Gabriel: What do you think of the current state of the world?

Michael: Increasingly, in the last two and a half years, I have realised that my world is 'me'; I am what is happening in my life and my time. Over that period, I have gone into my self internally - whether through Buddhism, acting or writing - to the point where I can see my place in the world around me. As for the general state of the world, I guess there are some things you can change and some things you cannot change. Things that you do not want to change do change and other things that you want to change do not. Rather than say governments are stuffing up the environment, the global economy, the state of global politics, it seems to me that governments are not actually in control any more. It is fine to go out and protest. It is so easy to give an opinion, but to live your relationship between the world out there and what you can do in your life, you have to just set your own goals to change the state of things as you see them. If you go along those lines you will become more at peace with yourself and help people to realise there is no point getting angry, no point blaming other people. If they see what is inside themselves and come to terms with that, then the state of the world out there is something they will be able to relate to.

Gabriel: Should Buddhists get involved in social change?

Michael: Yeah, but they really need to look at their own ground. If you start to get angry at something, you can go along to protest, but there is not much point in getting arrested. Whether there is anger inside of you, if you are a Buddhist with sincerity and pure motivation that is more important, so you need to go back to yourself and look at that.

Gabriel: Is there a Buddhist way of involvement?

Michael: It is how you look at yourself. This might sound very righteous. That is the state of the world, it is not the world. Essentially, the way to get involved in social change is to find something within yourself that you care about, find something within you that you want to change. If you do care about it, you have to roll with the bumps and go back to yourself when you get mad - because you are going to get mad if you do care.

Gabriel: What do you think of the current state of the world?

Sally: The world is in a sorry state. It is in conflict and I am becoming more aware of the fact that we do not handle conflict well. One of my major aims is to understand how we can resolve conflict.

Gabriel: Should Buddhists get involved in social change?

Sally: I asked this question at the Buddhist Summer School and Tarab Tulku said that there is not much point in working in the world until you have worked on yourself. I remember feeling distressed at the thought of walking over people who might be feeling stressed or ill, without being able to be of some help to them. I am a counsellor and I feel a great desire to help people, I work with people all the time. The thought of not working with them I found very distressing. I really enjoyed the Forum at the end of the Summer School, where people spoke out and it was clear that we all have a role. But I also think that the Buddhist point about working with yourself is very important. It is tricky helping other people; often we are actually really helping ourselves. Sitting in meditation, when in a stressful or difficult situation, it is not easy to have detachment. You become reactive. I personally believe meditation is something that we should do all the time, every day. But you have to start somewhere.

Gabriel: Is there a Buddhist way of involvement?

Sally: Buddhism seems to have lots of ways. I have a longer history with anthroposophy. Something that's become very important to me is 'values'. Buddhism seems to hold very important, intrinsic values. I have become aware of living in a world that does not even recognise the reality of values, that values are relative. So I love being in a community where they say honesty is important, detachment is important, kindness is important, and compassion is important. Those things are vital; I do not want to live in a world without those values. I find myself aligning with communities that espouse those values. In helping others, we help ourselves and in helping ourselves, we help others. It helps if you can understand how other people might be feeling inside, because you also have those feelings inside. That makes it easier not to judge the other person. I can help my children through a lot of their trials because I have been there before. I have been fifteen and wanting to look in the mirror all the time and not wanting to do the dishes. I can hear my daughter say that and I could get angry, but if I am in touch with that experience, as I have been, I am more tolerant and patient.

Brad: Environmentally, I am not feeling too good about the state of the world. Reading the press, which seems to have a negative bent because bad news seems to be news, can lead to despair about things. Overpopulation, environmental degradation, lack of spiritual direction in Western society, the prevalence of depression, all make me think that sometimes our society is very directionless. Other societies have their own problems as well. They might have a spiritual direction, but their problems with overpopulation and environmental issues get worse and worse exponentially. You can draw a very dark picture of things.

Gabriel: Should Buddhists get involved in social change?

Brad: Yeah, I think so. Buddhists have got a lot to say that is helpful on all of those issues, because of the way that they see the world. Their spiritual practice leads them to be able to see things in ways that others cannot. They are able to give direction in some of these areas.

Gabriel: Is there a Buddhist way of involvement?

Brad: In all of these questions, a middle way can be a real help. A Buddhist approach can be used with everything. A middle way means not being so reactive that you leap into things, seeing only the extremes. It is being able to sit back and see things from a distance and as a consequence one is able to make choices. Meditation and Buddhism give you the space to be able to deal with things, without being so prompted by things that come up in the physical world. Buddhism emphasises bringing meditation into daily life. That can be very helpful for all of these situations and the people who have to deal with them. If more people in the world were practising Buddhists, we could be in a quite different position. That is what I fancy. Maybe it is a bit idealistic, a kind of 'what-if'. What Buddhism develops in people are universal things, which can help us deal with all sorts of problems.