Matthieu Ricard: How to let altruism be your guide 

If you want more control over the mind... you can try vipassana meditation by sn goenka .. it will help you.. its a free 10 days course.. i

Here I am 6 years after, wondering how you doing? 🌸🍀⭐️

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You are not alone. I have been feeling the same and I have come to the realization that it is, to some extent, due to my thought process and patterns. I monitor the thoughts that arise in my mind, meditate, and try to contribute to others, which I feel is helping. As the time is progressing, these are becoming habits and easy to incorporate in my day to day life. I also keep reminding myself the three principles of gaining a community feeling by Alfred Adler; 1- Self-acceptance, 2-Confidence in others, and 3-Contribution to others.

instablaster...

hope you're well just start meditating it will it will start becoming clearer

4 years later

You too have great day and life

hey from 9 years later

@@sofierosenquist5935 You deserve happiness

I'm so happy that people like you exist

As a preschool teacher of 7 years now I can tell you this change is happening in the states slowly but surely.

absolutely agree

Agree, often I feel Bad For our Education System because I Feel it lacks of Something Like teaching individuals or Students the real knowledge,the word of God ,The Wisdom of God,Good Moral and Right Conduct And Basic knowledge about Finance. Those can be Just a Simple or Basic Knowledge but it will play a huge role in someone's living. Although, Only plenty of people can Learn This Things even they were basic knowledge I Hope In The Future,our Education System Will include those basic knowledge : )

Your comment is the only one that doesn't make my head hurt

If we could have it, I'd love hearing a conversation between Matthieu Ricard and Ayn Rand.

and of another song, Let it Be 😂 let it be as it is and we would be altruistic naturally

Totally unrealistic. It will never happen, as... it's been this way for millions of years (survival of the fittest). Some people simply are "not meant" for success, survival, riches, etc. Some of us are not pre-determined for failure either, but whatever the case... changing your destiny is next to impossible, with exception to very rare (and VERY lucky!) circumstances. Think about it: you only hear about the "rags to riches" stories and people. Which is less than 1% of the population. You never hear about the 500,000+ who go from "rags to... worse rags", lol. :) They just die or fail miserably and you never hear from them again. It's just something most people do not want to face... because... reality! :) Because of media, movies, cool technology and so forth... we all like to ~believe~ that "everyone can succeed". Not true. Not even a bit. For someone to WIN, someone else MUST LOSE. There is no other way. Whether you're going to BE the person who wins or loses... is actually not really up to you, usually. For... in some cases... you can do AS MUCH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, learn as much as you possibly can, work hard as best as you can... fight really hard... work really smart, and more... ...and STILL fail. :) Believe me, I know.

Most of the people at the bottom never truly have the chance to ascend the ranks. The opportunities aren't there. Isn't it just a morally correct to help those who are in need? Having the resources to help and not doing so is simply callous I'm not pointing at you or myself but the food generating parties of our communities and healthcare providing ones. They are literally putting a price on life. I don't care who you are if you are without money or goods to barter or friends you will die in this society. The only way to live is off of the dwindling scraps of support. We as humans have assigned ourselves as different above the animals why not make that notion real and bare our humanity sacrifice for the whole? Break free from the survival of the fittest that is game only for beasts. Why is it that men who write lines on paper who work leisurely from offices live in big houses full of commodities while men who give their strength and life force struggle and suffer at the bottom?(this is more true in third world contries) Who is working the hardest who deserves more? The office worker with mental fatigue or the construction worker wearing his body to dust?

Yes. The Human Race is now at a place where we could allow our instincts to take us down or we could work together to have the human race (or what we evolve into) outlive this solar system, or maybe even this galaxy. An even higher goal could be to still have the memories of now also outlive the solar system. Unfortunately, Ego is in the way. And there is still a lot of building (hard physical labor), creating (intellectual labor), and others which need systems for equitable resources rewarded for equitable work. People spend a lot of time quibbling about the details of this; we need an economy based on equal rights to food, shelter, education and healthcare; and getting from here to there is yet to be imagined. So far, all the economies humans have created with civilization have failed to do this, and greedy egotistic people have been able to use corruption to take control. Meanwhile; there are people who think humanity does not deserve to continue...

actually, yeah he’s saying goodness is banal as in it’s so common we don’t even think about it, so it’s normal to us, it’s the violence and whatnot that alarms us because it surprises

This says it all " because you are the same as you think about others,'

A. Randomjack ya , but you know , except for using something like psychological analysis carefully,prudently and neutrally ,and that will be different from any kinds of superficial thoughts on others .

there are :DDD

> the dumb and brute wins cause they are not kind and can't see a thing more than primal urges I don’t get that conclusion. Does not make sense to me.

dumb and brute people unfortunately wins over buddists as happened in Tibet, cause they expect others to be gentle, for t thers to understand and respect, while the opposite is true. better?

