om spirit
N
amaste is a word that most
people have heard, whether
they’ve ever set foot in a
yoga class or not. Some of
us have even said it without
knowing what it really means — I know
I did for the first few years of my yoga
practice! So what does this omnipresent
Sanskrit word actually mean?
Namaste is an honouring that you and
I are connected. We are all connected in
the web of life and if I harm you whether
through words or actions I am ultimately
harming myself. It is an acknowledgement
that we are fundamentally the same being
looking out at the world with different eyes.
The word has a deeply profound
meaning that I believe, on a broader level,
is starting to pervade all aspects of the
story of our society.The current dominant Western blueprint
of the world put forth through various
institutions, no more so than the media, is
the idea of an evil ‘other.’
According to this story, if this fearful
‘other’ could be dealt with then we would
be free of any problem. Yet this ‘other’
is seemingly always changing: from the
Soviets, to the terrorists, to the immigrants,
to the criminals. The wars keep on going,
the cameras keep on rolling, the security
keeps rising, and so too do tragic events
around the world.
This stems from the prevalent
‘dispositionist psychology’ that runs
through our culture. This is a tendency to
overlook the situations that people are in,
and judge their behaviour based on what
we assume is their personality.
Compare this to ‘situational psychology’which attributes a person’s actions
according to the situation they are in. From
this belief of human nature, patience and
compassion rather than judgement arise in
challenging situations with other people.Good samaritans
Most of us in the West have heard of the
story of the Good Samaritan: the story a
Rabbi and a Levite walking past an injured
man, with the ‘Good Samaritan’ stopping to
help. In 1978, a situational pscyhology study
was conducted to test altruistic behaviour
and to find out more about the story.
The variables to be tested were the
relative haste of the participants, and
how occupied their minds were with other
matters. It has been disputed that, because
the thoughts of the Rabbi and the Levite
were on religious and spiritual matters,The
OF
POWER
Questioning the dominant psychology of our society to unearth
our true Buddha nature each and every day. Luke Bache explores the
magic contained within a single word