In the Buddhist tradition, they speak about something called our true nature, our unconditioned being. Other traditions call this ‘soul’, ‘essence,’ ‘pure consciousness,’ or ‘spirit.’ If we take away all the names, and relate to this as a direct and simple experience, actually accessible for us all, what is it? How does our true nature express itself? How does it move in the world?
For me, one of the simplest ways to approach this is through the term ‘basic goodness.’ There is, in the deepest part of every human being, a goodness that is absolutely natural and uncontrived. This understanding is about as far away from the notion of ‘original sin’ as we could ever get. In our western world, the notion of original sin has gone so deep that it permeates many of the basic structures of our thought, belief, and perception. We see things that are wrong, broken or evil in ourselves and in the world, without any awareness of a deeper ground, a more fundamental nature that is always available.
To awaken to basic goodness engages us in a radically different kind of life. Poets like Mary Oliver glimpse this new way of living:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting,
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
How do we begin to see, to recognize, this basic goodness?
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