Modern Buddhism: We are Victims of our Own Success

I can remember a time when ‘Progress’ was the political and social mantra on everyone’s lips, and the West was the most prominent symbol of it, that ‘city on the hill’ that symbolized Peace and Prosperity, at a time when the planet lay in ruins and all hope was lost, notwithstanding the fact that the West was the cause of much of this devastation as well as the Great White Hope of salvation.

Fast forward to the Present, and it hasn’t all worked out as easily as hoped, but Hope Springs Eternal, to borrow a phrase. Bottom line: Nothing has really changed very much. We think we’re invincible, but we’re not. We are subject to Nature, for one thing, and that includes sickness, disease, and death, to quote the Buddha, in reference to his famous first trip outside the palace grounds.

Equally or even more important, we are subject to our own cravings, both individually, as inspired by personality, and societally, as inspired by competition, jealousy, and fluctuating market prices. This is forever enshrined in Noble Truth #2 as the prime cause of suffering in the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, the relinquishment of which can lead to the cessation of suffering.

Good luck with that, because there are larger forces at work (and play) here, too. And that owes much to the restlessness of the West in prescribing solutions to problems which it itself has largely caused. Wouldn’t it be easier just to forego some of the adrenaline rush in the present to avoid some of the future migraines? It would seem so. AI is maybe the best example of this. There will only be a perfect world if we create it. But sometimes that means that forbearance is the better option to innovation; the old ways just might be better, if they are more peaceful and less stressful.