Ten Years of Love: 2001 – 2011
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We entered a time, in 2001, that is reflected in our common psyche. I remember so clearly the feeling of cocooning that grasped the nation after 9/11. Protectionism followed the shock of terrorism striking “here.”
We became vulnerable. We began a shift to realizing that as a nation and personally, we couldn’t control everything. Even if we had enough money, which we soon realized we didn’t, we couldn’t solve all the world’s problems. Maybe we weren’t meant to…but how could we get out of it? How could we let events unfold around the world with their own timing and not feel at risk?
Parents confronted the same question at home. Doing everything for their children, trying to solve every problem, was resulting in entitlement and depression rather than happiness or confidence. It was building their own stress and the defensive walls that trying to control everything erects.
The Dalai Lama spoke to us in 2001, to Western nations, about our depression in his book on Ethics. He recognized that Buddhist teachings assume a healthy self-image that we didn’t have. He spoke of his surprise over this — that in wealthy nations people were less happy and less satisfied than in poor nations.
...read the full article, and others like it at: http://edgemagazine.net/2012/05/ten-years-of-love-2001-2011/
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