The Secret Buddha Declaration to the Current State of Human Affairs

The Secret Buddha is a website dedicated to assisting people to acquire the basic life skills required to find peace and tranquility in this chaotic world of ours. We do, however, in the absence of worthy leaders, or our ability to place them in power, feel the necessity to make the following declaration:

We live in a society that has lost its balance between the individual’s needs and society’s needs. Far too many have either never developed or have lost the capacity to see how their actions affect others — and far too many simply no longer care.

Common decency is no longer common, and the amoral either do not know or do not believe that their morals are corrupt. Sustainable morals are not taught in our institutions, and the institutions themselves no longer know what sustainable morals are.

There are no longer any institutions that create community for all people. Religious institutions can no longer fulfil this role, and no others have risen to take their place.

Governments, even democratic ones, no longer serve all their citizens for the betterment of all. They serve individuals — or the interests of money and power. Democratic governments, and those with power have undermined democracy and seek to control its outcomes in their favor.

Health institutions serve the health industry. They are morally bankrupt and worship our new god: money.

The media is no longer truly free, and the masses neither know nor care.

Social media caters to bias, marginalising the sane, concerned, and caring centrists, and driving the wedge between right and left ever deeper.

The rich and famous are celebrated — even revered — while the everyday heroes who quietly keep the world from falling apart go unnoticed.

The right wing fears strangers, while the left wing would impoverish you to welcome them. Both shout louder than the voices of common sense, and to the media, attention matters more than truth or the survival of our societies.

In the West, peace and prosperity have produced weak men and a society that no longer believes it needs strong men to protect it — instead, it foolishly fears them. Thus, figures that once belonged to political satire and science fiction now occupy presidential offices.

Change

Those in power are no longer capable of bringing about positive change; therefore, we must — by changing ourselves. Change starts within us and extends to those around us. The only change possible in our time is the change we forge from below — through ourselves, our families, our friends, and our communities. We must make our lives sustainable and self-sufficient at every level — independent of those who control central wealth, resources, and energy.

• Examine your morals, and shape them to serve not only yourself but all of mankind. Morality has been eroded and must be rebuilt and reintroduced through education and example.
• Use your own mind and reason to interpret events. In Western democracies — not only under dictatorships — governments, political parties, and those in power control much of the mainstream media. Seek balanced, trustworthy, and non-partisan sources of information. No one promised this would be easy, but life was never designed for ease.
• Be kind and just. You have to be strong to be kind.
• Consider the effects of your actions on others. Lasting peace is impossible while your neighbour suffers.
• Men and women must be strong and resilient to build moral societies.
• We have agency over the planet and all other species that share it, and with that agency comes a moral obligation to care for them. This is non-negotiable.
• Just as the majority must respect and protect minorities, so too must minorities respect and protect majorities. Strength without compassion becomes tyranny; compassion without strength becomes helplessness. Sustainable morality demands both.
• Reject fundamentalism. Advocate balance, and reflect this balance in society. A minority is not favoured over a majority, nor does a majority discriminate against a minority.

It may be a long and slow process, and we may be starting late — but there is no alternative. We must build the morals and the character within ourselves — and, by extension, within those around us. There is no one coming to save us but ourselves.