A Call to Go From Outer to Inner, From Doing to BEING
Prelude
For every career change, I went through a shift in the Theory of Change for myself (as I so needed one), how my work will bring meaning and purpose to myself. It has been hard work and a lonely process in that long path of seeking, often in very different domains that had not intersected before. Now I want to create something for people like me in our learning journeys in both the inner and outer worlds. It will introduce new research, new theories, and hypothesis, ideas and stories that otherwise might not seem evident to the change we want to make for this world and the people we love.
It will be called “Alternative Theory of Change- From Inner to Outer, Doing to Being”.
The format will likely be a weekly blog or newsletter, synthesizing the news, events, and other resources in the intersection of inner growth and social change, a space that I have been working on for a while with the leading thinkers, researchers, and doers in the world and felt so fortunate for the opportunity to learn. This is a place to facilitate learning, practicing, and doing to stop our inner and outer crises (in that exact order).
I think this would be —
-For myself to remember that writing is a part of the thinking process and a reminder to go deeper into what I receive.
-For those who believe a new paradigm of change to fix the problems of our time needs to happen from within our hearts.
-For “changemakers,” the philanthropists, investors, entrepreneurs, NGO leaders, and other thinkers and doers who are born sense makers, purpose seekers, the kind and vulnerable souls among us who seek to grow and evolve themselves first before lifting others, for those who want to apply that inner growth and evolution to making positive changes in the world- may you find more kindred spirit, inspirations, actions, resources here.
One: BEINGNESS and ZIZAI
Last night's conversation with Chinese philosopher Liu FengHe was eye-opening. As someone who has tried various contemplative practices over the years, I've experienced elevated states of consciousness. However, as a "changemaker," I've been ignoring the reality that the world could evolve and develop without my interventions, despite my best intentions for others and the world. I've realized that I should let things be and continue to share my own and others' "awakening" stories out of love, as they may inspire and inform others.
I sound like a determinist, but I am not. I still believe in “free will” but in a much more “subjective” sense, not so much rooted in the belief that my actions will change the trajectory of things. My free will lies in the freedom of my choices in how to respond to circumstances and happenings (for example, not immediately reaching out for a pain pill when I have a severe toothache but trying to feel the existence of my body through the sense of pain and be reminded how my mind and body are connected that way). I’ve developed a few of these coping mechanisms thanks to the mental fitness training I’ve had through various contemplative practices beginning in my early 20s to cope with the stress of being an investigative journalist and the anxiety that came with my ADHD-prone brain but took off throughout COVID and ever since, nature walk, gardening, mindfulness, transcendental meditation and insight meditation, prayers, breathwork, creative journaling, sound therapies, etc. The results have profoundly changed my life and my career path.
In particular, the transition from a “changemaker” focusing on DOING to a changemaker focusing on BEING happened over the past few years for me; it just made sense.
I am tremendously fortunate to have conversations with some of the leading thinkers and doers on the same path of applying contemplative science and philosophy for social and environmental change, prioritizing the individual’s inner transformation first.
Liu Fenghe might not be one of those renowned philosophy or religious scholars with many published titles, but the simplicity of his theory and thought process makes sense. His theory on BEINGness as the first principle is reminiscent of Chan Buddhism in some cases. But he explained in very secular and simple terms without the mysticism flavors around it. He is humble and open to questions and does not position himself as a guru but just a teacher engaging in a friendly and curious conversation.
“I am the kind of person that seeks to find the bottom of things, I keep asking questions, and I have had the great fortune to encounter various unusual circumstances,” Liu told us. Mystical encounters, I recall, are one of the leading causes of “transcendences” and personal transformations according to researchers of “seekers.” (along with depression and near-death experiences)
Liu is the author of The article Great Wisdom Holds the Answers to Human Suffering (full article link here), which is featured in the book <Intelligence and Wisdom — AI Meets Chinese Philosophers> compiled by Bing Song, a former investment banker turned independent thinker that I’ve always enjoyed reading and talking to. She’s also the Senior Vice President of Berggruen Institute and Director of Berggruen China Center. The book was an effort to respond to AI anxiety by drawing the collective wisdom of humans, especially those with Eastern Asian roots.
He argues the following:
- - The fundamental nature of humans and the universe is “Beingness”, an essential nature of all existence, including humans. It Is the source of perception, thought, and action and the precondition of human functions and their effects.
- - We can NOT understand reality through perceptions because they are subjective and illusory.
- - The value and significance of human life in the age of AI is beyond our perceptions, but awakening to one’s true nature and zizai (self-existing joy) is the key to realizing those values. Pursuing external goals and attachments can only lead to suffering and a limited view of life. The need to awaken to one’s innate capacities becomes more critical.
- - Humankind’s relationship with AI : AI remains a tool in service of humans; the limitations of machines in possessing true consciousness should be reassuring, but it does not mean AI can not be destructive if it falls in the hands of unconscious humans — in which case it’s still a human problem, not a machine problem. The machine amplifies flaws in certain humans if they don’t awaken to the reality of connectedness and continue to be trapped in their fears and egos.
- - Again, dealing with the perceived world from the basis of Being should be a premise from which we can make wise use of human capacities and embrace innate freedom and zizai (self-existing joy). Liu suggests that human life’s actual value and significance lie in understanding the fundamental nature of humans and the universe.
Like their Western counterparts, Chinese philosophers — immersed in a long history of fusion of Confucianism, Daoism, or Buddhism — have expressed deep concerns over the diminishing of human autonomy and freewill in the age of automation, as well as the potential loss of purpose and meaning of human life.
New sparks, lines of thinking, and ethical dimensions with roots in Eastern philosophy emerged when Berggruen Institute convened a group of AI experts and Chinese philosophers in a series of dialogues and workshops during the past few years pre-pandemic. These insights have significantly impacted the Chinese approach to AI threats and ethics. And it has never been so relevant today, with the birth of ChatGPT and the mass application of generative AI.
I hope this makes the alternative reading list for your summer. But it’s ok if you are too busy enjoying “being” and have no time for doing, “reading” included. (The English version of the book <Intelligence and Wisdom — AI Meets Chinese Philosophers> was published in 2021. )
The true self (Being)
is the All-Possessing, All-Manifesting,
All-Embracing and All-Integrating,
with no restrictions or attachments.
Its wondrous functions
are out of Their innate wisdom,
and It is the Self-Subsisting, the Boundless.
In the true self, there is no ego,
nor pride, prejudice or lowliness
arising from subjective judgment.
— Liu Fenghe
