Dear Bhutanese, greetings from Finland! Finland and Bhutan have much in common. Both countries have relatively small populations. In addition, both are geographically distant: Bhutan in the mountains and Finland isolated by the Baltic Sea from Western Europe. But there are differences too: while Bhutan opened up to the world in 1974 and began democratic reforms in the 2000s, Finland has been a free democracy for over a hundred years. Moreover, Finland modernised rapidly after World War II and is now a highly technologically advanced country, whereas in the mountains of Bhutan there are still places lacking modern conveniences.

Many Bhutanese might think that Finns are lucky to live in such a modern country. However, modernity has its downsides. The Western world suffers from increasing crime, while in Bhutan crime is minimal and violent crime is almost non-existent. Western countries are grappling with serious environmental problems, while Bhutan is the only carbon-negative country in the world. Furthermore, the mental well-being of populations in Western countries is deteriorating. All the democratic freedoms, wealth, and technological advancement have not brought happiness to people. Industrialisation, urbanisation, and modern enlightenment have also caused people to lose their religion, traditions, empathy for one another, and a sense of belonging. Sometimes these rootless people end up in alcoholism, drug addiction, or even suicide. Often modernisation and, on the other hand, mental distress and suicide statistics go hand in hand.

In my view, many countries in the past were more like Bhutan. At the core of this is the fact that during the Enlightenment in the 18th century Western nations began to lose their connection to transcendent reality , which is also the cornerstone of Buddhism. Today, most people in Western countries do not even know what this transcendence means. With the breaking of this connection, societies became secularised, and ideals were based solely on worldly values rather than spiritual ones. Thus, the ideal of freedom began to be especially valued in Western countries, a concept closely tied to the accumulation of wealth. It was believed that the more wealth a person had, the freer they were. What was not noticed in this way of thinking was that, through this very thinking, people became slaves to money and thus lost their freedom.

Unfortunately, I must tell you that democracy in the West has begun to drift further and further away from freedom. Liberalism, which has become the dominant ideology, does not tolerate conservative thinking, leading to phenomena resembling cultural wars in many countries. Sometimes the West criticizes countries like Bhutan for not being liberal enough. Yet, writers like me are sometimes persecuted by authorities and state media if they criticize the prevailing system. All of this is justified by the protection of “freedom and democracy.” Thus, we see that elevating freedom as an ideal does not necessarily make states free, and progress does not make people happy. Moving forward does not always mean moving in the right direction, which is why some say that the West, as a dominant civilization, is dying.

Finland and Bhutan could have much to learn from each other. In Finland, we could learn to value nature, clean food, compassion for one another, and traditional values rooted in the spiritual rather than the material. I hope the Bhutanese will learn from our mistakes: abandoning one’s traditions for the sake of economic prosperity and technological advancement is not a successful recipe for well-being. In the West more and more people are abandoning even electricity and running water, since those things have not made them happy. I hope the direction of my homeland and all Western countries can still be reversed so that we can be more like Bhutan. Unfortunately, I consider this unlikely, as environmental problems, crime, mental distress, and conflicts between states only continue to increase in the modern world. While many Bhutanese hope their country will become more modern, I myself wish my homeland had never become like that.

Contributed by

Meretvuo

He is a Finnish author and political theorist. He is also a Buddhist and is currently writing a book on Buddhist understanding of life as a path from suffering to happiness.

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