When I was a teenager, I fantasized about becoming a monk. I thought it would be the solution to all my problems. I could retreat from a world I found harsh and inhospitable. I could dedicate my days to meditation, prayer for others, prayer for peace, perhaps a little farming too. How idyllic those fantasies were.
My otherwise devoutly Catholic parents would not sign my permission papers when I wanted to join the Jesuits at 16. It wasn't because they thought being a Jesuit was a bad thing. They preferred that I, their possession, become a medical doctor. In retrospect, they did me an unintentional favor.
How compassionate a person could I have been if I sealed myself off from the experiences of making a living, working in the capitalist system, paying rent, developing a career, working as an openly gay man in my jobs as a teacher, a nurse, an administrator? How would I have known what it means to be poor without a 'big daddy' organization to back me up? How would I have developed myself out of my narrow Catholicism to a broader humanism while being dependent on The Church for my bread and butter? Would I have been able to avoid being corrupted by the mainstream status that comes with a clerical collar?
Those who practice in organized and isolated intentional communities may reach enlightenment, I suppose. But, the historic Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed all lived in the world as individuals. They all pulled away from the conventions of their times to seek Truth. The monasteries and madrassas came later. In fact, one can see these intentional communities and schools as symptoms of de facto humanists' frustration with human society's persistent evils. In this light, I see them as symbols of a kind of surrender, a kind of failure.
While organized groups of devout moralists managed to transmit valuable cultural elements through the ages, they failed to instill practice in the populations they came from, with few exceptions. Practice in the real world with real worldly responsibilities and stresses is hard. But, the rewards of this practice are commensurately great. By practicing in the world, one can develop the strength to aid others in their practice. In this way, potentially, humanist practice can spread through a society over time.
Think of a world where every human being lives in mindfulness with compassion. Think of a world where speech is always based in truth. Think of a world where everyone prizes the act of giving over the act of seeking individual gratification. This would be a world of practice. This kind of world can only be achieved when all its people are just as concerned for the happiness and health of all as they are concerned for the happiness and health of themselves. My mind holds one prayer: it is a plea to future human generations to achieve such a world.
