Reactions of the Human Heart

Developing a Broader Concern: Clues to Living in a Stress-Filled Society

" . . . In the past, human society provided encouragement and opportunity for people to extend support to each other, especially in highly stressful situations. Regrettably, many of the networks that supported us have been weakened or undermined. Faced with stress, too many people feel they have nowhere to turn to, that they don't have access to the kind of friendships or communities where they can easily and openly share their problems and worries."

" . . . telling someone that their problem is no big deal, even with the helpful intention of encouraging them, might actually deepen and intensify their experience of stress. The reactions of the human heart are not mechanical and predictable but infinitely subtle and delicate."

" . . From one perspective, core sources of stress can be traced to our contemporary ideas about the nature of the self. On the one hand, we are each expected, as "free individuals," to be able to deal unaided with any situation. At the same time, the massive bureaucratic structures of society treat people as components and cogs, inculcating the sense that we are powerless to shape our fate, much less to move human society in a new and better direction. Torn between excessive expectations and feelings of ultimate powerlessness, people become increasingly susceptible to the impact of stress."

" . . Coping successfully with stress requires that we try to see ourselves in a different light. We need a deeper understanding of our truly limitless potentialities as well as our vulnerabilities, how we can develop our strengths as individuals through mutual support."

" . . . Hans Selye, who pioneered the field of stress research, offered the following advice based on his own experience of battling cancer: First, establish and maintain your own goals in life. Second, live so that you are necessary to others--such a way of life is ultimately beneficial to yourself.

" . . Now, more than ever, we need to develop the qualities of strength, wisdom and hope as we forge expanding networks of mutual support."

" . . In the end, the key to living in a stress-filled society lies in feeling the suffering of others as our own--in unleashing the universal human capacity for empathy. There is no need to carry the burden of a heavy heart alone."


[Excerpted from SGI President Daisaku Ikeda's opinion editorial published in The Japan Times newspaper on November 9, 2006.]