Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

Gestalt Psychology and Mahayana Buddhism 99
extension of its principles to individuals and groups previously outside its social
vision. To stand still is to regress. It requires an ongoing process of confronting
inconsistencies and hypocrisies, and righting them (e.g., ending slavery, woman’s
suffrage, civil rights). These breeches represent blatant instances of absolutization,
where false attribution of absolute difference (black vs. white, man vs.
woman, gay vs. straight, Protestant vs. Catholic vs. Jew vs. Muslim, tall vs. short,
smart vs. slow) ignites prejudice and denigration. Moral development of individuals
and cultures requires that relational understanding supplant such misattributions
of absoluteness. It often appears to be up to individuals and smaller
groups to awaken the latent understanding and conscience of the larger culture, to
confront the leaden force of cultural inertia and moral complacency with the
deeper truth of undivided being.
Author’s Note
This chapter is an expanded version of a paper originally presented at the 106th Annual Convention of
the American Psychological Association, Aug. 15,1998, in San Francisco, CA. I wish to thank Jeffrey
Hopkins, Georges Dreyfus, and Robert Thurman for their immensely helpful comments on the sections
on Buddhism. Timothy O’Brian, Ralph Ellis, Julie Barnes, Jeannie Russell, and Gabrielle Kelly have
also earned my enduring appreciation for their wise counsel and unflagging support. Above all, I thank
Mary Henle for awakening me to what psychology is and can be. Whatever merit this paper has is due
largely to the contributions of these and other individuals. Where it falls short, responsibility is, of
course, mine alone. Whatever merit that might not belong to others, I dedicate to all sentient beings.
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