Ethics for the New Millennium
by Dalai Lama
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dalai LamaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-01
ISBN: 1573228834
Number of pages: 237
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781573228831
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Ethics for the New Millennium
Book Review: He knows what he's talking about...take notes and learn
Summary: 5 Stars
The Dalai Lama considers the state of the world in relation to ethics with a fine-toothed comb. (I am currently borrowing "Ethics for the New Millennium" as an abridged audiobook from my local library. This is a tape I will repeatedly listen to until its due date...) The Dalai Lama is such a sweetheart! I love how he perceives the world, suggests solutions and alternatives to global and ethical dilemnas, and remains optimistic about the future. He believes that we are a people who want to be happy while avoiding suffering. He acknowleges that we do have a dark side that we must keep in check and subdue; but to counter this dark side, the Dalai Lama believes that people are mostly gentle by nature and can return to that natural state with discipline and guidance. We deviate from our better nature when we try to find happiness the wrong way or in the wrong things, and thereby only feel transitory illusions of happiness that may cause harm to others. As a pop song claims, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror and then make a change...I'm looking at the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways...etc." The Dalai Lama is definitely in favor of the need for personal growth and an inner revolution for everyone.
The Dalai Lama doesn't go on at length about idealizing this planet or how great it is. He says it is where we live, and therefore, we must take good care of it and encourage global stewardship. The actions of one country will impact the whole world (think about jet streams and imported and exported food). We literally are in this world together; think about what that means. I love how he disparages concepts of Group Identity and other separatists ideas. Black, white, whatever, we all have feelings, and our common ground and goals far outweigh any cultural differences or bitterness over history's mistakes. Also, no one's self-worth or sense of identity should be forged at the expense of another person or ethnic group.
Like Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," this is a must-read for every person on the planet. We can agree with the Dalai Lama theoretically, but we must go the extra mile to learn how to apply these ethics (that promote happiness and prevent or curb suffering). (I'm preaching to the choir when I say that I need to learn how to better transform these principles from theory into practice, especially when it comes to managing my emotions and curtailing my feelings of anger and disappointment.) Even in small ways, we can make things better for each other and ourselves. I love when the Dalai Lama observes that when we are promoting others' happiness, we feel happiness ourselves. He repeatedly stresses how interconnected and interrelated we all are. We depend on each other, we need each other.
I'm so sick of over-the-top pessimism and unrealistic nostalgia for the past. As a Universalist, I believe the best of times are in the future and the worst of times are in the past and the immediate present. I remember a lyric from a U2 song ("Zoo Station"/Achtung Baby) that says, "time is a train, makes the future the past." I love that the Dalai Lama points out many positive trends in today's society. He's pleased-as-punch that reconciliation and compassion are buzz words, even in politics and businesses. He also is pleasantly aware that the current global marketplace is very dependent on international cooperation. On a related note, I love when I buy chocolate, tea, and coffee that is not only organic, but is fair-trade certified. No one needs to be exploited for the greed of shareholders. Profit is okay if it is accrued ethically, meaning no sweatshops, no needless, man-made hell imposed on innocents (read "Fast Food Nation" to learn about the consequences of unethical business practices. Like the Dalai Lama, the author of "Fast Food Nation" points out how we are only nickle and diming ourselves to do it the wrong way; with redirection in energy and ethics, we can do it the right way without unnecessarily harming employees or the environment).
To wrap up, please read this book or listen to it as an audiobook. The Dalai Lama knows what he's talking about...take notes and learn.
Summary of Ethics for the New Millennium
In a difficult, uncertain time, it takes a person of great courage, such as the Dalai Lama, to give us hope. Regardless of the violence and cynicism we see on television and read about in the news, there is an argument to be made for basic human goodness. The number of people who spend their lives engaged in violence and dishonesty is tiny compared to the vast majority who would wish others only well. According to the Dalai Lama, our survival has depended and will continue to depend on our basic goodness. Ethics for the New Millennium presents a moral system based on universal rather than religious principles. Its ultimate goal is happiness for every individual, irrespective of religious beliefs. Though the Dalai Lama is himself a practicing Buddhist, his apporach to life and the moral compass that guides him can lead each and every one of us—Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, or atheist—to a happier, more fulfilling life.
In a modern society characterized by insensitivity to violence, ambivalence to the suffering of others, and a high-octane profit motive, is talk of ethics anything more than a temporary salve for our collective conscience? The Dalai Lama thinks so. In his Ethics for the New Millennium, the exiled leader of the Tibetan people shows how the basic concerns of all people--happiness based in contentment, appeasement of suffering, forging meaningful relationships--can act as the foundation for a universal ethics.
His medicine isn't always easy to swallow, however, for it demands of the reader more than memorizing precepts or positing hypothetical dilemmas. The Nobel Peace laureate invites us to recognize certain basic facts of existence, such as the interdependence of all things, and from these to recalibrate our hearts and minds, to approach all of our actions in their light. Nothing short of an inner revolution will do. Basic work is required in nurturing our innate tendencies to compassion, tolerance, and generosity. And at the same time, "we need to think, think, think ... like a scientist," reasoning out the best ways to act from a principle of universal responsibility. Like a merging of the care and compassion of Jesus, the cool rationality of the Stoics, the moral program of Ben Franklin, and the psychology of William James, Ethics for the New Millennium is a plea for basic goodness, a blueprint for world peace. --Brian Bruya
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