One of the points made by the DL that drove me to ask this question was his distinction between ethical and spiritual acts. “An ethical act is one where we refrain from causing harm to others’ experience or expectation of happiness. Spiritual acts we can describe in terms of those qualities mentioned earlier of love, compassion, patience, forgiveness, humility, tolerance, and so on which presume some level of concern for others’ well-being” (p. 61). The DL describes ethical and spiritual acts as being imperative to a happy life. But I question how one can be an active member

We all buy these products and billions of others just like them. The DL says that “when we desire things for no real reason beyond the enjoyment they give us, ultimately they tend to bring us more problems” (p. 59). I agree with this. But how, in the case of the west, do we change that without violent revolution? The idea that one can buy happiness is ingrained into every American kindergartener’s head. Our system depends on consumers buying things for “no real reason beyond the enjoyment they give us.” (Hence the concept of advertisement) By participating in the current western capitalistic system we go against everything the DL says will bring us happiness.

Just looking at mere statistics creates problems with attempts to put this idea of grand-scale altruism into practice. With the accumulated wealth of the US alone, if we abided by the rules of compassion the DL sets out for us, no one in the world should go hungry. This would be great. But I don’t see how this idea can be put into practice at this late stage.

Some topics in this essay:
Lama’s DL, Heavens Gate, Ethics Millennium, DL’s Marxist, Dalai Lama, spiritual acts, seek people empathize, , real reason beyond, reason beyond enjoyment, ethical spiritual acts, experience expectation happiness, experience expectation, seek people, real reason, idea practice, reason beyond, beyond enjoyment, expectation happiness, happy life, people empathize,