OUR INHERITED DYSFUNCTION (partial)
If we look more deeply into humanitys ancient religions and
spiritual traditions, we will find that underneath many surface
differences there are two core insights most of them agree on. The
words they use to describe those insights differ, yet they all
point to a twofold fundamental truth. The first part of this truth
is that the normal state of mind of most human beings contains a
strong element of what we might call dysfunction or even madness.
Certain teachings at the heart of Hinduism perhaps come closest to
seeing this dysfunction as a form of collective mental illness.
They call it maya, the
veil of delusion. Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest Indian
sages, bluntly states: The mind is maya.
Buddhism uses different terms. According to the Buddha, the human
mind in its normal state generates dukkha, which can be translated as
suffering, unsatisfactoriness, or just plain misery. He sees it as
a characteristic of the human condition. Wherever you go, whatever
you do, says the Buddha, you will encounter dukkha, and it will manifest in every
situation sooner or later.
According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of
humanity is one of original sin. Sin is a word that has been greatly
misunderstood and misinterpreted. Literally translated from the
ancient Greek in which the New Testament was written, to sin means
to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin
means to miss the point of
human existence. It means to live unskilfully, blindly, and thus to
suffer and cause suffering. Again, the term, stripped of its
cultural baggage and misinterpretations, points to the dysfunction
inherent in the human condition
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