Creating a Culture of Peace Integrating Buddhist Values into the American Worldview

Amy Davis

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Newman, John

Keywords

Buddhism, Psychology, Education

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

One of the primary problems I perceive in American, western society is a fundamentally ill worldview, a disintegrative nature within our conceptions of ourselves and of our relationships with others. This manifests most obviously as hyper-individualism and competitiveness, a winner-take-all, survival-of-the-fittest mentality, and the myths of an essential incompatibility between, for example, equitability and profitability, individual well-being and social welfare, the �rational� and the �spiritual�. The purpose of this research has been to explore an alternate vision from which to work from, a different �running program� from which to approach life, particularly with regard to conflict resolution, including conflicts within individuals. My interests, in this vein, were based on �engaged Buddhism� and the applications of similar philosophies, particularly in the fields of psychotherapeutic approaches and education. In other words, I discuss how Buddhist values might be useful in the practice of those who shape how our society thinks, educators and psychotherapists in particular. Although this project is based on Buddhist ideals, it has not been my aim to be at all exclusionary in this regard I am interested in good, effective concepts and research, not dogmatic or impractical ones. My ultimate goal was to achieve an understanding of what factors create healthy, integrated individuals, families, and communities. Overall, the most important ethical implication of this research is the importance of others-centeredness for resolving intra- and interpersonal conflicts.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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