Educating our hearts
This morning, while at the gym, I was listening to On Being which is hosted by Krista Tippett. July, 21, 2017 her guest was the French geophysicist a
and, I would say, philosopher, Dr. Xavier Le Pichon.
It was his work in geophysics which brought him to the realization that appreciating and understanding the fragility or weakness of the earth was the key to understanding its strength. Later he would come to the conclusion that the same is true for we humans – that the key to the evolution of us humans is learning to appreciate the fragility of our suffering. In fact he would come to the conclusion that those societies who do not appreciate and face suffering do not evolve.
Ironically or, perhaps not so ironically, this is the central messages of most spiritual teachers – that evolution directly correlates with the ability of humans to face not only our own suffering as we experience it, but also as it is reflected in our neighbors.
It seems that often humans think that if we focus on those that we think are strong we will prove the validity of the understanding of the survival of the fittest. Yet, this way of approaching our life journey often discards those perceived as weak or less than. We often approach our individual life journeys in the same manner. We think that if we focus on our strengths and ignore the weak or suffering parts of ourselves that we will fashion the best possible life for ourselves. Yet, this esteemed wise scientist has come to the opposite conclusion. He postulates that one of the weakest part of humans is the failure to nurture the suffering among and in us, which means that we also ignore the importance of community.
I have recently written about the work of Sebastian Junger as described in his recently published book Tribe. He too equates health with tribe or community.
Dr. LePichon’s early discovery, at age 29,of the nature of the earth’s moving places excited him and also left him working alone because his colleagues thought he was crazy. At age 36 he discovered something equally or even more important. He says, “And I progressively discovered that I was so immersed in my research, I was not seeing the others anymore. In particular, it was not seeing the people in difficulty and suffering…And actually, it led me to decide to quit science. And I resigned from all my position, and I went to Calcutta to Mother Teresa’s place. I spent six weeks there working with her Brothers of Charity working in the streets….For example, when I was in Calcutta, and I spent this month and a half with the people of the slums and so on, I found out this extraordinary way of belonging to them. I was accepted by them. They loved me. They treated me as one of them. And I discovered their suffering, of course, but also the immense joy capacity of relationship that was in there.”
Dr. LePichon’s story is one of educating his heart and learning to nurture his strength. As a child he was in a concentration camp. He says, “And one day we got a message from the Japanese governor of the camp, and he let us know that he will shoot most of the people the next day. And my mother said, “Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but today you have to learn your lessons. So come on.” “ He also recalls his experience of the camp, “I was eight at the time. And life was hard. All the babies were dying of hunger, and we were together. We were the center of life. We were continuously present with our parent, uncles, and so on, and that is not a bad memory for me.”
Dr. Le Pichon has spent decades living in community with people with mental disabilities. One might say of him that he is altruistic, a true Buddhist, a Christ centered Christian or one could say he has been blessed with the opportunity to educate his heart, a process which I suspect he would say continues to this day . It is his belief that we have to construct or build our humanity – “the capacity to interact with others in a loving way. But this is a potential. It’s not something which is given to us. It’s a possibility we have.”
He says that as we enter into relation with others we enter into communion – “Learn how to enter into communion with your neighbors….You will never be the person in front of you, but you will have created what we call communion…what Jesus came to teach us. Learn how to enter into communion with our neighbors …”
It seems to me the educational system in the United States often focuses on learning skills while ignoring the purpose of learning skills. Spiritual teachers would suggest skills are useful only to the extent they enhance, in some way, our ability to live in community and, thus, take care of each other. Whether it is the reflection the beauty which is all around and within us – art - or how to heat our food and homes without destroying the environment the emphasis is on community-neighbors.
Dr. Le Pichon is suggesting that we do not naturally know we need to take care of each other. My guess, which I have postulated in other places, is humans early on come to believe that if we can prove our worth by becoming better, stronger, wealthier, or smarter than we will model Darwin’s theory of evolution and create the best possible town, city, state or country.
We are learning or relearning that taking care of the environment – the fragile earth – will insure its survival. Spiritual teachers have been suggesting taking care of “the least” of them- the seemingly weakest of us – the ones who suffer the most – are the key to building a strong, vibrant community.
No matter how misguided those who convinced that they need to kill to please the God of their understanding, perhaps one of the strong attractions of their cause is being part of both an earthly and eternal community/neighborhood. Instead of finding ways of inviting those who are attracted to community to a loving community it seems that many of us are intent on confirming that those attacted to radical, violent groups are the other and, thus, not welcome in our community. One of the strong attractions to the new urban housing may be the possibility of a strong sense of community. How we design common spaces within and between buildings in the urban complex will help to determine whether we interact as strangers or as neighbors.
Educating our hearts will lead to a strong sense of self, a strong community and, in turn, will lead to a rich, attractive, less stressful life.
Thanks to the leadership/example of such individuals such as Krista Tippett, Jesus, Buddha, Dr Le Pichon, Eckhard Tolle, Mother Theresa, Thomas Merton, and many others we remind ourselves to focus on building strong, vibrant hearts which will lead to strong, vibrant communities.
