Power, Freedom, Compassion: Transformations For A Better World PDF
Preview Power, Freedom, Compassion: Transformations For A Better World
Power, Freedom, ompassion Transformations for a Better World RICHARD WINTER Power, Freedom, Compassion Transformations for a Better World Richard Winter Willow Tree Press Cambridge 2011 First published in 2011 by Willow Tree Press, 40, Riverside, Cambridge CB5 8HL. Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2011, Richard Winter ISBN 978-1-4477-8706-8 For: Jo and Anne Jess and Nick And their children: Anenti Oliver Daniel Jackson With love and hope Contents Acknowledgements..........cccoeeeeiiiiiiriniinceeeeee ix 1. Introduction 1 Problems and Themes .........cccccceveriiennenienncnncnnicncececeenene 1 Outline of the Argument ...........ccceeervuienrneriienenceseeneeeeeeenen 6 2. Starting Points: Balancing Pessimism and Optimism ...... 11 Pessimism: How Can This Sort of Thing Be Going ON7 ettt 11 Grounds for HOPe......cooevivveeeieiieeni cieessneeee eeee ie 16 3. Marxism and Buddhism: Reality; Injustice ............cc..c..... 23 Why Marxism?.......ccoccoveenenniiniiniiieinieneococn re 24 Why BuddhisSm?........coeevemmiieeiiniieee ieeeeeee 28 Parallels : Reality, Individualism ..........ccocoeiiniiinniinnnnnne. 36 Pause: ‘Reality’? ..c..coceevviniiiiiiiiiinicceicee nee 38 More Parallels: Suffering ..........cecvveevvevreiiinciniinienineeeecen. 41 4. Transforming Institutions 47 A “Classless’ SOCIELY .....cccuerueirveereiiter iierrre 49 Improvisation: Linking Specific Events to General PriNCIPIES ...eeeeeieiieriece ettt 58 Disguising Institutions, Transforming Knowledge................. 62 Critique: Transforming People?.........cccceevvievvrvnireerinennnennnn 68 viii 5. Transforming AWAareness....c..cceeceessresenssercsssesseessnessessosncnns MEAItAtION. ...ccvviirriiieeeiie ettt iaesene e Meditation as ‘Pure AwWareness’ .........occeeveeeruieeeineeerreerinennns Meditation as ‘Mindfulness’..........cccceeeeeveieciieeciiicceeceeea, Meditation as the Cultivation of ‘Loving Kindness’ ............ Pause: ‘The Transcendental’ and ‘The Unconscious’ .......... Developmental Companionship, Educative Institutions ...... 6. Transforming Creativity ........ccccciivrvicssnvonsnnissecsssansosenee Hobbies, Craftwork ...........coccveeiiiiieeieieieeee eeeeee THE AILS ..otttet 7. Transforming DemocCracy ......ceeeecreecerssscsnsessssssesersssansons ‘Free Electoral Choice’ and the Corruption of Political DISCOUISE ...tttet st Political Parties and Bureaucracy: The Denial of ‘Representation’.........cccueveeeriueeinieeniieniieeneesnre eesnee The Democratic Limitations of a ‘Free Market ECONOMY ..otttv re e ‘Freedom of Expression’ and Corporate Domination of the Public Media......c.occovervenieninninineieiereeeeeeeeee Democracy: Commodities and Ilusions...........cccoeeeuveennnenn. COMMOAILIES. ... Hllusion and Investigation................c..ccccoevveecineceannnn. 8. Conclusion: Transforming Education ........cccccceeccenseveanns Education or MeritoCracy’.....ccccvevviveenveesreeeiieenirererneenseenns A Curriculum for Critique, Awareness and COMPASSION ...eeevveeeierereerireeeerreetreestesiteesseesseesseeeseessseesesnees Beyond Schooling: ‘Educative’ Institutions....................... Acknowledgements To: Graham Badley David Ball Tony Booth Judy Hicks Katalin Illes Gill Kent John Lambie Ken Lingley Ed Piercy GillianPlummer Stephen Rowland Evan Turner Dave Winter Michael Young All my friends, colleagues and teachers at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, and, especially, Susan Hart Many thanks to all of you for the many helpful conversations which inspired me to continue my writing, even though most of you will, of course, disagree with some of what I have written. X Thanks also to: William Weaver, author of Pitmen Painters — The Ashington Group 1934 — 1984, Ashington Group Trustees, 1993, for permission to use the painting Ashington Colliery by Oliver Kilbourn; New Directions Publishing Corporation, for permission to quote the translation of ‘In a gust of wind’ by Bunya No Asayasu, in Kenneth Rexroth: One Hundred Poems From The Japanese, copyright 1955 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. CHAPTER ONE Introduction Problems and Themes When I began my working career in the mid-1960s it seemed perfectly obvious to me and my friends (and indeed to most people that I talked to) that although the world was in a dreadful state, because our parents’ generation had of course made a total mess of things, our generation knew more or less what needed to be done to rectify matters. Forty-five years later history has told a different story and humanity seems to have profited little from our endeavours: more gadgets, yes, but no less global malnutrition, staggering inequality and warfare. So now, nearly half a century later, the world that my grandchildren will inherit remains stricken with injustice, oppression and suffering, in spite of universal expressions of indignation and an endless succession of ineffectual proposals and policies. Hence the question implied in the second part of my title: how can we transform this world, in which humanity seems unable to learn from its obvious and repeated mistakes and seems intent on destroying its means for survival? Since our problems have turned out to be so complex and intractable they are clearly in need of some radical re-thinking, but where shall we look for new approaches? What resources do we need in order to transform our conceptions and experiences of, for example, democratic political processes and social institutions that empower its citizens, of justice, well-being, and our various creative capacities, as individuals and as groups? In seeking these resources [ will focus on issues of Power, Freedom, and Compassion. Because I believe that in order to have any chance of understanding and transforming our world:
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