Humanity Is Our Common Factor

There is no common factor except our humanity.

We are all human beings experiencing the same kind of suffering. We all get old, get sick and die. We all experience anguish and despair, grief and sorrow, even though we might speak different languages, look different, eat in different ways and react to things in different ways.

So we need to bring the common ground of humanity into our consciousness, the common human experience of suffering. And this is something that needs to be emphasized in education. We need to bring this up into our own minds and into the minds of others. We need to acknowledge this common human experience, whether it’s in Ethiopia or in Buckingham Palace, in the White House or in Baghdad; the suffering is exactly the same.

Men and women of all races and all nationalities have the same experiences of birth, pain, sickness, ageing and death. As humans, we are limited to a state of continuous discomfort, so most of our lives are spent just struggling to be comfortable. We try so desperately to be happy and comfortable – it becomes the whole purpose of life. But even when we feel safe and happy, we still have the same anxieties and fears. So suffering is common to all human beings.

And so is loving-kindness and compassion. The Buddhist concept of mettā, or loving-kindness, is the ability to be patient and bear with the imperfections in our life, our society and ourselves. The attitude of loving-kindness is a universal value. You can have mettā for Christians, for Buddhists, for Jews, [for Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and all other religions], for every political group and for all classes of society.

This attitude of mettā is not missing in any of us. It’s just that we tend to overlook it when we are caught up in our frantic drives and compulsions. We are so involved in our conditioning that we miss the levelling quality of patience, forgiveness, kindness and gentleness.

But when we open ourselves, and free ourselves from the delusions of our conditioning, we come into contact with mettā. This is universal, whether we are educated, uneducated, male or female. This is not the prerogative of any elite class or of any religious group. The mind that is spacious and all-embracing is the common ground; it’s where we see things in perspective, rather than from some extreme position.

Right education is that which leads children, adults, monks, nuns, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, [Jews, Sikhs, and all other religions]–the whole lot–towards what we have in common, rather than emphasizing what separates us.

This reflection by Luang Por Sumedho is from the book Ajahn Sumedho Anthology, Volume Two – Seeds of Understanding, “Teaching Our Common Humanity,” (pdf) pp. 302-303.