Spirituality for Social Responsibility

In this lifetime, my spiritual path has been guided by a very special purpose: to create all the instances, skillful means, instruments, practices and conditions to bring to its maximum expression the spirituality and inner transformation of other beings.

I have expressed this by saying that “our spirituality must be where it is not”; otherwise, spirituality becomes a ‘club of friends’. This leads me to focus permanently on our inner and outer ecology as one, on the individual and collective realities as inseparably inter-dependents, and on the material and non-material attributes of life as the ultimate fusion in this lifetime.

Thus, my spirituality is not all about me or even my own personal transformation; but, it is also about the transformation of all human beings, sentient beings and nature.

Three systems of laws govern my spirituality: ‘human law’, ‘natural law’ and ‘spiritual law’. The key ingredients in them, among many, are (i) ethics and morals for human law, (ii) earth as ‘a being’ and not as ‘a thing’ for natural law, and (iii) transcendental principles and universal wisdom for spiritual laws.

Let me expand on the latter. I practice the spirituality of inner-self-governance, making myself responsible for my vision, intent, language, action, behavior, and effort. In practice, this form of governance is shaped by several important spiritual laws, four of which are very relevant in my daily life.

1. The Law of Impermanence: every aspect of life, material and non-material, are uncertain and impermanent. “Everything which is ready to surge, must be also ready to cease”. It points out at the danger embodied in our attachments, because of this illusion that a given reality is permanent, and I can hold on forever. This illusion causes suffering grief, fear….
2. The Law of Interdependence: we are not an island, everything and everyone are totally interconnected. The great essence is: “I am because You are, and You are because I am”. Thus, in this life on earth there is not separateness of all beings and nature.
3. The Law of Correspondence: “the inner is like the outer, and the outer is like the inner.” We are all in search for harmony and equilibrium between our inner and our outer existence; and our individual and collective daily reality.
4. The Law of Karma: known as the law of causes and effects, or the law of infinite equilibrium. “All that exists has causes and conditions, what does not have causes and conditions does not exist,” “every action has a reaction,” “our interventions are recorded and recognized in our spiritual path.” I also call it the law of self-responsibility.

In practice, my spirituality has enabled me to define several purposes in life, and make my actions and practices an inseparable whole with my inner transformation; e.g., spirituality with my profession of environmental economist as one. Today, my spirituality is the source of my nescient wisdom and inner strength, so that I may engage in a process of collective transformation, leading to the creation of an Ecological Civilization. This collective transformation is an important component, and it has become an inseparable attribute of my personal transformation.

The principal foundations of my spiritual path are the social teachings of the Buddha. I am in search for a new Social Doctrine to establish a foundation of a feasible form of planetary livelihood. The emphasis is on the original teachings in such areas as the welfare of a nation, the alternative forms of governance, the nature and scope of human rights, the critical importance of environment, ecology and sustainable development, the essence of wealth creation and distribution, the foundations of social policy, and much more.

My spiritual Buddhism finds its social engagement in the original sacred teachings of Buddha Shakya Muni. Through engaged Buddhism I am always ready to share and get involved in establishing the foundations for human and social change. The union of knowledge, wisdom, and ethics, and the platform for transcending the immediate chaos humanity faces today are guiding post to care for.

The existing Social Doctrine guiding humanity today has been a powerful engine and support to a system of material individualism. It is now failing humanity. We have been separated from our inner collective nature of servicing the other (SEVA), and from our love, compassion, cooperation, solidarity, mutuality, justice, truth, equality, rights individual and collective responsibility…. Humanity is hungry for a new spiritual path for our collective social transformation and sustainability.

I am afraid that spirituality is becoming a very individualistic path. The path of me, me and me. In many instances, the term Self is the engine of separateness and the platform to strengthen our individual and social ego, rather than creating the causes and conditions for the inexorable power of fusion among all manifestations of life.

Education Needs to be a ‘Conscious Education’

Today, there are 1.2 billion young people under the age of 15 to 24 years. This is approximately 16 per cent of the world population!

Most of these young people are immersed within an education system which possesses, and validates, the attributes, values, and framework of a reality formed many centuries ago. An education system in search of a human who “knows”. A human whom we must admire because of its rationality and functionality (employment, social mobility), and because his ideals seem to be to transforming itself into a powerful ambulatory library. They cite authors, repeat what the authors have stated, and recommend that we all do and embrace what they say and suggest. This is the so-called “renaissance man”, the “conversational man”, who catches everyone’s attention because he/she is opinionated and cultured; all, understood as “knowing”. The lemma seems to be: “to know more is better”.

In this respect, education has become something like a routine ritual with the main purpose of knowing; i.e., knowing to do and to have. An educational system that has been supporting and sustaining today’s philosophy of individualistic materialism. This is not the formation of a true leader but the formation of a person who conforms.

While the world has changed dramatically, our traditional education system (with some exceptions) has not yet done so. This system has greatly frustrated the young generations whom, in large numbers, have abandoned it, actively of tacitly, in most countries of the world. Very little or nothing of its content and scope is truly relevant to them.

As a result, the youth is facing tremendous challenges and problems, examples of which are: mental health, substance abuse, cyberbullying, lack of job opportunities, unstable housing, climate change, poor quality of healthcare, weak civic engagement, gun violence, technology addiction, eating disorders, human trafficking, no self-identity, and scarce opportunities for personal development. After an average of 12 years of formal education, or more, little is perceived as useful or worth remembering. After these years of education, life forces them to de-educate themselves for decades.

