Maybe After A Couple More Incarnations?

We are all guilty of it at times. It is probably the most dangerous of human traits. We hate it in others and yet it is absolutely addictive. What the heck am I talking about? Self righteousness. Self righteousness inspires people to bomb abortion clinics, to kill abortion providers, to put fatwas out on cartoonists satirizing Mohamed, to become suicide bombers, to run political attack adds, to engage in road rage, to condemn people, and a bunch of other evil stuff.

We are probably all familiar with the question, "Would you rather be right, or be happy?" The answer is obviously, "I would rather be right, in fact I want to be filled to overflowing with self righteous outrage!" The reason we never admit it is, we blame others for our self righteous anger. Anybody over age 12 should know better than that but, nobody does.

Nobody can solve a problem they fail to admit they have. We as a species need to come to terms with our proclivity for self righteousness. We will probably go extinct if we do not. I suppose what actually makes self righteousness fatal is our instinct to dominate. If we did not try to impose our will on others we would just be miserable but not dangerous.

I am working on this and have made some personal progress but I know I have a long way to go. I have pretty much given up on controlling, so my self righteousness just makes me miserable. Now I let go of it a lot quicker than I used to.

The other day I saw an interview with the Dalai Lama on my TV. His Holiness was asked who his favorite American politician was. To my surprise he said it was George W. Bush. The interviewer seemed taken aback. He asked the Lama why he liked George W. Bush so much, considering many of his warlike policies. The Lama replied that he did not like President Bush's policies but he really liked George W. Bush, he thought he had a charming personality.

I sure do have some ways to go! I doubt I will achieve the Dalai Lama's spiritual clarity for a few lifetimes at the very least. I hope we don't kill ourselves off before I get the chance!




Russell