Dan Cozort, Buddhist Economics 3

This week’s video talking about Buddhist economics and climate change looks at the difficulties people face when trying to appreciate – and then do something about – the crises that are around us on a global scale. A large part comes down to denial, because facing the facts is going to mean unwanted change, and also because I think people have been lied to too many times on too many occasions, and now are deeply distrustful of their political overlords.

There are also many problems to do with anger, grief and fear, and especially I think if you see the seriousness of the situation, but are unable to effectively change anything, this leads to a sense of helplessness, which no one wants to feel.

There is some discussion towards the end of the video of how we can approach things so that these issues become transformative, and certainly we see in the case of some of our ideals, like the Bodhisattva ideal, that we have to have strength in these times, just as they do; and also how sometimes the shock of actual mortality does lead people to reconcile with others, not wanting to die without giving and receiving forgiveness.