Excerpt from the talk Ending Suffering, by James Wood:
“Questioner: Would an awakened person get upset about poverty in their neighborhood and organize a food bank to make it better for the neighborhood or just let it be what it is?
James: Like social activism?
Q: Yeah, like you see a problem and you do something to make it better or just accept that it’s the way it is?
James: Well, you can radically accept it.
When I say “acceptance,” I don’t mean a superficial resignation. You accept the existence of social ills: poverty, hunger, disease, and so on. You can still do something about those things, but if you angrily say Poverty shouldn’t be happening! and then go out and start killing people you think are responsible — there’s always an enemy, and it doesn’t work.
But the enemy is the self. So you’re working on that, and if there’s a food bank in your neighborhood and if it’s part of the flow of your life and you feel drawn to it — sure, why not? But there will probably be less ego in it, right?
Let’s face it: There are people who do charity work in order to make themselves look more compassionate — which isn’t compassion at all.
The way I define compassion, which is really at the heart of this work, is an awareness of others’ suffering coupled with a willingness to do something about it. It’s a willingness. I mean, you can’t feed everyone. Right?
The thing is, I don’t hear you talking about actual things going on for you personally, so it’s a little bit abstract. To go deeper, it would have to be something that you’re facing.
But generally speaking, radical acceptance is not an impediment to that kind of activity, and you’ll probably be drawn to the ones that will actually do some good. And some don’t, or don’t do as much. And I think that’s part of it. That’s part of it.
So when you accept things as they are — the way I’m talking about it — you become acutely aware of suffering in the world — but less and less do you feel that suffering shouldn’t be happening — because suffering is caused by an attachment to the thought that what is shouldn’t be.”
Svaha 