Matthieu Ricard: How to let altruism be your guide
Matthieu Ricard: ¿Cómo tener al altruismo como guía?
Sometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer. Full bio
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extraordinario para la bondad,
potential for goodness,
para hacer daño.
or to destroy.
para construir o para destruir.
rather than a selfish one.
que una egoísta.
many challenges in our times.
enfrentamos muchos desafíos.
or our worst enemy.
la mejor amiga o la peor enemiga.
inequalities, conflict, injustice.
las desigualdades, los conflictos, la injusticia.
which we don't expect.
about five million human beings on Earth.
5 millones de seres humanos en la Tierra.
would soon heal human activities.
pronto sanaba la actividad humana.
and Technological Revolutions,
industrial y tecnológica,
of impact on our Earth.
de impacto en la Tierra.
the era of human beings.
la era de los seres humanos.
we need to continue this endless growth,
continuar este crecimiento sin fin,
I won't mention who, saying --
no voy a decir quién--
the edge of the precipice.
that has been defined by scientists
los científicos definieron
they can carry a number of factors.
pueden darse una serie de factores.
prosper for 150,000 years
aún puede prosperar durante 150 000 años
estabilidad del clima
for the last 10,000 years.
los últimos 10 000 años.
a voluntary simplicity,
una simplicidad voluntaria,
no cuantitativamente.
we were well within the limits of safety.
dentro de los límites de seguridad.
to imagine what comes next.
e imaginen lo que viene después.
some of the planetary boundaries.
algunos de los límites planetarios.
at the current rate,
al ritmo actual,
on Earth will have disappeared.
terrestres habrá desaparecido.
that's not going to be reversible.
no será reversible.
21,000-foot glacier in Bhutan.
(21 000 pies) en Bután.
are melting fast, faster than the Arctic.
derritiendo más rápido que el Ártico.
politically, economically, scientifically
en lo político, económico, científico,
of altruism versus selfishness.
de altruismo versus egoísmo.
about future generations?
importarme las generaciones futuras?
the billionaire Steve Forbes,
multimillonario Steve Forbes,
the same thing, but seriously.
lo mismo, pero en serio.
to change my behavior today
mi comportamiento de hoy
in a hundred years."
dentro de cien años".
for future generations,
the end-of-the-year accounts;
el balance de fin de año;
life, over 10 years and 20 years? --
cada 10 años, cada 20 años,
speak with economists,
hablan con los economistas,
completely incoherent.
completamente incoherente.
I went around the world
fui por todo el mundo;
neuroscientists, environmentalists,
neurocientíficos, ambientalistas,
in the Himalayas, all over the place.
en el Himalaya, en todos lados.
those three time scales.
esas 3 escalas de tiempo.
consideration for others.
consideración por los demás.
you will have a caring economics,
tendrán una economía del cuidado,
al servicio de la sociedad
servicio de las finanzas.
have entrusted you with.
les han encomendado.
that you remedy inequality,
of well-being within society,
de bienestar a la sociedad,
the most powerful and the richest
más poderosa y rica
what's the point?
¿cuál es la idea?
consideration for others,
consideración por el otro,
that planet that we have
have three planets to continue that way.
para continuar de esa manera.
it's not just a novel ideal,
la respuesta, no es novedad,
solución real, pragmática?
o somos egoístas?
we were irredeemably selfish.
éramos irremediablemente egoístas.
like Hobbes, have said so.
como Hobbes, lo han dicho.
than working together, is there?
que trabajar juntos, ¿no?
the struggle for life,
social Darwinism.
el darwinismo social.
though competition exists, of course --
--aunque existe la competencia, claro--
to go to increased levels of complexity.
ser mucho más creativa
niveles de complejidad.
and we should even go further.
y deberíamos ir más allá.
the quality of human relationships.
en las relaciones humanas.
including income, everything.
incluyendo ingresos, todo.
that's the main thing for my happiness,
como importante para su felicidad,
that if we go deep within,
en nuestro interior,
that's ever shown that.
spent a whole life
in very complex situations.
en situaciones muy complejas.
and some people more than others.
y algunas personas más que otras.
no matter what,
sin importar nada,
no matter what.
sin importar nada.
deeply wounded, great suffering,
herido, sufriendo mucho,
out of empathic distress --
than to keep on looking at that person.
que seguir mirando a esa persona.
he said, clearly people can be altruistic.
que claramente podemos ser altruistas.
at the banality of goodness.
la banalidad de la bondad.
going to say, "That's so nice.
"Eso es tan agradable.
was thinking about altruism."
la masa pensaba en el altruismo".
we would speak of that for months.
hablaríamos de eso durante meses.
that doesn't attract your attention,
que no llama la atención,
projects in the Himalayas
140 proyectos humanitarios en el Himalaya,
you work for the warm glow.
el resplandor cálido [warm glow].
You just feel good."
