蜜芽传媒

Good morning. I鈥檝e always appreciated that life in Britain is privileged and fortunate; but this week鈥檚 reports about asylum seekers and migrants risking their lives to enter Britain and Europe have rather filled me with unease. I feel guilty that so many people are impelled to risk their lives to gain the type of normality I take for granted 鈥� and often moan about.

Whether it鈥檚 hanging on to lorries and trains under the Channel or crossing the Mediterranean in treacherous boats, these are people willing to jeopardise everything for a better future. Our provision for asylum-seekers who reach these shores may seem to be an incentive 鈥� and perhaps it does suggest to them that we might be more sympathetic to their plight than other countries.

But, do we really believe that reducing such financial benefits would significantly affect the demand? Or, that abandoning the Mare Nostrum search and rescue service in the Med might help discourage people getting on those boats? If there is to be a solution 鈥� albeit long-term 鈥� it may not be by reducing the attractiveness of Britain, but by reducing the desperation and demand that drives people to such extremes.

The Hindu text, the Isha Upanishad, suggests that: 鈥淓verything within this world is in God鈥檚 care. Therefore, we should accept for ourselves only those things which are our personal quota; and not take more than that, knowing well to whom everything else belongs.鈥�

The Sanskrit word here: 鈥渢yaktena鈥� 鈥� our quota, or that which is put aside for us - has long been debated. How much is that? My approach is to ask myself: could everyone in the world sustainably enjoy the same scale of possessions and lifestyle that I take for myself?

Some years ago, I was asked to advise on the formation of the Dow Jones Dharma Index 鈥� these are financial investment criteria based on Hindu and Buddhist principles. Commodities that were already discounted from the Index included arms, alcohol, tobacco, adult entertainment and so on. I urged the inclusion of another Dharmik test based on this principle of a personal quota: is it possible and acceptable for everyone on the planet to acquire this product?

I know I can鈥檛 claim to live within what should be my quota. The level of my lifestyle and aspirations cannot be enjoyed equally by the other seven billion citizens of the world. So, no wonder our country is so enticing to those with little or nothing.

It鈥檚 not our wealth or weather that makes Britain into an El Dorado. I think, it鈥檚 our richness of social and moral conscience. And, I would wish we apply that conscience to policies that balance our needs more fairly with those of the rest of the world.

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