I have been enjoying "The World's Religions" by Huston Smith, one of the most widely known explorers of the great religions. He writes with wisdom and sensitivity. I had never read the part on Hinduism and it was a pleasure. He writes that Hinduism, like Christianity, aims to help followers broaden their scope so that they start to live for more than just themselves. The pain of being passed over for a promotion while someone else gets the job can be lessened, he says, by working to share the promoted one's pleasure in being selected.
Smith had already made clear that Hinduism encourages those who wish to engage in every pleasure. But as one ages, pleasures pale. One grasps that the self is temporary and limited and rather insignificant in the larger scheme of things. At that point, focusing on service to others may become a goal of interest. But when he advised sharing the joy of another who was promoted instead of oneself, I was doubtful that it could be done very well.
Like the other widespread religions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, the Hindu religion uses metaphors and stories to get a point across. Sharing another's pleasure at an achievement denied oneself, Smith says, is comparable to acting the villan or loser in a summer theater production. In that situation, one wouldn't feel too bad about losing the girl or being defeated by the hero. The loss is pretend, not real. Experiencing the loss is one's role and doing so helps the whole production.
Ever since I read that idea that in a sense one can look at the flow of personal experience as a play, I have been getting strong benefit from it. I am not happy with something. I immediately think that I am in a play, playing someone with the unhappy experience. Just as observing my thoughts gives me a little distance from them, thinking of myself as an actor in a play experiencing what is really happening to me gives me a chance to ask if the less-than-wonderful event is really going to matter in 100 years. I can agonize or curse or regret proudly and fully, knowing that playing the role fully in my job and it's only make-believe.
