Mutual Aid

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

During a visit to my family home sometime in the mid-1990’s, I came across a dear friend under the stairs. This was not so strange as you may think. The friend was a book – as many of my best friends growing up tended to be – an old, tattered edition of Peter Kropotkin’s ‘Mutual Aid’.

I had purchased the book in a second-hand bookstore in Cambridge some twenty years before. It came into my life at a time when I was looking hard for intelligent refutations of the idea that life is a grim struggle in which every person should look after number one. I wanted support in my conviction that altruism is not only possible, but an essential feature of human survival and flourishing.

Kropotkin’s book was a revelation. Here, he summarises his findings: “Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle; but that as a factor of evolution it most probably has a far greater importance, inasmuch as it favours the developement of such habits and characters as ensure the maintenance and further developement of the species, together with the greatest amount of welfare and enjoyment of life for the individual, with the least waste of energy.”

Over a hundred years have passed since the publication of this book. But with the current situation in the world it has come back to my mind again. In this crisis, there are signs that many are waking up to the necessity and nobility of mutual aid. In the coming months and years, as the economic impact of the virus becomes apparent, especially on the poor and vulnerable, let us nurture this commitment to compassionate action for the welfare of all.

- - ❖ - -

For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.