Embodying Reality Within: Inner Change in a New Political Era. An Engaged Buddhist Commentary

You must be the change you want to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948)

Only through inner change the outer will change, even if it will follow in a very slow pace. (Ven. Nyanaponika Mahathera, 1901-94)

Barack Obama is perceived as a new symbol for change, for addressing current problems in an intelligent, straightforward, and humane way. Are we ready for a deeper change in Western culture and society, which would be necessary to build paths into a future of this planet to make it a place for all sentient beings without depriving so many of their possibility to live?

The Buddhist Four Noble Truths might be very useful also as a description of the collective development of humankind, especially in industrial nations. After accumulating suffering based on the three poisons greed, hate, and delusion and creating a world of troubles and collective destruction, we are maybe now in a state which represents the second truth--we are exploring more and more the sources of suffering and trying to find global solutions in addressing globalized connected problems. Will we be able to find a way out of the current state, and also go this way together--will we proceed to the third and fourth Noble Truths?

The main characteristic of Buddhist psychology is the undividable connection between experience and ethical behavior. Buddhism is a psychological ethical system in which inner change of psychological qualities is directly expressed in what we actually do in daily life. Hence, from the Buddhist perspective it is impossible and an illusion which is causing ongoing suffering to think that we can achieve qualities as happiness or equanimity for ourselves in separation to others, or at the costs of other sentient beings.

The key question of inhabitants of the so called first world nowadays is how changes can be established which allow a more equal development of all beings in the human, animal and plant realms. If we really experience reality in a Buddhist way, if we see ourselves in a mutual interdependence with other beings and in a deeper sense connected, this absolute experience also needs to find its expression in our relative everyday actions. In fact, these actions are the only way to embody an absolute experience. Absolute and relative are in this sense one and the same. But what can this essentially mean for the average citizen of Western countries?

The biggest pitfall for inner change is society itself and how individual consciousness is shaped out of collective values. Already as kids we get used to a materialistic experience of reality. We learn to define ourselves to a large extent through what we have. Consumerism is the clearest and most obvious manifestation of an inner craving to give meaning to our lives in identifying ourselves through possessions in distinctions to others. From a Buddhist point of view this attitude can only lead to the opposite of the intent. We cannot reach any kind of deeper happiness as long as we strive for it with a deluded and greedy outlook.

Our discursive knowledge of cause and effect would allow and, indeed, suggests many changes. We know that it is necessary for the future of our planet that we use resources in a much more wise and sustainable way. We realize how we harm nature with our daily habits of energy inefficiency. We know how much we can influence the wellbeing of others through our consumer habits to mention only two examples of many (scientific) insights we already have without radically changing our conditioned ways in addressing current pressing problems.

Intuitively we may also realize that inner change expressed in our ways of living is the only way to personal happiness and wellbeing which cannot be achieved without including all sentient beings and the nature we are embedded in. The deeper nature within ourselves wants to be connected to and reveal itself in all phenomena. This is what Zen Master Dogen meant when he spoke of entire being as an expression of the Buddha nature.

What does all this have to do with the 44th president of the United States? President Obama tackles many of these values in his actual politics. He addresses the necessary "work of remaking America" within a "new era of responsibility." He expresses his efforts to build a country which is based on equality and peace and conscious regarding environmental resources within a globally connected world. It is an important symbol that he moved into a house which was built by slaves and raises hopes that deeper changes in the collective consciousness of humans in the Western world are possible.

From a Buddhist point of view change cannot happen in a top-down process. There is no way of changing systems without a deeper change in the individuals who construct and, indeed, are the systems. A wonderful metaphor for interconnectedness is the net of Indra. It describes an endless fishing net with jewels on its knots. The jewels are hanging in a way that in each jewel all other jewels are mirrored. Each jewel has its characteristics only in connection to all other jewels. If one jewel is put out of the net, also all other jewels change their appearance.

Bringing this picture into present US politics, Barack Obama is a mirror of all Americans and his impulses can only have effects if there is a vital willingness to change in each individual. Every jewel is of the same importance in the national network which is itself embedded into a global network. It is not the responsibility of our leaders to bring our realizations into daily life and be upright and firm in how we create our lives. We all have the freedom to use our potential for change and question a current construction which does not lead to happiness, but suffering--individually and collectively. Why being a cloudy jewel, if there is always the chance to shine from within?

Gerald Virtbauer, MA, C. PhD, is a Religious Scholar specialized in Indian Buddhism and Buddhism as a Psychological Ethical System. He is currently affiliated with http://www.gaiahouse.co.uk/.