Primal urges: non tamed human urges that are on our ancient genome

Yes, I can see your point there. :)

The opposite seems to happen but the only thing the dumb and brute wins is cheap and hollow satisfaction for his "primal urges" and won't see the value in life that doesn't sound like winning to me.

Where there is wealth there is greed, where there is greed there is selfishness. Unfortunately that's the way things are.

Unrealistic, but not impossible. No one's saying this would work overnight anyways.

And where there is light there is always darkness and shadow.

TheFendetta I'd say it's more like where there is selfishness, there is greed, and where there is greed, there's wealth. If you don't want money all that much, you won't work as hard to get the wealth, therefore more greedy people who have money.

All you have to do is change yourself.

B-dog McFlannigans ikr

Well, you have to devote time and research to finding a solution to global warming. Thats time and effort you could put into having fun or bettering yourself, but instead you'd be helping the greater good.

BoogieMitsu The cause and solution is known, and has been for a while. Oil. Co2. They need to go. But making them go involves hurting the economy and maybe even stepping away from capitalism. Altruism sounds great, but there's very little suggesting the developed world can rid it's dependency on oil.

***** Global warming, the greenhouse effect, or the evolution of the planet over time, whatever you want to call it. its an issue that has been exacerbated over the past century.

Just one example are the poor people who have to burn down rainforests to get farmland so that they can survive. With support and education this could be prevented.

Ree1981 Thats where the research comes in, a new reliable fuel source that is less harmful than oil needs to be found. It should also be relatively inexpensive. The big fuel companies would have to be willing to switch over to this new fuel source even at the cost of profits.This is only a hypothetical situation, but thats how altruism would help.

No, you're confusing altruism for a very 'rough' form of hedonism.

This is, and is not true. Many monks live together, grow their own food, and treasure the water they use.

Kelly Cline To my understanding it is also a common practice in many of the places where Buddhism is the common religion, that the young men do a "tour of duty" at the temple for a few years. It is regarded as an important part of the society and is therefore upheld by the society.

We all rely on the labor of others as ours is an interdependent world. You cannot survive in the world without someone else, and monks live (and die) by being reliant on others. When was the last time you built your house? When was the last time you slaughtered your meat or grew your own food or made your own clothes? You are as reliant as this monk, except you don't know it.

The_Monk_Weee! The important distinction here is that some of us (buddhist monks) rely on charity, while the rest of us spend labor (work) to earn labor (money). To say he's as reliant as this monk is asinine and you should feel bad.

Zoh87 I think you're misinformed. The monk is a 3x author (NYTimes, Amazon top book for 2014 -- Quantum and the Lotus), appears on numerous TV shows, supports brain research, avid photographer -- and gives all of his money away. He has earned millions for his temple and charities. How is that "living on charity"? Do you give all your income away? And yet, this monk along with all of us, are highly dependent on others. Everyone, from the poorest to the richest, relies on others. You cannot survive without being reliant. Monks just make it plainly obvious.

The book, Altruism by Matthieu Ricard addresses Ayn Rand's position on altruism . You may find it interesting and useful.

How many schools have you built for kids?

Roger Letourneau 30-40% of my wages taken as sacrifice for the past 30 years...I dunno, but that loot could build a whole lotta school.

Sacrifice?

I think helping others is always somewhat self fulfilling and selfish. I don't thing there is anything wrong with that unless it makes you feel superior to others that you help people.

TCBeads, you may feel that you're exercising your moral scruples correctly, however, you shouldn't be so quick to judge this man. Just like you, I am also highly skeptical of individuals who profess to have lofty ideals, and I assume ulterior motives are at work. From everything I have read about this man, his entire world view is against the very idea you're accusing him of. I encourage you to read more about Matthieu, maybe you'll arrive at a different conclusion.

Then, go and watch the Koch bros talk about greed.

You could try using arguments, logic, evidence to disagree or agree with something, its far better """professor""".

I didn't watch it, so i have nothing to agree or disagree with.

there are subtitles just in case u need them