Suffering can be intolerable, and whether or not any meaning is derived from it, its relief and/or management in line with evolving towards a simpler consciousness is more in tune to its own evolutionary process. Simpler forms of energy copy themselves, through genes or otherwise, and exist with nothingness. Nothingness proliferates, and the reduction of suffering leads one into the true nature of the prevalence of nothingness. Suffering, like chaos theory shows, can never be eliminated. It is also a necessary driver for evolution. Yet it can be transcended, or channeled into positive forces. However, to transcend it effectively, the terms of engagement can be made clear.
Too often, science has been distorted by western, neo-liberal and individualistic embellishments proudly trumpeted from historical periods such as the enlightenment philosophers from the French Revolution onwards, arguably the driving intellectual force behind our current Anthropocene period of evolution. Their often dogmatic ideas are those we are most familiar with, since they have been superimposed on natural ways of thinking around the world, in the name of “freedom”. This also shows why the top-down imposition of political ideologies such as communism (or its opposite, unrestrained free market capitalism), because they are incompatible with the complexity of individual subjective consciousness and behaviour, is an inevitable long-term failure.
Often they consist of the impositions of inflexible systems, political and behavioural, onto individual consciousness, and though they are a necessary part of the evolution away from such thinking, they cause much unnecessary conflict with the nature of the process, driven as it is by individual conscious perception and behaviour. By seeking to impose our ways of thinking onto others, we are also often subject to the same prejudices, assumptions and shortcomings as we would then expect others to impose upon us, in these inflexible systems that do not accurately reflect reality, or are conducive to an effective form of evolution.
Though it is not always the case, imposing control over others often prevents others from being self-sufficient and facing up to the challenges that life throws at them, which may ultimately stultify their development and cause them prolonged suffering as it impedes their liberation. An ancient adage comes to mind, that “if you give a man a fish, he can feed himself for a day. Yet if you teach the man to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime”.
One must set one’s own house in order before they rectify the world according to their own terms - and whilst co-operation and diplomacy is a part of human nature’s “political animal”, the human is often not always a rational economic or social actor, and their interpersonal relations are the cause of much conflict, though working on them is also conducive to ultimate prosperity. It is best done with a clear mind at peace with itself, and one that develops a calm understanding of the nature of reality through meditative awareness is as balanced as any.
Individual consciousness is after all the source from where these conceptions of reality originate, yet they are often not truly holistic, as they are narrowed for self-serving interests and short-term, rather than long-term survival. A system evolves organically from its basic building blocks, and a system or civilisation that seeks to impose it from the top down often meets its demise, at its own cost. Do not become prey to hollow political ideologies that manipulate your evolving truth.
Starting from within, we can structure the nature of our own consciousness so as to most accurately perpetuate the process of its inner harmony and evolution into its own true nature - and that is what is meant by true liberation. Not only is it inescapable, but it is a goal as meaningful as any.
My purpose in writing this book not because I wish to lecture readers about how they should live their lives, but so that we may attempt to understand ourselves, and as a consequence, the world as a whole.
In order to achieve peace and balance, one can develop their inner life and look within. Changing oneself is difficult enough. Is changing another possible? Why do we seek to change another? Is it to impose our own ideas on them? What if our ideas are based on fallacy and assumption? Have we examined, challenged and revised them enough that they approximate reality? How about changing the world? How would one go about successfully changing the world?
A wise teacher can only open the door for you. But only you can walk through that door. We are all facing unique challenges and unique complexities in our internal environments, necessitating unique ways to develop ourselves.
If every individual changes themselves, by developing their inner life, so that they may go from suffering towards peaceful serenity, then the world would be an ideal place.
It can be done. In doing so, one should respect the desires of others to do the same. And there would end most of the problems of the world, by developing ourselves as an individual, which will in the end bring us closer together towards others. It will then help the group of collective humanity as a whole.
It is true that most people wish to live like the world of the west, to have money, and material prosperity. However, apart from achieving a basic level of safety and comfort, the desire of many is to live a peaceful, happy and balanced life, and the relentless drive towards materialism in the west is often in conflict with this, and can be very harmful to people’s inner lives and inner peace. It is obvious that change is needed if we are to end the suffering that we see all around us everywhere we look, if we really look. And for many, that is a form of inner suffering. Previously it was called spiritual suffering, yet it is nothing to do with the “spirit”. It is the pain of an inner life that does not understand itself and is in discord with itself, crashing against the harshness of the everyday, mundane world. Individuals should not have to struggle on their own. And that is why I am writing this book.
