Introduction to Community and Responsibility

The theme of this book is community, which may be seen as a relevant topic for our times. The world is getting smaller and the population is getting bigger, so the need to get along is more pressing than ever. How can we become free from creating unnecessary suffering and misery for ourselves and others in the course of our life-spans? This reality is a global issue, and that means all life. So the subject of community is worth considering.

We find there are some very direct guidelines in the Buddhist teachings which map out various prescriptions for proper and responsible social behaviour. This behaviour always comes from mindfulness and sensitivity - it cannot come from an idea or ideal. It comes from being in touch with oneself, one's own heart; from feeling life. We can only live properly if we know and actually feel life and open to it. If we know life then we can live it. So we have to awaken to ourselves first - that is the priority, and the spiritual path is about waking up, because in a sense someone who is shrunk down into selfishness is not fully alive as a human being. And there can be no community from that, just alienation - or worse.

With this waking up we start to feel into our humanity and take down the barrier between self and others. This is community - and responsibility. What is the responsibility? To be wholly alive, no less. This is not an easy thing to do, as it requires an enormous maturity to be responsible for that in oneself which cuts off, holds back, is fearful of and pulls away from really opening to this human experience. The responsibility is to not follow those tendencies.

This book suggests some of the ways we can grow in this responsibility, and considers, from a Buddhist perspective, various themes that affect the lives of any group of individuals. Although originating in the cultural context of ancient India, these teachings point to timeless values and can act like a compass in giving a true bearing for the maturing heart.

May all beings be released from all suffering.

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