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Are you free?Truly?.ppt
- 1. Are You Free? Truly? Compiled by Sudhir M. Shah Embracing Difference Transforming the World
- 2. The Greatest Threat to Humanity
- 3. The Greatest Threat to Humanity Fear and hatred disguised as Nationalism
- 4. Second Greatest Threat to Humanity
- 5. Second Greatest Threat to Humanity Unsustainable consumption leading to Environmental Degradation
- 8. Let’s Remember January 6 not 2021 but 1941
- 9. Four Essential Human Freedoms necessary for the world to move towards peace and harmony FDR’s State of the Union Address
- 10. FDR’s State of the Union Address • Freedom of speech (freedom of press) • Freedom of Religion (ALL religions) • Freedom from Wants • Freedom from Fear Four Essential Human Freedoms
- 11. Freedom From Want Translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world. Eliminate poverty and hunger We have enough resources to fulfill all our needs But not all our UNSATIABLE WANTS
- 12. Freedom From Fear Translated into world terms, means reduction of armaments where no nation need to fear of being attacked by another nation. Lasting peace. Think of what we can do with the resources freed- up from defense budgets.
- 13. Freedom from Want Freedom from Fear interlinked the biggest motivators relevant in Jain context
- 14. Freedom from Want What Jain Principle offers Solution?
- 15. APARIGRAHA – the most important principle of Jain Philosophy Non-possessiveness - Non-attachment Freedom from Want What Jain Principle offers Solution?
- 16. Mahavir(599 – 527 BC) said “parigraha seve attai karanti prananam behanam” • Possessiveness is the cause of destruction of lives. • Our possessiveness is the primary cause of all violence. • Even, possessiveness to our views makes us intolerant of other views. • Anekantvad is nothing but Attitudinal Aparigraha !
- 17. Our society encourages Parigraha
- 18. For spiritual upliftment • We need body • It needs to be maintained, fed, sheltered, protected, educated etc… • For this we need material things • Security – now and future Why than discuss non-possessiveness?
- 19. Aparigraha • For Lay men/women • For monks
- 20. Non-possessiveness & Non attachment Great tool for freedom from want But How do we practice it!
- 21. Why are we Possessive? • Possessiveness is a reaction to FEAR (real or imagined) of loosing something or someone. • Insecurity within leads to possessiveness outside. • Possessiveness makes us greedy - we wants more and more - a never ending process. • More you possess, more the fear of loosing and therefore more insecurity - a vicious circle Why are we Fearful?
- 23. Understanding Fear • Inherent Fear • All living being have it - for the survival of the species • Induced Fear (mostly perceived) • Predominantly by religion or political leader
- 24. Induced Fears (learned) Fear of the other (tribal) – us vs them Based on prejudice – nationality, religion, race, cast, gender, class, sexual orientation etc. Fear of loss Greed, Scarcity mentality Insecurity about the future Next life, heaven and hell
- 25. Freedom from Fear What Jain Principle offers Solution?
- 26. Freedom From Fear (induced) Aparigraha Helps with fear of loss Syad-vad Liberates us from the violence of one-sides views. Parasparopgraho Jivanum Transcend tribalism and learned biases Be spiritual not religious Global thinking –global citizenship – divisions are man-made
- 27. Freedom from Want Freedom from Fear • Understanding interconnectedness of all being “perasperopgraho jivanam” • Our insatiable wants – negatively affect others • Being a Stuart of our environment • Developing attitude of Gratitude • Sharing and giving freely – for the joy if it • Set voluntary limits on our consumption. • Be an example for next generation/s
- 28. Be Jina like Follow the path of self discovery and self mastery (spiritual quest) Not what you do… • to fit in to society • to please others • to show others that you are religious • to fulfill the vow imposed by elders or Gurus It is NOT grounded in either want or fear It is Not imposed by external authority
- 29. “Battle with yourself. Of what use is fighting others? He who conquers himself by himself attains bliss - Uttaradhyayan Sutra
- 30. “Accept not what I say as truth because it is backed by tradition, or because it is the law of the land, or because it sounds good, or because it comes from your teacher. Accept as truth only that which is sagaciously acceptable to reason as well as sentiment”. - Anguttar Nikaya Mahavir Said to Gautam
Editor's Notes
- The biggest treat humanity faces today is not terrorism, not even nuclear weapons, it is what makes it possible to propagate and unleash these weapons.
- It is hate, specially the blind hatred one group or nation has for another one. Now a day this hatred is disguised as nationalism. I am convinced that nationalism is an existential treat of our time. Let’s be clear here, nationalism is not patriotism. It is a perversion of patriotism. LOOK, These are the times of resurgent national chauvinism and neo-fascism fueled by political leaders who incite perceived fear and manufactured treat of the “other” for personal gain. Spread of misinformation, ignorance and superstitious religiosity has been fed to exploit mases. This has led to the rise of populous nationalistic ideologies like MEGA in America, in Brexit Britain, in Modi’s India, in Erdoğan’s Turkey, across much of Europe, – to name a few of the most troubling examples.
- Let’s look at the history
- Not the despicable insurrection of 2021, but rewind 80 year before that. When Europe was engulfed in war and United states was getting ready to enter the world war 2, FDR gave a very moving and insightful speach to congress in his state of the union address.
- The first two freedoms are fairly familiar – although far from being realized and experienced by all it’s citizens. freedom of press and freedom of worship are institutional rights and are written in the constitution of United states as well as India. I am going to spend rest of the session on the last two.
- Who here want to end hunger in this world? Who wants to eliminate poverty?
- Who here want to end hunger in this world? Who wants to eliminate poverty?
- Competition Win loose mentality
- Voluntary limits on possessions and non-attachment to our possessions. Total renouncement of possessions and complete non-attachment.
- Jaina syada-vada suggests that to every assertion one has to add a syat, or a ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, or ‘in a sense’. This leads us to perceiving the truth of anything, or of any person, as not something ‘one-sided’ but ‘many-sided’ at the same time; that every variety of human violence, with its cruelty and degradation, has flowed from the competing one-sided ideas of what truth is, and hence from one-sided judgements about oneself and about others. Jainism liberates us from the violence of one-sided truths.
- If it had not been for fear no weapons would have been invented. Today everyone has fear . Countries are afraid of one another. Fearlessness is possible only when people learn to free themselves from the delusion of attachment.
- Som story
- Attachment to things, property. Attached to people – family, friends, we love them. Jaina syada-vada suggests that to every assertion one has to add a syat, or a ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, or ‘in a sense’. Every variety of human violence, with its cruelty and degradation, has flowed from the competing one-sided ideas of what truth is, and hence from one-sided judgements about oneself and about others. Jainism liberates us from the violence of one-sided truths. Principles and Values vs Standards and Ideals