“We live infinitesmally short lifespans on an insignificant speck of dust in space, with delusions of grandeur, when the best we can achieve, which is pretty good, is friendship, love and to a small extent, self-awareness. We’re going to get smart now, and learn to be the humble mortals that we are. Or we’re going to cease to exist. In other words, it’s time for the human race to grow up.”
Category Archives: Philosophy
The Way We Were
Some thoughts on the “Back to work! Back to school! Return to normal!” controversy. Let me say up front, I don’t have to work (retired) and I don’t have children so you might say I don’t have a dog in this hunt (except to the extent everything is connected to everything. Totally.)
I’m not convinced that most politicians really give a shit about getting kids back in school, except that it’s necessary in order for mom and dad to get back to work. If every child in America missed a year of school it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The end of the parents’ sanity perhaps. No, I think there’s something deeper at work here. Allow me to share my theory (which I pulled out of my ass).
The Brush Fire Analogy
Back when I watched network and cable news shows, the raging brush fires in the western states was a staple. And every so often we were treated to a forester explaining we needed fires like this every so often to burn off the underbrush and if we don’t let that happen, well you get a worse fire. After the fires burn out we get video of blackened hillsides and scorched earth. But in a few years nature recovers. No big deal for Nature, but not so good for the folks who built multi-million dollar homes in the wilderness.
Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. The reason (okay, one of the reasons) so many people are frantic to “get back to normal” is they fear they might not get back to normal. To the way we were before the pandemic. Now, they can’t imagine what that might look like but they’re pretty sure they wouldn’t like it.
If we survive the pandemic (and whatever comes after the pandemic), most folks assume/hope/believe life will be pretty much like it was before. And the longer it takes us to get there, the greater the chance it won’t be. And that is terrifying for most folks. Their sense of self (who they are) is all tangled up in familiar institutions and routines and relationships. Blow all that up and you blow them up. In truth, things are never they way they were but it usually happens so slowly we don’t notice.
“Don’t do anything”
An explanation of meditation by S. N. Goenka:
“Don’t try to control the breath or to breathe in any particular way. Just observe the reality of the present moment, whatever it may be. When the breath comes in, you are just aware — now the breath is coming in. When the breath goes out, you are just aware — now the breath is going out. And when you lose your focus and your mind starts wandering in memories and fantasies, just remain aware — now my mind has wandered away from the breath.”
The Art of Not Trying
We’re All Monastics Now
“In this global pandemic, we’re in an era of isolation, retreat. We’re also in an era of heightened uncertainty. This can be a terrible thing, and drive us to loneliness and distraction … or it can be a time of practice, reflection, and deepening.”