In a 1999 teaching session on transforming the mind, the Dalai Lama was asked which was better: a city life style or a remote and peaceful setting? The Dalai Lama replied that while it depended on the individual, the very advanced practitioner might “seek a life of solitude and abandon the world, as it were. That is said to be the highest form of spiritual practice.” For most, however, “it is far more important to be an effective member of society, someone who makes a positive social contribution and integrates spiritual practice as much as possible into daily life.” This is the path for most to pursue, said the Dalai Lama, because solitude is too hard for most and they would discover this too late, only to “slowly and quietly, and with some embarrassment … try to sneak back into society!”
–from Transforming the Mind (2000)
Of course, those who make “a positive social contribution,” etc. are few, and those who pursue the “highest form of spiritual practice” are fewer. The overwhelming majority of people, sadly, do neither, and these are the ones who are not reached either through appeals to social contribution or otherwise.
journal of reflections by the resident of the Hermitary