Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A world that works for everyone...

The context from which I choose to live my life is the context of "a world that works for everyone".

This is not an objective, a goal, a target or a strategy.

This is a context from which my objectives, goals, targets and strategies arise.

The context of "a world that works for everyone" empowers me to live my life for a higher purpose than my egoic cravings and desires.

Just in the way the teachings of the Buddha provide guidance; the first spoke of the wheel of the noble eight-fold path is "right view".

Getting one's context right is a pre-requisite to being empowered and effective in honouring each of the seven other spokes of the wheel.

  • Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)
1. Right view
2. Right intention
  • Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
  • Mental discipline (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
It is important to understand that the eight paths are not linear, to be walked in succession. They are simultaneous and interdependent, which is why the spoke / wheel analogy is appropriate. If any one spoke is removed, the wheel no longer has integrity and can collapse at any moment.

These names of the spokes of the noble eightfold path are taken from the WikiPedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path