The Emperor Has No Clothes A Practical Guide for Environmental and Social Transformation (2 page)

To further illustrate the points just made,
and to provide greater insight into Native American thinking and
some topics that will be touched on later in this book, the
following excerpts from The Essence of Hopi Prophesyiii are quoted
here.

“
The Balance of Life
- As caretakers
of life we affect the balance of nature to such a degree that our
own actions determine whether the great cycles of nature bring
prosperity or disaster. Our present world is the unfoldment of a
pattern we set in motion.” Later in this part the cause of our
unwise activities is attributed to psychological imbalance, which
is described as being a “continual struggle between our left and
right sides, the left being wise and clumsy, the right being clever
and powerful but unwise, forgetful of our original purpose.”
[
1]

1. In modern neural psychology the left
hemisphere controls the body the right side of the body which is
characterized as being rational, logical, discriminating, prefers
established certain information, controls feelings, and ranked
authority structures. That is it has the characteristics of being
clever and powerful as described. The left side of the body
controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain works with hunches
and is intuitive, sees connectedness has a global perspective, is
fluid and spontaneous, free with feelings and prefers egalitarian
social style. From the above descriptions American society could be
characterized as having a predominantly left hemisphere mode of
operation. The prophesy suggests that a greater manifestation of
left body right brain hemisphere is needed address many of the
problems that are under discussion.

The Cycle of Worlds
- As life
resources diminished in accord with the cycles of nature, we would
try to better situation through our own inventions, believing that
any mistakes could be corrected through further inventions. In our
cleverness, most of us would lose sight of our original purpose,
become involved in a world of our own design, and ultimately oppose
the order of the universe itself, becoming the mindless enemy of
the few who would hold the key to survival.

Skipping ahead through the central portion of
the text to it’s end: “
The Fate of Mankind
”, the text
provides a description of the ideal characteristics of a society
embodying a sustainable mode of existence, which is the desired
outcome. The society would “be able to use our inventive capacity
wisely, to encourage rather than threaten life, and benefit
everyone rather than giving advantage to a few at the expense of
others. Concern for all living things will far surpass personal
concerns, bringing greater happiness than could be formerly
realized. Then all living things shall enjoy lasting harmony.”

To further probe Native Americans' views
about how very intimately human beings are embedded in the life
processes of planet earth, this section ends with an excerpt from a
letter composed by Chief Seattle of the Squamish Indians in the
19th century about a “proposed” purchase of portions of their
tribes land by the U.S. Government. “ What befalls the earth
befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not
belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected
like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of
life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he
does to himself. He concludes by stating; “We are brothers after
all. (see appendix for the complete text).”

The Buddha [2] identified three psychological
characteristics that are the root causes of suffering; they are,
greed, anger, and ignorance. According to Okumura Roshi [3],
ignorance (self-delusion) is the root cause of the other two.

2. Buddha is a title for a person who
possesses a completely perfected psychological state. The Buddha
that we see statues of and usually refer to is Shakyamuni Buddha
the seventh one. The practices that Buddhists engage in is to
eliminate afflictive traits that cause suffering.

3. There are two main
streams of two main streams of Buddhism Hineyana and Mahayana.
Hineyana is currently practiced by the Theravada (Teaching of the
Elders) and is the more conservative branch of Buddhism, the monks
are referred to as bhikku (monk the original meaning was beggar).
The Mahayana arose in the 1
^st
century CE the two predominant sects are the Tibetan branch,
the monks are referred to as Lama, the other major branch is Zen,
senior monks have the title of Roshi (venerable teacher). All these
sects have the same goal (awakening to the true nature of
existence) but emphasizing differing
approaches to attain said goal. In the discussions presented
here most of the material will be from the Zen
perspective.

