February 22, 2003

big questions

This friend of mine is perpetually telling me how messed up things are, how backwards the world is, and how silly we all are. He’s plagued with asking the Big Questions. Like most of us, he would prefer the inner dialog to just give it a rest. He’d like to be the guy who just goes to work, does “the job” for 8 hours, heads home to watch some TV, then falls right to sleep at night. We both know a few people like this and we’re blown away by them.

Normally when we hang out, I just keep my thoughts to myself. I don’t say much about my philosophical take on the world. Mostly I just nod in agreement that, yes, it is nuts that we spend five days a week working some job to pay for the car to get us to work so we can buy food and a house and be tied to this chain of constant displeasure. I learned my lesson with a few people that offering a solution without being asked to do so, no matter how much you believe it to be correct, will never turn the tide. They have to want to hear it.

Last night we hung out, went to coffee and when he asked what I was up to these days, I mentioned that I am bringing some monks to town. We talked about who they were and their lineage. Why I was bringing them to town and what significance it had in my life. It was a nice discussion and we talked about Tibetan history, a little about the nature of things, cause and effect, possible solutions to end suffering. It was good — great, in fact.

posted @ 4:15 PM

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