Every person wants to have a happy life, but there are always wars somewhere in the world, and the disparity between the rich and the poor is expanding. More than 20 thousand people per year commit suicides only in Japan. In a modern Native American society, while people are suffering from various problems such as proliferation of alcohol poisoning, high unemployment rates, poverty, there are no orphans or starving people. This is probably because they still live with their traditional ethics.
Why don’t we think about harmonization with humanity and nature again with a message from Sun Bear?
I do not think the measure of a civilization Is how tall its buildings of concrete are. But rather how well its people have learned to relate To their environment and fellow man.
– Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe
For some reason, after reading this it instantly reminded me of the country of Bhutan’s “Gross National Happiness”.
For those that don’t know Gross National Happiness, or GNH, was a term coined by Bhutan’s then current king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and used as the nation’s new metric for determining the prosperity of the country. It was created to promote the development of the countries Buddhist spiritual values (i.e. happiness) as opposed to the Western materialistic centered GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Essentially, it was them saying, “Hey, we want to value the well-being and happiness of our people instead of material ‘stuff’.”
Pretty cool right?
Well, to me, Sun Bear is backing up this very same ideal, except perhaps in a slightly different sense. In this way, he’s describing more our ability to live in harmony with the world around us- both nature and humanity specifically.
Placing that as the major guiding principle of any nation (or our own individual lives), to me, is both a powerful and revolutionary idea.
Source：https://buddhaimonia.com/blog/native-american-wisdom
1st episode：https://www.el-aura.com/trinity_tomoko12/
2nd episode：https://www.el-aura.com/trinity_tomoko16/
3rd episode: https://www.el-aura.com/trinity_tomoko22/