When Buddhists speak of ignorance, they are
not referring to mundane ignorance, such as facts that are found in
a history book. They are referring to “interdependent
co-origination.” What this phrase means is that everything exists
as a result of a nexus of causes and effects created by everything
else; for example, if we take our own existence, our existence is
maintained because of the food we consume, the air we breath, and
the water we drink. The water comes from the oceans in the form of
clouds that produce rain which we drink directly from ground
sources, such as wells, lakes, rivers, and water incorporated in
food. The food ultimately comes from plants that use the sun, earth
nutrients, water, and air to grow. Thus, we are directly or
indirectly a result of all these things. We also produce waste
products that the plants require to grow, such as carbon dioxide,
water vapor in our breath, and earth nutrients produced by soil
organisms that consume our bodily wastes that are combined with
minerals to produce soil. When we die the molecules we are composed
of also return to the environment, and are reused, thereby
perpetuating the cycle. Indra's Net is a beautiful way of
expressing the concept of interdependent co-origination. The knots
of Indra's Net are comprised of jewels, each jewel reflects every
other jewel, and the net is the size of the universe; thus,
everything can be said to be connected and is a product of
everything else. Buddhism has a sophisticated and well developed
body of knowledge about the nature of greed. In The Way to End
Suffering, Bhikku Bodhi discusses the psychological mechanism of
greed;v as arising from a cycle derived from desire that is
comprised of wanting and gratification, which are not satisfied,
thereby, producing pain or irritation. “To end this pain we
struggle to fulfill the desire. If our effort fails, we experience
frustration, disappointment, sometimes despair. But even the
pleasure of success is not unqualified. We worry that we might lose
the ground we have gained. We feel driven to secure our position,
to safeguard our territory, to gain more, to rise higher, to
establish tighter controls.....but the objects of desire are
impermanent.” So we see that in essence, this is a description of
how grasping, covetedness, miserliness, and acquisitiveness arises.
Shakyamuni Buddha found a method to interrupt the process that was
just described, by employing meditation [
4]
(this is the seventh element in the Buddhist Eight
Fold Path). Meditation develops the capability to be aware of
psychological process's as they are taking place. This awareness
creates enough psychological space to provide the individual with
the option to choose a course of action, instead of being swept
along like a loose leaf in a wind.

4. An element of the eight fold path which
takes one from suffering, it is comprised of: Right understanding,
Right attitude, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right
concentration, and Right awareness. It is the fourth of The Four
Noble Truths, i.e.,Their is a means to end suffering.

The remaining seven elements of The Eight
Fold Path either serve to avoid or act as antidotes to the
defilements of the mind. For example, generosity is considered to
be a desirable trait. If practiced diligently, it acts as an
antidote to greed. Actualizing desirable traits acts as an
antidote, because our consciousness is considered to be comprised
of 2 strata, the conscious part that we use for every day
activities and a store conscious where a complete collection of
traits reside, generosity and greed being among them. The strength
of these traits depend upon how often they have been aroused. If
they are aroused frequently, they become stronger, and if not
aroused they diminish as forces within our personality. Thus, the
Eight Fold Path is a complete method for psychological improvement.
It provides a comprehensive description of desirable psychological
attributes, and also a means to enhance these traits as well as
diminish the afflictive elements of our personality. By
implementing this, it is possible to reduce and ultimately
eliminate the undesirable actions that produce suffering in our and
others' lives. To put it more simply, it provides a map and a means
that can be utilized to reduce suffering.

The development of compassion and wisdom are
primary goals in Buddhism, along with generosity, actualizing
harmony in the community, and to manifest truth [5]. Like the
native American religions they tend to emphasize a positive
approach by stressing the actualization of desirable traits.

5. The last three are part of the sixteen
precepts taken as vows for ordination. Since Buddhism is not based
upon revelation they are not considered to be commandments, but
nonetheless persons who take these vows do their best to carry them
out.

