Ben's Heaven

"At times when I encounter a part of the dominant Western society which clearly goes against the Dharma, I feel a sense of alienation from this society."

Yes, I feel like I’m from another planet sometimes, watching the machinations of some strange civilization. Consider this, however. This society has great faults and also great achievements.

The problems are institutionalized within the society. You can’t point to any one specific thing and say that this is the cause of the problem because everything is so intertwined. Therefore, no one is completely free from quilt. We are all in this together. And we each must do our part to do the right thing as best as we can.

People may be incarnating into this life stream from many different backgrounds and for many different reasons. We don’t come here because this is Heaven; we come here to try to make it a heaven.

Of course because of the wide diversity, everyone has their own view of what heaven is. So we are all learning. Both as individuals and as a whole group. And while I cannot solve another’s problem by giving them my version of heaven (because each person has their own version that they must work with), I can encourage them and perhaps be an example to which they can relate to in their quest for heaven. Thus we proclaim the Dharma.

For me, if I empathize with another’s pain and longing, then I can bring to my view of them compassion and understanding rather than easy condemnation.

And, by the way, the potato and our Constitution are both Native American in origin. And while Native Americans are from the west, I myself, don’t consider them to be classical Western culture.