Goodwill Too Big to Fail

Close your eyes and breathe comfortably. It’s a way of showing goodwill for yourself. It’s not the sort of thing they recommend on Dove chocolates where they basically say, “Be kind to yourself. Eat more chocolate.” Focusing on the breath is actually something good for you. The breath is free. It’s your own territory. You can breathe anyway you want. It has no impact on other people—except that if you breathe uncomfortably, some of your sense of discomfort may spill out on others. If you breathe comfortably, the mind is in a better mood, and maybe some of that goodness will spill out on others.

So it’s not a selfish activity we’re doing here. It’s part of an effort to create a sense of goodwill that’s impervious to changes outside, that doesn’t have to depend on people being good. The Buddha has you hold the perception in mind that your goodwill is as large and solid as the earth, as large and cool as the river Ganges, as expansive as space. You want to hold these perceptions in mind and think of your goodwill as something that’s too big to fail.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you won’t have moments when your goodwill begins to totter—just like the banks they say are too big to fail, but every now and then they do something really stupid and require a huge inflow of cash. What it means, of course, is that they’re too important to fail. We can’t let them fail.

In the same way, your goodwill is too important for you to let it fail. If you start having ill will for other people, then you’ll behave in unskillful ways toward them. That will become your bad karma, and you’ll be a bad example for the world. As the Buddha said, you should look after your goodwill in the same way as a mother would look after her only child. You should defend your goodwill with your life in the same way as she would defend her child with her life. So, regard your goodwill as that important, something you want to keep strong.

All too often, we have the perception that people who are kind and have lots of goodwill are basically weak, that they’re not strong enough to assert themselves. But goodwill is a real strength. It protects you from your unskillful impulses and it provides a foundation for the practice.

The Buddha often couples goodwill with patient endurance. That’s where its strength is. You want your goodness to be independent. So, you’re patient and you have goodwill. In this way, you benefit others and you benefit yourself. So always regard your goodwill as too big to fail. Give it that measure of importance and you’ll be repaid many times over.