In order to give shape to this, or any other post-Covid vision, and there are many ‘re-thinking’ dreams floating around, systemic change and reform of governing institutions is urgently required. Such pragmatic changes are effects, flowing from a shift or awakening in attitudes – firstly within society, then among governments, creaking bodies that are habitually reactive the popular response to Covid suggests that such an evolution is under way. A development that moves the centre of focus from the individual to the group away from purely selfish achievement, often at the expense of other people and the environment, to action that enriches society, is environmentally responsible and focuses on the well-being of others.Īs the Teacher, Maitreya, has said (message no.54 of 140, given on ): “The problems of mankind are real but solvable. Take your brother’s need as the measure for your action and solve the problems of the world. There is no other course.” This realignment of attention from self-centered action to addressing the needs of ‘your brother’, appears on the face of it to be a major one. Certainly such an approach runs contrary to the corrosive ‘survival of the fittest’ message, which has characterized political and socio-economic propaganda for generations, but, it is an idea that sits in harmony with the natural inclinations of most people in the world.Įveryone has the seed of goodness within them, the nature of which is love.
In addition to awareness of non-separation, a key quality of ‘the good’ is the impulse towards community service of some kind service manifested as acts of social and environmental responsibility e.g., both of which have been growing over the last forty years or so, intensifying and expanding year on year. The unprecedented global protest movement, high levels of political engagement and environmental activism are manifest examples of ‘the good’, or love, in action, and during Covid, the widespread levels of community service.
Service, which on the face of it at least, demands some level of self-sacrifice (time and regular commitment e.g.) is, by its very nature highly decentralizing – shifting the focus away from the individual – focusing as it does on the needs of another, on ‘your brother’s need’. It is a response to the recognition that, as one group, or family, we are all responsible for one another, for society and the natural world.
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