On the thread that launched this SEEING THINGS WHOLE project, a reader posted a link to a teaching by the Vietnamese Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh (at <a href="click here which contains this passage:
<blockquote> “So he asked the question: "World Honoured One, today it is not difficult for me to hear this wonderful sutra, have confidence in it, understand it, accept it, and put it into practice. But in the future, in 500 years, if there is someone who can hear this sutra, have confidence in it, understand it and put it into practice, then certainly the existence of someone like that will be great and rare."(14) He really cares for the future generations. Subhuti asked: "In times to come, will there be people who, when they hear these teachings, have real faith and confidence in them?"</blockquote>
My response upon reading this was: Imagine that! He really cares about future generations! I wonder what a politics that stressed such caring would look like.
We really talk so little about future generations in American in our time. When we talk about what we’re about as a nation, when we deliberate about policy decisions, when our presidential candidates clamor for our votes-- almost never do we hear any central concern about what kind of society or world we're trying to create for the generations to come.
We do not hold the future generations close to our hearts.
Ours is a society that not only is short on reverence for ancestors, but also seems indifferent to the legacy we leave for our descendants.
This seems a matter of not making connections, of not feeling ourselves to be part of some larger Whole moving through time.
A few questions: First, am I right that decades ago, the discourse in the American political system expressed greater concern for what kind of country was being built for future generations? And second, if there has been a change, what accounts for that shift away from such concern, away from a sense of connection with our descendants? And finally, how does any of that connect with the issue of Wholeness, and what has happened with respect to the wholeness of today's people and today's institutions?
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.
What we do today to make necessary institutional changes in the ways we govern ourselves and deal with the present autocratic corporate community is most critical to all of us..., living today as well as tomorrow.
by
Wally (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 13 comments)
on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 9:32:03 PM
Perhaps the lack of concern for future generations in political discourse and planning has to do with the increased number of Americans who believe The Rapture and the second coming are imminent and have gotten themselves elected or appointed to be a part of hurrying that event. You cannot have reasoned public discourse on our future with millions of Americans and their chosen representatives convinced and anxiously awaiting the end of times. Of course, it's crazy. We all stand agape trying to figure out why our government continues to be so stupid and irrational. This is the reason.
by
Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 12:26:06 AM
2 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
