The Dalai Lama offered unusually sage advice for dealing with the terrorist attack on Paris on Friday. Don’t pray for Paris — work for peace, he told Deutsche Welle, a German broadcasting company…. “We cannot solve this problem only through prayers,” the spiritual leader said. “I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place.”…. He added his hopes that the record violence of the 20th Century doesn’t continue to bleed into the current one…. “We need a systematic approach to foster humanistic values, of oneness and harmony,” he said. “If we start doing it now, there is hope that this century will be different from the previous one. It is in everybody’s interest. So let us work for peace within our families and society, and not expect help from God, Buddha or the governments.”
In the wake of the aftermath of the tragic, horrific attacks in Paris, many are “praying for Paris.” They’re hoisting French flags, changing their Facebook profile pictures to include the tricolor, and engaging in all manner of superficial, symoblic…and ultimately meaningless…feel-good gestures. While all of these things will undoubtedly help those engaging in them feel they’re doing something positive, what are they actually contributing? How are their actions helping to make the world a better, safer, more harmonious place?
The answer, of course, is that they aren’t. And can’t. Superficial and symbolic, while effective in helping an individual feel less powerless in the face of a seemingly overwhelming sequence of events, do nothing to change the status quo. To those who believe in the power of prayer, I’d ask what your prayers are accomplishing? Do they feed, soothe, clothe, or house anyone? I say that not to denigrate your faith, merely to point out that what will make our world is peaceful, more harmonious place is ACTION. Prayer alone will accomplish nothing. If you believe in the power of prayer and sincerely want to make a difference, how about praying first and then DOING something? That action doesn’t have to be something time- and/or labor-intensive. It can be something as simple as offering a smile or a hug or listening to someone who needs a friend. Kindness can go a long way toward the creation of a world in which peace and harmony are the rules and not the exceptions. If we can act as if we care about one another, there’s a pretty good chance that we can overcome the things that divide us. That may sound naive and overly simplistic to some, but when you break it down, coexistence really is that simple.
When the Dalai Lama says, “We need a systematic approach to foster humanistic values, of oneness and harmony,” what he’s saying, in essence, is that we need to find a way to recognize that we’re all in this together. Regardless of race, creed, color, religion, sexuality, or any other artificial dividing line, we’re all human. We can choose to live together…or we can resign ourselves to perishing alone…but there’s no way humanity will get there through prayer alone.
So how about we all just stop believing that praying for Paris will solve anything? How about we stop changing our Facebook profile pictures and give some consideration to what we might actually DO to help make our world a more peaceful and less contentious place? We can make a difference…but we’re going to have to actually do something if we’re to see results. We created this problem…and only we can find a solution. Praying for Paris isn’t the way we’re going to get there.