Considering the description of the mechanism
of greed by Bhikku Bodhi, greed embodies many of the same
characteristics as addiction, an overwhelming craving for
something. The craved object(s) are superfluous to or exceed any
real need, and therefore, the needs cannot be satisfied. Because of
its unbounded nature it has a host of the most pernicious effects.
The greedy individual continuously exerts a destructive corrupting
influence on themselves, others and society. At the same time they
needlessly consume and degrade the physical environment through
injudicious actions. As has been illustrated in the discussions and
examples presented above, all the religions that have been
discussed condemn it! To recapitulate a few examples: Christianity
in 1 Timothy 6:10 clearly condemns it while advocating its opposite
of brotherly love. It's demonstrated in the Native American
religions by their persistent efforts to teach children to avoid
hoarding and being greedy, and to share with others. Buddhism
considers greed to be one of the three poisons of the mind that
produces suffering. Buddhism and the Native American religions also
recognize that the extractive behaviors that generally accompany
the manifestation of this trait is also highly destructive to the
wider environment of which we are a part, as illustrated by Indras'
Net and Chief Seattle’s web of life.

To start, the underlying social and
psychological factors that give rise to the laissez-faire
capitalist system will be considered. Ownership, prestige, and
status are the principal socially derived drivers that provide
suitable conditions for the existence and operation of this system.
Ownership has two aspects: it provides a means of eliminating
conflict by defining usage rights, and establishes possession, an
exclusive form of control. By its exclusive nature it provides the
means for excessive acquisition, enabling the expression of greed.
In addition to excessive acquisition it also provides a system for
the denial of resources to others. In order to make the extractive
forms of acquisition palatable to the American polity, an ideology
of exalted individualism and excessive competitiveness are
fostered. This ideology provides the basis for acceptance of the
unequal distribution of resources, by allowing personal success to
those who conform. For success in overcoming rivals is the
preeminent path for the acquisition of prestige and higher status,
which confers many advantages. These advantages are the acquisition
of wealth, prominence, desirability, and social advantages. In
order to enhance the individuals' chances to achieve success a
number of supporting characteristics are fostered; craftiness,
guile, aggressiveness, callousness, self-importance, and
ruthlessness. Moreover, the scale, structure and social
organization in America produces individual anonymity and social
insulation which are essential enablers of the current extractive
economic system. Those who do not embody a pronounced array of
these traits are winnowed out and have few chances of attaining of
elite positions.

Taking a closer look at the globalized
capitalist economic system it is apparent that a close
correspondence exists between the way it operates and the way the
mind functions for most people. The typical mode of operation of
the mind is to continuously occupy itself with dwelling on the
past, having fantasies, and making plans for the future, based upon
the fantasies and recollections of the past. The nature of the
recollections are conditioned by past experiences, and are a
partial often distorted representation of what actually occurred at
the time of formation. The distortions and selectivity of these
memories and associated emotions are a result of the interaction of
cultural training, family traditions, and the way a person's
fundamental traits are constellated into character. As is often the
case, actual events do not correspond with the plans that were
formulated, since they were based upon flawed assumptions. The ego
uses a number of strategies to cope with this problem discrepancies
are ignored if possible. If not, then a gloss is given to the
unexpected contrary events. If the first two strategies fail,
people will occasionally adjust their basic assumptions. If we
compare this style of thinking to the basis of the capitalist
system of business the same underlying pattern is present. It
operates by starting with fantasies based on conditioned
recollections of the past, which are then embodied in some type of
plan for the future. Generally the plan presents a distorted view
that is limited to a small, selectively chosen set of assumptions
that are used to make linear projections. The plan provides the
impetus to attract resources in order to provide the means of
fulfilling the fantasy of the investors (owners). If the plan is
successful in acquiring wealth, the fantasy is temporarily
fulfilled. However, since these fantasies are based upon persistent
underlying psychological drives, and are constantly being
reinforced by society to maintain or enhance their presence in the
personality, there is no mechanism to produce a holistic viewpoint
congruent to prevailing conditions. Thus, a psychological climate
that produces excessive acquisition and possession of material
objects is established. Therefore, greed is essential to support
laissez faire capitalism, and to provide psychological comfort for
the participatory elites.