Basic Goodness: The Art of Being Human
Ground: Basic Goodness
We human beings are basically, fundamentally, good. Not good versus bad, but rather good in the sense that it is good to exist, to be here. It’s not just human beings that have basic goodness. The entire Universe and everything in it is basically good, and it is sparkling with aliveness. We are in fact inseparable from the rest of the Universe, and feeling this inherent connection to life enlivens our own life-force.
This is not an assumption or an article of faith, but an experience, one that we have glimpses of whether we have a word for it or not, whether we meditate or not. Basic goodness isn’t philosophy as much as naming the experience of being completely present and an inseparable part of the entire, perfect Universe. There’s no handy-dandy definition that you can apply, any more than there is a definition of sad. You don’t define sad; you know it. But even if you don’t quite know which of your experiences basic goodness is a label for, having the label allows you to look much more effectively, because now you can talk to others about their experiences. Words can get pretty slippery and hard to use when it comes to talking about experiences, but they are such a big part of communicating that we have to try anyway. So, we have this phrase basic goodness to aid our attempts at understanding the nature of the Universe and everything in it.
When we feel connected to the Universe, we notice that we are complete, unmistaken, and there is nothing missing in us. No matter what happens to us, no matter what we do, we cannot lose our basic goodness or break it; it is unstainable. Our basic goodness is in fact always there. Basic goodness is brilliant like the sun, always shining, even if we can’t see it behind the clouds. It is open like the sky, accommodating all possibilities. It is majestic like a mountain, awake and cheerful like freshly fallen snow, and inviting and relaxing like a highland meadow.
You already know basic goodness, yet there is a quality of discovering it, in the same way that you know your body, but at the same time discover it anew when you learn yoga or a sport. Meditation is the training that helps you re-discover basic goodness. One might not touch basic goodness very often when one begins meditation practice, but there comes a point where one recognizes that it’s there all the time and it has been all along. It is actually our natural state, you were just too distracted by phenomena to notice it, like a fish in water. It is everywhere, and that’s actually why you missed it. Separation is just a misunderstanding.
Path: Working with evidence that you’ve pulled away from connection
In the Shambhala teachings, basic goodness is called the great cosmic secret. But what hides it in the first place? If it’s so natural, then why don’t we feel one with the Universe and content and complete all the time? It’s because we have doubt about our basic goodness, and because we aren’t in the present. Confidence and doubt arise in every moment, and we can ‘default’ to either. Every obstacle to feeling basic goodness is a manifestation of doubt. We’re not talking about intellectual doubt – questioning – here. Doubt here means the sinking feeling that you’re actually rotten or unworthy after all, in your own little hole alone.
Doubt leads to exhaustion, because feeling disconnected from everything and everyone is exhausting. You would like to be a couch potato. The exhaustion in turn leads to disheartenment, because you’re not sure how you’re going to be able to handle everything. Issues seem big and problems insurmountable. So to give yourself a break from all these problems, you distract yourself with all kinds of busyness. Life becomes speedy and chaotic. We become territorial and angry and anything and anyone, and even minor gestures of love and kindness are difficult. That in turn leads to more doubt for you and more pain for others, so that you end up in a downward spiral of exhaustion and loneliness.
So what can you do to get out of the spiral?
Two things: Get really curious about what is really going on with you, and practice being present with śamatha (mindfulness) meditation.
When you get genuinely curious about what’s happening with you and investigate, you open the door to your own wisdom. Investigate to understand, not to judge or reject or struggle with yourself. Self-judgement is just more doubt. Everyone has been in this spiral, not just you; by being willing to get curious and extending gentleness and compassion to yourself, your own wisdom and intelligence has a chance to point out to you that the spiral isn’t actually the truth.
In addition, while basic goodness is what we’re made of, we can only notice this in the present. Usually, we spend most of our time somewhere else – re-exploring the past, imagining the future, imagining another present. This is easy to notice but impossible to change with your intellect or will. That’s why we practice śamatha meditation – to train our minds to remain where our bodies are, so that we have the opportunity to notice basic goodness. By repeatedly placing our attention on our breath and practicing letting go of thoughts, we rewire our brain to connect parts of the default mode network differently and dampen activity in it. This leads to peaceful abiding, śama (pacifying) tha (abide), in the present, where basic goodness is accessible. Together with the experiential wisdom of understanding the spiral, you can stay out of it altogether.
Fruition: Unconditional Joy
When we are fully engaged in something, it becomes imbued with self-existing joy. You have probably experienced this while studying, working, or doing a hobby. There is a pure joy in doing, your energy flows, and time seems to fly. With a mind that can peacefully abide better and better, we can experience this more and more, and not just when doing things we love. Like starts being enough, and eventually we don’t have to like it at all, and in the end we can really dislike what’s going on and still stay engaged and keep the energy flowing.
When we are fully engaged in something, there also isn’t room for doubt. We start defaulting toward unconditional confidence in basic goodness and feel connected to life more often. When we roll down the spiral, we don’t go around as many times before noticing it’s not true, and eventually we know where the edge is and don’t go down it at all. We can just be tired without going into overdrive to keep going, or let a pang of doubt go like a thought long before it exhausts us. We can just be.
Sources:
The Shambhala Sadhana composed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