Travelling the world is one way to do so, by building ourselves, by creating experiences, living through stories and being stimulated by the exciting beauty of the world.
In seeking to develop the inner self, there is also a great role to be played by extending empathy towards others. It allows one to fully connect to and be aware of the wholeness of the environment, including other people, and be a participant in it, when it is relevant and useful to do so. It can be done to the extent appropriate, without going to the extreme, which would be to intuit, or feel other people’s suffering. Extremity of thought, like an extreme tiny of ascetic individualism, removes itself from a path conducive to the effective process of engagement with reality’s terms.
Empathy is the bedrock of Theravada Buddhism, which since time immemorial understood that Buddhist ideas of pure self-reliance are sometimes unhelpful and dangerous when in the wrong hands, and when understood in a two-dimensional sense, without sensibility. Whichever division of Buddhism is preferred, it is an inescapable part of the process. By extending empathy and understanding, one can face up to the systems and order of the world outside them, the better to be able to to reduce their own suffering by more effectively facing its challenges.
The empathy that tends to bring one closer to the reality of the world, and that of people, is not merely what is intuited - it is a learning, study and understanding of people’s circumstances, ideas and experiences, and is often acquired. Respecting this and engaging in practical action to promote it, as well as avoiding unnecessary suffering to others, ultimately helps others to their individual awareness and inner peace.
The world is becoming more connected, more globalised, and more uniform, and exchange of ideas and information is at an all-time high. In understanding the world around us, it reveals the beautiful aspects of the civilisations of the world, such as through the arts, in the intellectual and cultural sphere, and gives value to our perceptions of the world, that we may then view as individuals looking at the nature of our own culture.
Yet to make an observation as general as any, most of us have not at this current time moved away from self-interested economic drives and their imposition on the freedom of others different to ourselves, and on the whole we do not often afford others the dignity and cultural recognition that comes from knowledge and learning within ourselves, that would allow us to truly enjoy the great achievements of the diverse cultures of the wider world. Nor do we seek it out, to challenge ourselves to learn from environments as radically different to our own as possible, in order to enhance our awareness of reality as a whole. Empirical studies of cultural and social awareness in the western world highlight disappointing statistics, and knowledge of the beautiful cultures of the Chinese, Islamic and Asian worlds can enrich our inner lives. Yet the ideas that originated within them, such as mindful meditation and meditative engage,ent with reality are clearly on the rise.
The cultural and artistic elements that I have sought to show elsewhere in this book give a true beauty and value to an individual’s experience. However, they are driven by the laws of science, and it is unwise to ignore their significance, and thus these are covered in a separate chapter. The laws of science are perhaps the least understood aspects of the world, yet they explain much of what is not understood in our universe. Often people are hostile towards the ides put forward by science, because they show people as algorithms, acting as large bodies, with little thought, control or free will over their actions. As such, science appears to be cruel or uninterested in empathy towards people.
However it is by understanding science that you may be able to help free yourself from many of the incorrect assumptions and actions of the modern world, and attempt to see things as they are. Then you will be able to help others, by encouraging them to understand and then develop their inner selves, and you will have also helped the group as a whole.
That is why I now turn to science, in the last chapter of this book. It is arguably the most important chapter of all. And it is here that I attempt to lay out in a clear way the broad themes of science across all the academic disciplines to show how the whole relates to our lives.
It is important to achieve a change in the way of thinking about the world, before anything else, and a broad understanding of science will help you to understand the world better, and to understand better the place of the human being within the wider environment.
Recently while strolling through Singapore, I reflected on these matters, and decided to sit down and re-watch once again one of my favourite films, “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring” by the South Korean director Kim ki-Duk, reflecting these ancient practices of which I have recently been a part. It is the most beautiful, meaningful film that I know. In line with these principles, it is the process of visual observation and sensory impact, through the medium of film, that effectively conveys these ideas.
I felt compelled to share this film with those with readers of this book, in whatever form our paths have crossed. The link is easily available on most streaming platforms, where I hope that you can set aside an hour or two, and watch this beautiful film. In a world that can seem so dark and cold, its people bound up with self-serving pettiness, there is boundless joy, for those that make the necessary sacrifice to attain knowledge. I hope that you can gain as much meaning from this beautiful film as I did, and incorporate its practices into your own life.
Sead Seferovic, June 2022
Read on for the next and final chapter - “The Science of Life”.