The Virtues of Suffering

On Friday afternoon, I had my pen and paper to the ready. Riding on a bus, this woman suddenly broke out into song and she had a spectacular voice. God given? It was certainly very special. It was just a pity that she was singing about the Lord rather than using such talent for the Bluesy/Soul music that would have suited her voice so well.

I don’t resent people like this. I mean, there is something rather brave about bursting into song on a packed bus in the middle of July. However, there is something about Evangelism that sits uncomfortably within me. Well, actually, there’s quite a lot that sits uncomfortably for personal and more objective reasons.

I find mind manipulation of any sort distasteful and terrifying. Some people are so resolute in their own opinions that they are not even aware that they are being manipulative; every time they open their mouth, every time there is a silent pause, every time they subtly comment on day to day issues. There was a good example of manipulation this week, if you watched the supposed geriatric figure of Rupert Murdoch being questioned by the parliamentary select committee. Don’t tell me that this man did not know what he was doing, playing the humble, bumbling old fool who “knew nothing”.

Any extreme views are pretty vile, especially when they are rammed down the throats of unsuspecting and vulnerable people.

The woman sang. I listened. Others listened. The day was full of sunshine and if you didn’t listen to the words, then the song was uplifting.
And as I listened, a madman was ripping into the hearts and souls of some unsuspecting victims hundreds of miles away in a distant land with bombs and shooting sprees and a warped conviction in his mind.

Listening to the woman made me want to write, and I wrote this, amongst other things.

“Your God. Your God brings devastation to the world. Your God is hierarchical and is the reason why people start wars. Your God creates havoc, admittedly not on his own, but with a very strong helping hand from a fucked-up bunch of people who always think that their way is right and there is no alternative.”

I continued to say that there was something that appealed to me about Buddhism because of the fact that there is no Deity to hang all the woes and the positives of the world on. As far as Buddhism is concerned it is people that are responsible for the problems of the world, collectively and individually. It is the people who are so greedy that they rob the world of its natural resources that create devastation to the natural world. And sometimes the natural world bites back and has its own moment of retribution.

It is people that fight and taunt and harm and manipulate, not God. It is people who have the capacity for love and compassion and understanding and affection.

I wrote, “Buddhism offers no God. No God to blame for tsunamis and earthquakes. No God to lambast for the violence and murder. No God who is culpable for the illnesses and the destruction that we inflict upon ourselves and others. The responsibility is with us, as is the pleasure.”

The news that night, after the bombing in Oslo and before the real devastation of the events on Utoya had emerged, concentrated on what could have driven someone to be so evil? Why had someone decided to blow up buildings in this quiet and calm town in a peaceful part of the world? Why had this mad, mad person taken a gun over to an island and massacred innocent victims with no respect for the wonderment of life?

Well, the first suggestion was of religious extremism. But nobody suggested at that point the truth of the matter. Nobody suggested that this murderer was going to turn out to be a right-winged Christian. What they thought in the immediacy of the attack was that this atrocity was being carried out by an Islamist extremist, annoyed about Norway’s involvement in Afghanistan. Admittedly, later, there were people who suggested that it could be a “home-grown” attack but that initial thought was that this was in some way related to the work and the views of an organisation like al-Qaeda.

It is no wonder that our Islamists brothers feel oppressed and victimised. Every single time an unknown or inexplicable event takes place, they are blamed or certainly they are the first culprit in peoples’ minds.

When the news progressed and it was evident that this man, this Anders Behring Breivik, was allegedly acting on behalf of his God, there was exacerbated shock around the world, and I have to admit that I felt a certain anger that this prejudice had taken place once more, just as it had done when Timothy McVeigh caused the devastation in Oklahoma City in 1995. Surely a man of the country could not be responsible for such horrors?

The fact that he looks as though he was just walked straight out of the Hitler Youth is particularly chilling.

Apparently he is going to get his time in court to explain his actions but it is now known that he was looking at right wing organisations on his computer and was described as a Christian Fundamentalist: an interesting phrase in itself. He says that his actions were atrocious but necessary.

On his social networking page he had a quote from philosopher John Stuart Mill, “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who only have interests”.

Poor John Stuart Mill to have one of his statements abused in this way! The man was a liberal who had a clear vision of what the state should do and what should be the responsibility of individuals within a society. Here was a man who, had he been alive today, would have struggled considerably with the Nanny State. He was a Libertarian and held strong views on how people could and should be free. He advocated the “harm principle” whereby he believed that the state should only intervene if people were doing things that harmed others. He believed that every person had the right to act in a certain way as long as that did not harm others. I think I might return to this fascinating man later but I’ll finish this paragraph with another of his quotes.

“Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative”.