We need a new form of education: ‘conscious education’. It is that education which goes far beyond the knowing, having and doing. The real core of education must not be “so I know, so I act”. Today, the core of education is “so I self-realize, so I act”. Thus, conscious education is the education of being, becoming and inner self-realization. The education that cultivates the law of correspondence, where the inner is like the outer, and the outer is like the inner.

But, there is more. For the first time in human history the youth is living in a planetary society; i.e., what happens in one corner of the planet affects everyone, everywhere. This is the world of total interdependence. This is the world of no separateness. Thus, it is vital that the education system contributes to the formation of A Planetary Being: that ‘being’ who is capable of becoming the other, without losing his/her own identity. A human being who is capable to transcend its immediate environment. A human being born out of mutuality with all manifestations of life.

Today’s education has become (i) an instrument which exacerbates the boundaries between us, (ii) a powerful vehicle which marks the differences among ourselves, and (iii) a culture and values which separates via the perception of what is perceived as unique to each being. A competitive being who has tremendous difficulties in embracing other human beings, sentient beings and nature. Thus, interconnected education must not only be for the welfare of human beings, but for the welfare of all manifestation of life within creation.

Because the youth lives in a planet within which the governance and management of the global public goods are vital for their survival (e.g., climate, water, biodiversity, security, peace), education must nurture and bring about a new form of eco-morality. An ethics that support a grand conglomerate of shared rights and responsibilities, and engages in the progressive elimination of separateness. This is translated into a fundamental lemma: “I am because you are, you are because I am”. We are all knitted as One. Conscious education is the key to establishing the proper mind (level and clarity), soul and consciousness for a new horizon for the youth.

With the preeminence of artificial intelligent and the communication revolution, it is imperative to revise both, the existing forms of teaching and the alternative forms of learning, without losing sight of the vision for an education of the being, becoming and self-realization.

The youth demands a more enlightened way to approach life on this very fragile planet, which is facing immense ecological issues and constraints. Thus, the imperative to adopt a more enlightened and wisdom-based form of education. Conscious education will enable us to be aware of how to connect the infinite dots between our inner and outer ecologies of all manifestations of life. Conscious education for the youth must be capable to establish the foundations to attain the maximum material and spiritual expressions of all beings.

Social Responsibility Needs Conscious Leaders

We have been separated from our individual and social responsibilities. What happens beyond our noses seems to be irrelevant, whether we provoked or not.

We live in a world that has become so small in relation to its population and economic activities. We are now sharing a huge number of fundamental global public goods (e.g., oceans, natural forests, biodiversity, glaciers, climate, security, migration, stability, health, collective welfare), and global public bads (pollution of water and air, demise of flora and fauna, global warming, insecurity, instability) and, thus, this is the moment when we must address our social responsibilities.

Today, the management and governance of these global public goods is inadequate. International organizations are co-opted by the self-interest of individual countries, rich and poor, with a hand full of them dominating our shared future. Economic, political and spatial strategic interests of a few are damaging the collective shared future of all. It is now imperative to create a new vision; a new collective vision of humanity.

Social Responsibility is not a phrase, is not just another aspiration, is not a thing, or even a collection of actions (its manifestation). Social Responsibility is a “state of inner being”, it is a state of consciousness of the other. It is a manifest of the quality of our governance. It is our moral compass. Because it is a state of inner being, we have to self-realize it. Not a trivial process of transformation of me and the other.

Social responsibility needs conscious leaders; i.e., the leaders of awareness, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, calmness, solidarity… These are leaders who have the capacity to become the other without losing their own identity. These are leaders who understand that we have to self-realize not only ‘compassion’ but, simultaneously, that we have to construct a ‘compassionate’ society. In a society dominated by individual materialism, social responsibility is the jewel on the crown. It is an act of mutuality. It is a manifestation of love and compassion.

In the common narratives of social responsibility there is a huge basket of themes and unresolved issues; all of which increasing the complexity of the debate. Examples of these themes are: sustainable development, labor practices, transparency and accountability, human rights and inclusion, health and safety, cultural heritage, supporting the vulnerable, social justice, ethical business practices…

In the present debate, most often than not, the term social responsibility is marked by “social corporate responsibility”, as a commitment to ecological sustainability, fair management of stakeholder’s interests, addressing the demands of consumers and affected communities, etc. However, we must also sharpen our views on other forms of social responsibilities, like global (poverty, equality, migration, security), ethical (human and nature relationships, honesty and integrity, transparency, justice), environmental (conservation and regeneration, protection, resiliency, mitigation, equanimity), and individual (respect and implementation of rights, non-discrimination, non-violence, change in habits, acting ethically). This is a complex web of issues, with no single bullet to come to terms with them.

The future framework for social responsibility requires a paradigm in which a double transformation must take place simultaneously: individual and collective. A framework that gets rid of the existing process of reification (i.e., the objectification of a person or community, where they are treated like an object.) which as a consequence we live now a huge process of dehumanization. People are objects, sentient beings are objects, and nature is an object. The future framework must be effective in minimizing negative external effects of corporate decisions and actions, establish a road to positive actions and create the conditions for shared responsibilities.

When I think and meditate about social responsibility, this is what I hear: Social responsibility is an act of mutuality. Social responsibility is an act of commitment with self and others. Social responsibility constructs a common future. Social responsibility is a form of reconnection. Social responsibility re-establishes a new meaning of ‘humanity’. Social responsibility is our own and sole source of liberation. Social responsibility allows us to have a society. Social responsibility builds what we could become together.