Guidance from the Wise

Community and Freedom 5

Sometime around 800 BCE, the worldwide human population had started increasing significantly, and tribal groups that had been somewhat separated from each other were running into each other more and more often, especially in China, India, and what we think of as the Middle East. Further, the systematic cultivation of land was gradually allowing for the storage and exchange of crops, so people could congregate in cities, and increasing numbers could engage in occupations other than hunting and gathering or farming — they could instead specialize in various skills and crafts.

In the developing cities, people from differing tribes were more likely to encounter “the other,” those from other tribes, so the issue of how people were going to relate to those from a group other than their own was becoming critical. Tribal groups could no longer simply protect their homeland from outsiders — too much overlap was happening. What were people to do? How were we to relate to all those “others”?

One response to this pressing question came from the wise teachers who gave us the Axial Age — the period starting around 800 BCE when an explosion of wisdom figures came forward to offer somewhat new solutions to the most profound questions of human life, including the question of how we should treat each other, and especially those who were “strangers.” The list of names of those who gave us the Axial Age reads like a who’s who of spiritual creators: Confucius and Lao Tzu and other Chinese sages; Zoroaster in Persia; the sages who spoke and sang the Vedas and Upanishads in India; several great Hebrew prophets and sages such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; the Buddha; Socrates, Plato and many other wise Greek teachers — to name some of the best known. This explosion of foundational wisdom teachings eventually came to an end, but when it did so is fiercely debated. My own timeline would extend to include Jesus and Mohamed.

Before the Axial Age began, for many thousands of years, the way people treated each other within their own groups had been to a great extent worked out, with each tribe having their own traditions. But since different groups did not have to interact with each other very much, when they did encounter outsiders it often involved defending one’s territory. It was therefore common to see outsiders as “the other” and to feel, at the minimum, distrust, and often hostility. So how were people supposed to interact with those from other groups when cities brought them into close proximity to each other? This was one central question that led to the Axial Age. As groups overlapped more and more, answers had to be found, which in turn led to broad considerations of what being human means and what human life is about. Worldviews had to be reworked and recreated.

Why is this important for us today? Because many of the conclusions reached during the Axial Age have been guiding us since that time (with periods of turmoil bringing incremental changes). Today, we must either rework and commit anew to our version of these answers, or find new ones — if we are to solve the pressing problems of our time.

The Axial Age, then, was the period during which an explosion of great spiritual teachers set about answering new questions, and in so doing set in motion the main wisdom and spiritual traditions that have guided humanity ever since. And one of the main issues they were dealing with was how we should treat other people, especially those outside our own group.

Where did their answers come from? Did these smart folks simply sit down independently and think up answers one at a time? It is possible, but it is fairly amazing that this would happen all over the world during a condensed period of time, because the current understanding is that the human brain and body have not changed perceptibly for at least 50,000 years (and probably much longer). Another remarkable fact is how similar all the answers are with regard to how we should treat “the other;” all gave us some version of the Golden Rule:

Judaism. “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary.”
Hinduism. “This is the sum of duty; Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.”
Buddhism. “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find harmful.”
Christianity. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Confucianism. “Surely it is the maxim of loving kindness; do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you.“
Islam. “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” And at another point in the Koran: “Do good to parents, kinfolk, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers … The companion by your side, the wayfarer you meet. Do good.”
Taoism. “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”
Zoroastrianism. “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself.”

In essence, all the traditions suggest that we be kind to others as much as we can: Be kind to friends, to strangers, and even that which is “other” within ourselves. Perhaps the most common element in all the great spiritual traditions is to encourage us to treat other people with kindness, respect, and consideration.

The Buddha put it poetically:
The ocean, the king of mountains, and the mighty continents;
Are not heavy burdens to bear, when compared
To the burden of not repaying the world’s kindness.”

Emanuel Swedenborg gave a very good definition of kindness, as well as the results of being kind: “Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want, and do.” Albert Schweitzer emphasized the importance of being kind and helping others in order to have a fulfilling life: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”

So, back to the question: Where did this common guidance come from? How did it make its way into the human stream? The best answer I know was given by the wisdom figures themselves: All said that their guidance came from a source greater than their own individual minds or egos. All said that they had gotten in touch with a source of wisdom beyond their personal self and were simply conveying that wisdom to us. We can, of course, assert that we know better than they, substituting our modern theories of psychology, biology, neuroscience, or sociology for their explanations. But these wise ones would probably smile at our narrow-mindedness. For myself, I prefer to listen to the testimony of the wisdom figures themselves and trust their assertions that they were in touch with a Reality most of us do not know as well as they, whether it be called by the name Tao, the Good, the Way of Heaven, Yahweh, Ain Sof, Brahman, Buddha-nature, Allah, Great Spirit, Awakening, conscience, a “still, small voice,” or God.

William James captured the essence of the message of all the great teachers, saying their common theme is this: “There is an unseen order, and … our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto.” Some key virtues with which we are encouraged to harmonize are compassion; love (at a deep and profound level); kindness; to simply try to be a good person. Doing these things is not easy — it requires much effort, because to embody these virtues means overcoming ego desires and id urges, and it requires becoming conscious of the conflicting currents within ourselves — otherwise we will simply justify and rationalize our id and ego motives at the expense of higher goals and values.

My guess is that we all feel a call to live toward harmony with, in Plato’s formulation, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, but we don’t always follow it, for at the same time our narrow selfish instincts pull us in the opposite direction. Much of life is about the tug and pull between these two currents. Some of us move consistently toward the Good while others of us are frequently pulled back in the direction of what Thoreau called “petty fears and petty pleasures.” Choosing between these two currents is a lifelong process, and most of us go back and forth many times. But there is this encouraging fact: it is never too late to focus your mind and heart, will and intention toward the Good.

Crucially, all these wisdom traditions say it is only by living toward harmony with others and with that which is greater than our ego selves that an individual life can be brought into the larger harmony of existence. And it is only from coming into relationship with this harmony that we will find ultimate fulfillment. Of equal importance, all the wisdom figures point to the fact that each of us will learn these virtues and discover how to practice them in relationship with other people — we must learn these lessons in relationships and in community. The Buddha was asked by Ananda, his chief attendant of many years: “Is the sangha an important part of a holy life?” The Buddha’s answer: “No, Ananda, it is not a part. Good spiritual friends are the whole of the holy life. Find refuge in the sangha” (the community of seekers).

In The Lord of the Rings, one of my favorite philosophers, Samwise Gamgee, is sitting by a fire one night with another of the story’s heroes, Frodo, at a time when they have been through many difficult trials and are about to undertake a journey from which they know they might never return. Reflecting, Samwise says:

“It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. … But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why.
“But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”
(Frodo asks Sam) “What are we holding on to, Sam?”
Samwise Gamgee: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

In thinking about Sam’s answer, it is of special importance for the issue of community to remember that he and Frodo were part of a dedicated community, a group who had come together to fight against the forces of darkness and despair in the world of their time. As the story makes clear, it was only in cooperation with the other members of that community that they had undertaken their dangerous mission, and it was only the combined efforts of all the members of that community that offered a chance of overcoming the terrible problems of their day.

Reflection: Is this not always so? Is it not true today?

Be well,
David

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