In the newspaper this morning, this sentence: « In the name of science, Westerners may have done more harm than good, several studies have found. »
Oh really?!
« Science, » of course, is not to blame. Rather, the question is: What do we do with « science »? Do we put such knowledge to destructive or constructive use?
All actions of course have consequences, and we cannot possibly know the extent of those consequences nor can we escape our responsibility for them. Yet we can do more « good » than « harm » by deepening our awareness of that, returning to the path of awakening, to our « true » or « whole » self that is not separate from all beings, living fully and freely with an open heart.
In the name of waking up
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
What kind of measure do such "studies" use? The pseudoscientific studies of the nazies (harm) against the benefits of antibiotics (good)? napalm bombs against gain of knowledge? is harm and good measurable? can we weigh out the one for the other and do we always know what is the good and the bad part ?
Should we better still sit around our campfire and eat our neighbours or where do we set the start of science and development ? maybe some critisimn towards "studies" is wise and the reasonable use of technology and other benefits of science also is wise as is being interconnected, spontaneous and open-minded/-hearted.
I guess there is nothing wrong with science? Its a part of life just as everything else is? When we investigate full of wonder and awareness of/ and interconectedness?
Could the problem be the same as with words?
We like to believe the concepts to be solid – for the selfconfirmation they give us?
So maybe not the science but the loss of interconectedness is the big problem.
Many cultures had a lot of wisdom about plants etc (indians) but they didn’t ruïn their environment for the insights were interconnected with life/everything.
I only wonder if we haven’t done more harm than good in the name of every single thing. Probably not. But it sure seems whenever we act "in the name" of something" we are about to more harm than good, whereas when we do less harm than good we are not militantly acting in the name of anything.
An open heart and an open mind; absence of clinging to separate self and absence of fixed ideas; space.
Practice could just be this; creating space.
But no, the space is already perfectly present.
Practice could be; not doing anything, leaving the space unspoiled.
Compassion fills this space naturally, and maybe scientific progress comes naturally.
And all we have to do is do nothing.
Not forming obstructions for this natural flow of things is maybe the best we can do.