What's it all About?

 

 I've been feeling fractured these days. Dare I say, schizoid, for that's how it appears when I look at the world.

 

Well, the world and its critters seem all right; it's the culture that has gone cuckoo, dare I say schizophrenic?

 

We've been fractured before, as in wartime, but now people are warring on each other, on friends, on family, on the capitol, the government, the lawmakers, the politicians, the pharmaceutical companies, the rich, the poor, and probably saying that God is on their side, and against the other. (As though God takes sides.) 

 

And it all happened around the time Covid19 hit us. That pandemic was more than the flu, it was a pandemic of the human spirit, and nobody knew how to handle it. 

 

During that time, it was as though the populist was stirred, and what came to the surface? The most vocal of the people. Pundits swam in the soup, Propaganda flourished like weeds, anonymous people dumped their brain droppings on the populist, and the populist fertilized their gardens with it. The weirder the droppings, the better the weeds.

 

Each side has its ideology. An ideology is a belief system. So, we are fighting over beliefs. Beliefs are thoughts we keep telling ourselves.

 

"Oh no," says one side, "I have data."

 

"Well, so do I," says the other.

 

"If you read what I read, you'd believe as I do." 

 

Yeah, I would. But what if I see the world as a beautiful place, whole, flourishing, friendly, and kind. Would that help bring it about?

 

Would that be the proverbial ostrich's head in the sad, or would it assist the growth of kindness, generosity, service, and friendship? 

 

And then I watch a documentary on happiness. It is Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss. 

 

First, though, if you follow those amorphous, they.  They say, "The search for happiness is the root of unhappiness." 

 

It's like atoms change when observed. When we scrutinize something, it becomes embarrassed and hides, but let's take a peek.

 

In Iceland, they say happiness is a bottle of cod liver oil. (And reading the label, it does say it helps lift the mood) I suspect that if you live in a place that's dark most of the year, cod liver oil is a good idea.

 

Ghana: Can you believe Ghana is the most optimistic land on earth? Primarily because they have Hope that "Things will be better someday." 

 

Changeability is high on the list. "Everything will work out." 

 

Adaptability, "Embrace what comes your way." Isn't that what biology tells us? You either change it, move away, or die.

 

Expressing oneself creatively. In Iceland, there are more artists, musicians, and writers per Capita than anyplace else.  

 

And then people—being with people and family. We are herd animals, after all.

 

And now, happiness reveals itself like the proverbial sculptor who says he just takes away what isn't his sculpture. 

 

"Happiness lies in moments, and while you have it, you're not even aware; only afterward do you know you were happy."

--Luise Rainer, actress 

Really?

 

Which do you choose, the front row or the third?

This picture tickles me, that's the reason I am posting in again.

Think of a man who wants to win the favors of his lady love. He attempts to improve his appearance. He builds up his body. He changes his behavior and practices techniques to charm the object of his intention. And so, it is with spirituality. It is not what you do that brings it to you. What matters is what you are and what you become.

 

Anthony De Mello tells us, “Those things within you that you struggle to fix just need to be understood. If you understood them, they would change.”

 

Easier said than done, my good man.

 

No wonder people ask the age-old question, “What’s the meaning of life?”

 

My daughter asked that question recently, and it made me wonder why people ask it. Wondering about the meaning of life infers that they see no purpose in it, and it prompts such books as “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which usually happens in the face of suffering. 

 

Frolicking people rarely stop laughing to ask that question. They are having too much fun. 

 

Back up a bit. We know too much. We know that life comes and goes. We know that happiness comes in spurts. We know that what brings us happiness one minute can be gone the next. People come into our lives and leave. Pets die. People die. Diseases come. Sickness happens. We know there is suffering.

 

And we know that there is joy.

 

Perhaps that is what we signed up for when we came here, all of it. Maybe we did come here for a reason. We joined the playground hoping to play and got hit in the head by a flying baseball.

 

 

Remember Grandma in the movie Parenthood? She told of a carnival ride that traveled up then down, and she was thrilled by it. “Oh, what fun,” she proclaimed, “we went up, we went down.” 

 

“Nice story Grandma,” said the Steve Martin character.

 

His wife got it. Grandma was talking about the roller coaster of life. 

.

 

What if?

What if our religion was each other?

If our practice was our life?

If prayer was our words?

What if the Temple was the Earth?

If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans?

What if meditation was our relationships?

If the Teacher was life?

If wisdom was self-knowledge.?

If love was the center of our being?

--Ganga White