Simplemente te sientes bien".
when he jumped in front of the train,
al saltar frente al tren,
so good when this is over?"
cuando esto termine"?
you interviewed him, he said,
I had to jump, of course."
tenía que saltar, claro".
It's neither selfish nor altruistic.
automático. No es egoísta ni altruista.
not going to think for half an hour,
no iba a pensar media hora:
¿Debería no hacerlo?"
but it's obvious, it's immediate.
pero obvia, inmediata.
allí él tenía una opción.
like Pastor André Trocmé and his wife,
como el pastor André Trocmé y su esposa,
of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in France.
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon en Francia.
they saved 3,500 Jews,
salvaron a 3500 judíos,
brought them to Switzerland,
of their lives and those of their family.
su vida y la de su familia.
and find the cause of happiness.
y encuentre la causa de la felicidad.
or cognitive resonance that tells you,
o la resonancia cognitiva que les dice:
this person suffers.
confronted with suffering,
angustia empática, agotamiento,
of loving-kindness.
Institute of Leipzig,
Instituto Max Planck, de Leipzig,
empathy and loving-kindness are different.
para la empatía y la bondad son diferentes.
from maternal care, parental love,
el cuidado materno, el amor de los padres,
we need two things:
más altruista, necesitamos 2 cosas:
of contemplative study said yes, it is.
dijeron que sí, que lo es.
with neuroscience and epigenetics
la neurociencia y la epigenética
when you train in altruism.
si se entrena en el altruismo.
de resonancia magnética.
after two and a half hours.
estuve 2 horas y media.
in many scientific papers.
en muchos trabajos científicos.
that there is structural change
que hay un cambio estructural
when you train the altruistic love.
si se entrena el amor altruista.
you see all the activity,
ven la actividad,
nothing happened,
descansa, no ocurre nada,
of meditation? No, you don't.
de meditación? No.
of caring, mindfulness meditation
de meditación afectiva, consciente,
in the brain compared to a control group.
cerebro comparado con un grupo de control.
for four weeks.
durante 4 semanas.
Richard Davidson did that in Madison.
Richard Davidson lo hizo en Madison.
kindness, cooperation, mindful breathing.
cooperación, respiración consciente.
"Oh, they're just preschoolers."
en edad preescolar".
that's the blue line.
es esa línea azul.
scientific test, the stickers test.
la prueba de las pegatinas.
who is their best friend in the class,
el mejor amigo de la clase,
an unknown child, and the sick child,
desconocido, y el niño enfermo,
they give most of it to their best friend.
la mayor parte a su mejor amigo.
20 minutes three times a week.
20 minutos, 3 veces por semana.
no more discrimination:
no más discriminación:
best friend and the least favorite child.
y al niño menos favorito.
in all the schools in the world.
en todas las escuelas del mundo.
he told Richard Davidson,
le dijo a Richard Davidson:
the U.N., the whole world."
a la ONU, al mundo entero".
gene to be in the human race?
a la raza humana un gen altruista?
too much for the environment.
demasiado para el medio ambiente.
the evolution of culture.
la evolución de la cultura.
change faster than genes.
produce cambios más rápido que los genes.
has dramatically changed over the years.
drásticamente en los últimos años.
change mutually fashion each other,
se modelan mutuamente,
a more altruistic society.
una sociedad más altruista.
a year in our projects.
al año en nuestros proyectos.
four percent overhead.
4 % por encima.
your stuff works in practice,
tus cosas funcionan en la práctica,
to better serve others.
para servir mejor a los demás.
what can we do?
¿qué podemos hacer?
instead of competitive learning,
en vez de aprendizaje competitivo;
within corporations --
dentro de las empresas,
between corporations, but not within.
entre empresas, pero no dentro.
I love this term.
Me encanta este término.
we will reduce inequality.
ahora reduciremos la desigualdad.
not quantitatively.
no cuantitativamente.
with poverty in the midst of plenty,
de la pobreza en medio de la abundancia,
of the common goods
al problema de los bienes comunes
should be compassionate,
debería ser compasiva,
that looks bad.
eso es mal visto.
global responsibility.
y responsabilidad global.
to the other 1.6 million species.
al otro 1,6 millón de especies.
are co-citizens in this world.
co-ciudadanos en este mundo.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Matthieu Ricard - Monk, author, photographerSometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer.
Why you should listen
After training in biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur, Matthieu Ricard left science behind to move to the Himalayas and become a Buddhist monk -- and to pursue happiness, both at a basic human level and as a subject of inquiry. Achieving happiness, he has come to believe, requires the same kind of effort and mind training that any other serious pursuit involves.
His deep and scientifically tinged reflections on happiness and Buddhism have turned into several books, including The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. At the same time, he also makes sensitive and jaw-droppingly gorgeous photographs of his beloved Tibet and the spiritual hermitage where he lives and works on humanitarian projects.
His latest book on happiness is Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill; his latest book of photographs is Tibet: An Inner Journey.
Matthieu Ricard | Speaker | TED.com