Issues of Survival
“We will only change if we survive, but we will only survive unless we change.”
I believe that the Dalai Lama, in his book Ethics for a New Millennium, discusses many issues pertaining to the current state of our society that are of dyer importance if we hope to survive into the next few generations. Primarily, I am referring to his discussion of happiness as it relates to inner peace, the acknowledgement of universal responsibility, and the need to educate our children responsibly, inside and outside of the classroom.
The Dalai Lama makes the assertion that, as humans, we are all ultimately searching for happiness. The way we can become truly happy is by acknowledging that, “the principal characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace.” (55) We can achieve this inner peace by putting others needs on the same plane as our own needs and by recognizing that our own well-being is intimately attached to that of others. I believe this is crucial to our survival. By raising others needs to a level of our own, we are acknowledging that they are an asset to our lives and equally contribute to the human family. This, in my mind, guarantees them the universal rights of food, water, shelter, education, health services, and safety. We are improving our own lives when we lift up the lives of others. Whether one believes in karma or not, it is true that we feel a positive emotion after thinking of or helping others. “The impact of our actions—both positive and negative—register deep within us.” (88) That is why we need to continue to think of others well-being; it lifts our spirits and helps us achieve inner peace.
True inner peace and happiness cannot be achieved, in my opinion, without the acceptance of the Dalai Lama’s ideas of universal responsibility. My thoughts regarding this are based off the idea that we can never be truly happy while there is human (or environmental) suffering. If it is true happiness for which we are searching, we have a responsibility to everyone’s happiness.
There have been philosophers that have been philosophizing for thousands of years. Discovering new ideas and different ways to think about things. Thinking in new, creative ways is an inevitable future that humanity will face unless stagnancy in the development of technology and morality occurs. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World displays this possibility incredibly and makes stagnancy look unappealing. With stagnancy and lack of new and imaginative thoughts, however, complete happiness seems like a less menacing task than before. Nobody questions why certain luxuries are not available. The whole world can be content. Why would this not be favorable for humanity? Happiness is hindered greatly by the ability to think.
In a world of suffering and pain the Dalai Lama said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive”. The Dalai Lama has become a figurehead for Buddhism worldwide for his compassion and warm smiles. Buddhism has extended beyond meditation and even monks such as the Dalai Lama. The basic concepts of compassion and mindfulness in Buddhism are being applied in the daily lives of lay people who need it the most.
In conclusion, I have come to realize that the Noble Eightfold Path is rooted in a belief very similar to that of my own faith which is in order to find peace and wholeness it is important for one to lead a moral life which begins with one's perception and is continued with one's actions. Whether one is trying to reach heaven or nirvana, it is the responsibility and duty of every individual to be a good person; a person of faith and a person who cares for others and cares for themselves.
Rinpoche, Samdhong. Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism in Today’s World; forward by 14th Dalai Lama. (Tibet: World Wisdom, 2006), 264.
In “Sonnet,” Billy Collins satirizes the classical sonnet’s volume to illustrate love in only “…fourteen lines…” (1). Collins’s poem subsists as a “Sonnet,” though there exists many differences in it countering the customarily conventional structure of a sonnet. Like Collins’s “Sonnet,” Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” also faces incongruities from the classic sonnet form as he satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was largely a convention of writings and art during the Elizabethan era. Although these poem venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
The Dalai Lama’s speech talked about what him and his people have already done. He also didn’t think what his people have done is nearly good enough. He believes that they could do more, and that they should. What he has done is not enough for him. He took a different approach into his speech but what he said is something
Two hundred years had passed between the sonnets of Petrarch and the reign of Queen Elizabeth. As a form and structure for poetic life, the sonnet had grown hard. Fourteen lines of rhymed iambic pentameter remained pregnant with possibilities and vitality, but must the sense turn after the octave and resolve in the sestet? Love remained in some ways inexpressible without this basic verse form, but something wasn’t right. Too many rose red lips and too much snow white skin belonging to unattainable lovers did not communicate the prevailing amorous imagination. The conventions were a little too conventional. The metaphors were gone somewhat stale.
Sonnet 18 is considered to be the first of the group of 108 sonnets written about a young man, however one could easily presume that the person being talked about is a woman. Since there is no suggestion in this poem of a particular sex, the anonymous person will be addressed as Shakespeare’s “beloved.” In the first line of the poem, the author is asking or just wondering out loud if he should compared his love to a summer’s day. The second li...
...esult, the more directly one sees their personal efforts impact someone else, the more happiness one can gain from the experience of giving. Sometimes generosity requires pushing past a feeling of reluctance because people all instinctively want to keep good things for themselves, but once one is over this feeling, they will feel satisfaction in knowing that they have made a difference in someone else’s life. However, if one lives without generosity but is not selfish, they can still have pleasure from other virtues.
Mabillard, Amanda. "An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18". Shakespeare Online. 2000. June 26, 2005. .
The love that a person has for someone is not the same for other people. They can look at their love through nature or just by their beauty. Shakespeare has the ability to explain his love for someone by using nature as a reference. Looking at two of Shakespeare’s sonnets 18 and 130 explore the differences and similarities between one another. In Sonnet 18 and 130, both show Shakespeare’s knowledge in developing his love and respect.
This is a poem about the power of the written word over death, fate, and even love. This poem should not be regarded as a love poem because Shakespeare spends his time drawing the attention upon himself instead of detailing the description of his beloved’s beauty, “Ars longa, vita breve (Art is long, life is brief)” becomes the underlying theme, arrayed in Shakespeare’s poetic language. If Sonnet Eighteen is a love poem, it is merely to
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” is simply a statement of praise about the beauty of the beloved girl; summer tends to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat but the beloved woman is more lovely and temperate. Shakespeare deliberately chose nature to compare with love because nature is a lovely creation by God. Shakespeare uses a wide range of literary devices, such as personification, metaphysical conceits, anaphora, tone, imagery, and has recurring themes as well as motifs, to illustrate his darling’s comparison to a summer’s day.
Steele, Felicia Jean. "Shakespeare's SONNET 130." Explicator 62.3 (2004): 132-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, supports the view that kindness ultimately results in good