Written July 23 , 2016
This morning, while at the gym, I was listening to On Being which is hosted by Krista Tippett. July, 21, 2017 her guest was the French geophysicist a
and, I would say, philosopher, Dr. Xavier Le Pichon.
It was his work in geophysics which brought him to the realization that appreciating and understanding the fragility or weakness of the earth was the key to understanding its strength. Later he would come to the conclusion that the same is true for we humans – that the key to the evolution of us humans is learning to appreciate the fragility of our suffering. In fact he would come to the conclusion that those societies who do not appreciate and face suffering do not evolve.
Ironically or, perhaps not so ironically, this is the central messages of most spiritual teachers – that evolution directly correlates with the ability of humans to face not only our own suffering as we experience it, but also as it is reflected in our neighbors.
It seems that often humans think that if we focus on those that we think are strong we will prove the validity of the understanding of the survival of the fittest. Yet, this way of approaching our life journey often discards those perceived as weak or less than. We often approach our individual life journeys in the same manner. We think that if we focus on our strengths and ignore the weak or suffering parts of ourselves that we will fashion the best possible life for ourselves. Yet, this esteemed wise scientist has come to the opposite conclusion. He postulates that one of the weakest part of humans is the failure to nurture the suffering among and in us, which means that we also ignore the importance of community.
I have recently written about the work of Sebastian Junger as described in his recently published book Tribe. He too equates health with tribe or community.
Dr. LePichon’s early discovery, at age 29,of the nature of the earth’s moving places excited him and also left him working alone because his colleagues thought he was crazy. At age 36 he discovered something equally or even more important. He says, “And I progressively discovered that I was so immersed in my research, I was not seeing the others anymore. In particular, it was not seeing the people in difficulty and suffering…And actually, it led me to decide to quit science. And I resigned from all my position, and I went to Calcutta to Mother Teresa’s place. I spent six weeks there working with her Brothers of Charity working in the streets….For example, when I was in Calcutta, and I spent this month and a half with the people of the slums and so on, I found out this extraordinary way of belonging to them. I was accepted by them. They loved me. They treated me as one of them. And I discovered their suffering, of course, but also the immense joy capacity of relationship that was in there.”
Dr. LePichon’s story is one of educating his heart and learning to nurture his strength. As a child he was in a concentration camp. He says, “And one day we got a message from the Japanese governor of the camp, and he let us know that he will shoot most of the people the next day. And my mother said, “Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but today you have to learn your lessons. So come on.” “ He also recalls his experience of the camp, “I was eight at the time. And life was hard. All the babies were dying of hunger, and we were together. We were the center of life. We were continuously present with our parent, uncles, and so on, and that is not a bad memory for me.”
Dr. Le Pichon has spent decades living in community with people with mental disabilities. One might say of him that he is altruistic, a true Buddhist, a Christ centered Christian or one could say he has been blessed with the opportunity to educate his heart, a process which I suspect he would say continues to this day . It is his belief that we have to construct or build our humanity – “the capacity to interact with others in a loving way. But this is a potential. It’s not something which is given to us. It’s a possibility we have.”
He says that as we enter into relation with others we enter into communion – “Learn how to enter into communion with your neighbors….You will never be the person in front of you, but you will have created what we call communion…what Jesus came to teach us. Learn how to enter into communion with our neighbors …”
It seems to me the educational system in the United States often focuses on learning skills while ignoring the purpose of learning skills. Spiritual teachers would suggest skills are useful only to the extent they enhance, in some way, our ability to live in community and, thus, take care of each other. Whether it is the reflection the beauty which is all around and within us – art - or how to heat our food and homes without destroying the environment the emphasis is on community-neighbors.
Dr. Le Pichon is suggesting that we do not naturally know we need to take care of each other. My guess, which I have postulated in other places, is humans early on come to believe that if we can prove our worth by becoming better, stronger, wealthier, or smarter than we will model Darwin’s theory of evolution and create the best possible town, city, state or country.
We are learning or relearning that taking care of the environment – the fragile earth – will insure its survival. Spiritual teachers have been suggesting taking care of “the least” of them- the seemingly weakest of us – the ones who suffer the most – are the key to building a strong, vibrant community.
No matter how misguided those who convinced that they need to kill to please the God of their understanding, perhaps one of the strong attractions of their cause is being part of both an earthly and eternal community/neighborhood. Instead of finding ways of inviting those who are attracted to community to a loving community it seems that many of us are intent on confirming that those attacted to radical, violent groups are the other and, thus, not welcome in our community. One of the strong attractions to the new urban housing may be the possibility of a strong sense of community. How we design common spaces within and between buildings in the urban complex will help to determine whether we interact as strangers or as neighbors.
Educating our hearts will lead to a strong sense of self, a strong community and, in turn, will lead to a rich, attractive, less stressful life.
Thanks to the leadership/example of such individuals such as Krista Tippett, Jesus, Buddha, Dr Le Pichon, Eckhard Tolle, Mother Theresa, Thomas Merton, and many others we remind ourselves to focus on building strong, vibrant hearts which will lead to strong, vibrant communities.
Written July 23 , 2016
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