Power, Freedom, Compassion: Transformations For A Better World

196 Pages·2011·23.436 MB·English

by  Richard Winter

Power, Freedom,
ompassion
Transformations for a Better World

RICHARD WINTER
Power, Freedom, Compassion
Transformations for a Better World
Richard Winter
Willow Tree Press
Cambridge
2011
First published in 2011
by Willow Tree Press,
40, Riverside,
Cambridge CB5 8HL.
Email: [email protected]
Copyright © 2011, Richard Winter
ISBN 978-1-4477-8706-8
For:
Jo and Anne
Jess and Nick
And their children:
Anenti
Oliver
Daniel
Jackson
With love and hope

Contents
Acknowledgements..........cccoeeeeiiiiiiriniinceeeeee ix
1. Introduction 1

Problems and Themes .........cccccceveriiennenienncnncnnicncececeenene 1
Outline of the Argument ...........ccceeervuienrneriienenceseeneeeeeeenen 6
2. Starting Points: Balancing Pessimism and Optimism ...... 11
Pessimism: How Can This Sort of Thing Be Going
ON7 ettt 11
Grounds for HOPe......cooevivveeeieiieeni cieessneeee eeee ie 16
3. Marxism and Buddhism: Reality; Injustice ............cc..c..... 23
Why Marxism?.......ccoccoveenenniiniiniiieinieneococn re 24
Why BuddhisSm?........coeevemmiieeiiniieee ieeeeeee 28
Parallels : Reality, Individualism ..........ccocoeiiniiinniinnnnnne. 36
Pause: ‘Reality’? ..c..coceevviniiiiiiiiiinicceicee nee 38
More Parallels: Suffering ..........cecvveevvevreiiinciniinienineeeecen. 41
4. Transforming Institutions 47

A “Classless’ SOCIELY .....cccuerueirveereiiter iierrre 49
Improvisation: Linking Specific Events to General
PriNCIPIES ...eeeeeieiieriece ettt 58
Disguising Institutions, Transforming Knowledge................. 62
Critique: Transforming People?.........cccceevvievvrvnireerinennnennnn 68
viii
5. Transforming AWAareness....c..cceeceessresenssercsssesseessnessessosncnns
MEAItAtION. ...ccvviirriiieeeiie ettt iaesene e
Meditation as ‘Pure AwWareness’ .........occeeveeeruieeeineeerreerinennns
Meditation as ‘Mindfulness’..........cccceeeeeveieciieeciiicceeceeea,
Meditation as the Cultivation of ‘Loving Kindness’ ............
Pause: ‘The Transcendental’ and ‘The Unconscious’ ..........
Developmental Companionship, Educative Institutions ......
6. Transforming Creativity ........ccccciivrvicssnvonsnnissecsssansosenee
Hobbies, Craftwork ...........coccveeiiiiieeieieieeee eeeeee
THE AILS ..otttet
7. Transforming DemocCracy ......ceeeecreecerssscsnsessssssesersssansons
‘Free Electoral Choice’ and the Corruption of Political
DISCOUISE ...tttet st
Political Parties and Bureaucracy: The Denial of
‘Representation’.........cccueveeeriueeinieeniieniieeneesnre eesnee
The Democratic Limitations of a ‘Free Market
ECONOMY ..otttv re e
‘Freedom of Expression’ and Corporate Domination of
the Public Media......c.occovervenieninninineieiereeeeeeeeee
Democracy: Commodities and Ilusions...........cccoeeeuveennnenn.
COMMOAILIES. ...
Hllusion and Investigation................c..ccccoevveecineceannnn.
8. Conclusion: Transforming Education ........cccccceeccenseveanns
Education or MeritoCracy’.....ccccvevviveenveesreeeiieenirererneenseenns
A Curriculum for Critique, Awareness and
COMPASSION ...eeevveeeierereerireeeerreetreestesiteesseesseesseeeseessseesesnees
Beyond Schooling: ‘Educative’ Institutions.......................
Acknowledgements
To:
Graham Badley
David Ball
Tony Booth
Judy Hicks
Katalin Illes
Gill Kent
John Lambie
Ken Lingley
Ed Piercy
GillianPlummer
Stephen Rowland
Evan Turner
Dave Winter
Michael Young
All my friends, colleagues and teachers at the
Cambridge Buddhist Centre,
and, especially,
Susan Hart
Many thanks to all of you for the many helpful conversations which
inspired me to continue my writing, even though most of you will, of
course, disagree with some of what I have written.
X
Thanks also to:
William Weaver, author of Pitmen Painters — The Ashington Group
1934 — 1984, Ashington Group Trustees, 1993, for permission to use
the painting Ashington Colliery by Oliver Kilbourn;
New Directions Publishing Corporation, for permission to quote the
translation of ‘In a gust of wind’ by Bunya No Asayasu, in Kenneth
Rexroth: One Hundred Poems From The Japanese, copyright 1955
by New Directions Publishing Corporation.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Problems and Themes
When I began my working career in the mid-1960s it seemed
perfectly obvious to me and my friends (and indeed to most people
that I talked to) that although the world was in a dreadful state,
because our parents’ generation had of course made a total mess of
things, our generation knew more or less what needed to be done
to rectify matters. Forty-five years later history has told a different
story and humanity seems to have profited little from our
endeavours: more gadgets, yes, but no less global malnutrition,
staggering inequality and warfare. So now, nearly half a century
later, the world that my grandchildren will inherit remains stricken
with injustice, oppression and suffering, in spite of universal
expressions of indignation and an endless succession of ineffectual
proposals and policies. Hence the question implied in the second
part of my title: how can we transform this world, in which
humanity seems unable to learn from its obvious and repeated
mistakes and seems intent on destroying its means for survival?
Since our problems have turned out to be so complex and
intractable they are clearly in need of some radical re-thinking, but
where shall we look for new approaches? What resources do we
need in order to transform our conceptions and experiences of, for
example, democratic political processes and social institutions that
empower its citizens, of justice, well-being, and our various
creative capacities, as individuals and as groups?
In seeking these resources [ will focus on issues of Power, Freedom,
and Compassion. Because I believe that in order to have any chance
of understanding and transforming our world: