hilitehead

“These attitudes are not helpful even from one’s own selfish point of view. We might ask ourselves, ‘What benefit do I as an individual derive from my self-centerdness, and from the belief in my existence as an independent self?’ When you really think deeply, you will realize the answer is ‘Not very much.’

In fact, these beliefs are the source of suffering and misery even for the individual. The Buddhist literature is full of discussions on this. Interestingly, about two years ago, I was at a medical conference in America, and a participating psychologist presented the findings of research he had carried out over a long period of time. One conclusion he considered almost indisputable was that there seems to be a correlation between early death, high blood pressure and heart disease on one side, and a disproportionately high use of first personal pronouns on the other (‘I’, ‘me,’ and ‘mine’). I thought this finding was very interesting. Even scientific studies seem to suggest that there is a correlation between excessive self-cherishing and damage to one’s physical well-being.”