The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World

by Dalai Lama XIV

There is nothing. On the other hand, if a society places too much emphasis on the individual, to the point where he or she feels too independent, has a sense of not needing others, and feels totally self-sufficient, then it is sort of like a person who sits on the limb of a tree while he is sawing it off. It’s foolish!” As with extreme Individualism, it was easy to see the dangers of extreme Collectivism. In fact, the world has seen far too often the destructive effects of the state trampling upon the rights of the individual in the name of the collective: the gulags, the repressive regimes, the horrors that occur when human beings are stripped of their individual human rights. There is something about even the more benign forms of extreme Collectivism that seems to squelch human creativity, personal initiative, and growth.