As the man on the television has just said, where does extremism start and insanity stop or where does insanity stop and extremism start, or more honestly, why do people not realise that any form of extremism is insanity in itself?

Of course, one of the other reasons for writing is to make a comment about the whole aftermath of this atrocity and how it has been dealt with; in Norway, by the media here and by the poor, devastated individuals who hid themselves from the gunman as he rampaged through the island randomly killing anything and anyone that moved, or didn’t.

What has struck me has been the immense and overpowering strength and calmness of the people involved; the victims, the police, the media in the country and hopefully our media are learning from recent misdemeanours and keeping away from their mobile phones.

How can you be calm in such circumstances? How can you just turn your back and walk away without anger and hatred and a need to take revenge? I may be proven wrong. There is every possibility that as this man takes his place in court, some assassin or another could come into the building and shoot this man in revenge for the devastation that he has caused. But generally, and collectively, the nation is mourning quietly, calmly, peacefully, rationally. It is not hysterical at a time when hysterics could be seen as completely understandable.

Brian Paddick has just made the interesting comment that had this happened in the UK or the USA, Anders Behring Breivik would not even be alive right now. Police marksmen would have taken him down. That is not the Norwegian way.

This nation of people appear, on the surface to a person who only knows one Norweigian, to have a serenity and dignity and a peacefulness that everyone should be regarding with interest at present. As I write, the anchorwoman on the BBC is pushing and pushing a man involved in the rescue for further information, such is the learned instinct of the British journalist. He is resolutely and politely refusing to give her the tittle tattle information that he is seeking. He says that it is not good to speculate at this time, that he is not prepared at this point to discuss certain issues. This is a time for getting on with the job in hand and recovering the bodies of the poor young people who thought that the best way of escape was to dive into the icy waters and swim away, not realising that their fleeing bodies would wilt away with horrendous hypothermia.

The Norwegians are showing signs of being extremely enlightened in their approach to madness. They are actually bearing some signs of the virtues of Zen, even if they are not aware of it; non-attachment, giving and receiving for the good of others, caring. Without necessarily realising, the state of Norway is collectively working towards the four noble truths of Buddhism:
Life means suffering – human nature is not perfect and neither is the world in which we live. The Norwegians are painfully aware of this truth right now.

The origin of suffering is attachment – attachment to transient things which do not have to be objects but can also be ideas. Ignorance comes from a lack of understanding how our minds attach themselves to impermanent things.

The cessation of suffering is attainable – Finding dispassion is vital. Embrace freedom from suffering, worries and complexities.

The path to cessation is suffering – Between hedonism and asceticism is a Way. Within the Way, delusions are extinguished as you wander, sometimes in pain, along the pathway.

This event has portrayed suffering at its rawest. Life does mean suffering but once we have suffered we can look at where it has come from, and why without dwelling on it. And once that is done we can become non-attached to its pain. And we can move on, knowing that further pain is there waiting for us but we are not walking alone and we will overcome suffering.

I hope the people of Norway can do this. Early signs show that they are working along this route. But is also important to look at the Pathway itself: Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Who amongst us can say that they have been following this path in all of the recent and previous actions? Who amongst us can say that they are even trying to follow this path now?
Let us hope that the strength and determination of the collective consciousness can help the people of this country to walk together along this route.

And back to the singer on the bus. And all those who accompanied her on her journey. And indeed anyone reading this.

Shouldn’t we look at the Noble Truths too? Shouldn’t we be a little bit more mindful of the Eightfold pathways in the way that we behave towards the people we allegedly love? Shouldn’t we be living life with wisdom and ethical conduct and mental development. Shouldn’t we be thinking about what we do every day for our head, our hands and our hearts?

There is too much suffering in the world, and whilst the singer offered salvation in the Lord, and whilst some people take solace in this path, I suspect that there is a greater and clearer message within the Truths described that the people of Norway, unlike the people of the US or the USA are demonstrating in their response to this atrocity.

Serenity, peacefulness and calm with others and within ourselves through the way we behave towards others has to be a goal for each and every one of us.

I’m fed up of suffering. I’m fed up of extremism. I’m fed up of people not looking at the pathway and the guidance that has been there for centuries, or even worse manipulating it for their own selfish standpoint. I’m fed up of people misinterpreting quotes and visions from peaceful people. I’m fed up of people not giving a damn about their fellow human beings.

But there is a Way.

Who understands the world is learned;
Who understands the self is enlightened.
Who conquers the world has strength;
Who conquers the self has harmony.
Who is determined has purpose;
Who is contented has wealth.
Who defends his home may long endure;
Who surrenders his home may long survive it.

Tao Te Ching: Chapter 33 - Virtues