I thank His Holiness

"We are visitors on this planet. We are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most. During that period, we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives. If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life."

The 14th Dalai Lama

I can't think of any better way to kick off the summer than to hear the Dalai Lama. The University of Northern Iowa brought him to speak on campus. I, having a very kind and generous friend, had the privilege of attending the panel discussion and the keynote address. While the topic was "Education" the Dalai Lama touched on several issues and ideas; everything from nuclear disarmament to overpopulation to human nature. One of the lessons I came away with was that it is our nature, he says, to be happy, compassionate and caring toward one another and our world. But social injustices and the fact that not everyone experiences compassion, can lead one to violence. Not just physical violence, but exploitation, isolation and other harms as well. If we forget that other people are human beings, with feelings, emotions and needs, then that is a form of harm. When we create an "us against them" we do harm. Too often, he said, people get wrapped up in secondary interests (ie: religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, class, education, etc.) and lose sight of what is more important. Not these categories, but the primary category of "one human family" is what we should be most concerned with.

Mind you, the Dalai Lama is not an idealist, he is very knowledgeable about political implications and social realities. He is thoughtful, cheerful insightful and keenly attuned to global happenings. I was thinking of an episode of "This American Life" about a four year old who was able discern a striking comparison between the lives of Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr. I thought about the messages of Jesus and MLK Jr and thought about the Dalai Lama. I suppose it is his messages (you know- really controversial, like "Happiness comes from the inside.") along with the status as the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet, that afford the Dalai Lama with a secret service detail and, for all attendees, metal detectors. A "Free Speech Area" was established across from the arena in which he spoke. As far as I could tell, nobody was exercising their right to protest the Dalai Lama.

Perhaps one of the most memorable parts of the day for me, was when he set expectations for the keynote address. He informed us that he couldn't heal people, and he was skeptical of people who promised healing. He informed us that this was not going to be formal, because formality puts distance between people. He made sure we understood he was just speaking to us on a human level-- one human being to another. Nothing more, nothing less.