This will not be entertaining or informative but I’ve had a few weeks where the illusion has worn thin and the need to recenter is too much to dismiss. It’s been over twenty years since the movie, A Few Good Men and the hook line from that movie is what we remember. The scene is set in a courtroom during a military court martial where Tom Cruise is an aggressive young prosecutor and Jack Nicholson is the uncooperative witness. They are in the throws of a heated exchange and Cruise tries to regain control with a passionate plea; “We just want the truth!” Nicholson’s response comes like a cannon shot, full of rage and contempt: “You can’t handle the truth!” My illusion has to do with how slippery the truth can be and whether or not you can deal with it once you have it in your grasp.
Buddhism leans heavily on the Four Noble Truths. Simply stated they tell us: This life is rooted in suffering, that suffering has a cause but the suffering will end, and that has a cause as well. I am not Buddhist but I think the overarching ideas there are profound. Buddha informs us that separation & avoidance help us along the path of enlightened. Rather than engage, we should strive to isolate from worldly distraction; not with a pious, submissive religion but through our own virtual self (meditation).
I like the message but I cannot resist, do not want to abstain from the stuff of suffering. I want to warm in the shine and drench in the rain, so I suffer like everyone else. The fact that we are self aware, combining imagination and language to write our own future, it does not save us from whatever destiny has in store. But living in that (deliverance) myth allows enough wiggle room to offset the suffering, at least a little bit, at least for a while. Can we brainwash ourselves into a comfort zone, not all that different than hitting on cocaine or marijuana; maybe so. But you have to keep taking the pill.
Stoicism is a school of philosophy that I am drawn to. The principle is that one should use reason to overcome self destructive emotions; it defaults to rules and patterns that are consistent with nature. That is truly a tall order as we (humans) have evolved to fall back on emotional conditioning long before we ever consider reason. That observation deserves repeating (long before we ever consider reason). In my attempt to recenter if you will, one's ability to push back against instinctive emotions is central to my purpose. If you have no concept of a parachute or its life saving potential then the thought of jumping out of a plunging, out of control airplane will never move you to action. I tend to be stoic, even skeptical and it (almost) always leaves me in the lurch between my own mortality and human mythology.
Buddhism leans heavily on the Four Noble Truths. Simply stated they tell us: This life is rooted in suffering, that suffering has a cause but the suffering will end, and that has a cause as well. I am not Buddhist but I think the overarching ideas there are profound. Buddha informs us that separation & avoidance help us along the path of enlightened. Rather than engage, we should strive to isolate from worldly distraction; not with a pious, submissive religion but through our own virtual self (meditation).
I like the message but I cannot resist, do not want to abstain from the stuff of suffering. I want to warm in the shine and drench in the rain, so I suffer like everyone else. The fact that we are self aware, combining imagination and language to write our own future, it does not save us from whatever destiny has in store. But living in that (deliverance) myth allows enough wiggle room to offset the suffering, at least a little bit, at least for a while. Can we brainwash ourselves into a comfort zone, not all that different than hitting on cocaine or marijuana; maybe so. But you have to keep taking the pill.
Stoicism is a school of philosophy that I am drawn to. The principle is that one should use reason to overcome self destructive emotions; it defaults to rules and patterns that are consistent with nature. That is truly a tall order as we (humans) have evolved to fall back on emotional conditioning long before we ever consider reason. That observation deserves repeating (long before we ever consider reason). In my attempt to recenter if you will, one's ability to push back against instinctive emotions is central to my purpose. If you have no concept of a parachute or its life saving potential then the thought of jumping out of a plunging, out of control airplane will never move you to action. I tend to be stoic, even skeptical and it (almost) always leaves me in the lurch between my own mortality and human mythology.
I remember enough from my own experience and have filled in the blanks to see how people fumble the (truth) like football players drop the ball. Germany in 1936, a groundswell of self obsessed patriots put their faith in a narcissist demagogue to make Germany great again. He surrounded himself with subordinates whose first loyalty was to the despot himself rather than their responsibility to their country. We know how that turned out. Germany will never completely shed the embarrassment and shame of that folly. Now, some 80 years later there is groundswell support in America for another narcissist demagogue who is promising to make America great again. He parrots the same racist, nationalistic argument that propelled Adolph H. and his 3rd Reich. I get it! I’m old and irrelevant but I get it and it is terribly disappointing. If one cannot define narcissist, demagogue and despot then they should go dig in the nearest dictionary, right now. The collective history of demagogues reflects and repeats the same scenario, all ending with really, really bad news.
I like to think I no longer need a buffer (an emotional preset) to ease the suffering. If my logic is nothing more than an unidentified emotion then the joke is one me. But iI'm not afraid of the unknown or life's undesirable, unavoidable destination. It simply is what it is. Meditation and withdrawal are not a cure. I am convinced that a short but exciting ride is better than a long nap. Maybe I’ve brainwashed myself into accepting my insignificant little part in disbursing the human genome. My ego and my culture would favor a comfortable afterlife and a plaque on a pillar somewhere but the illusion and the myth have no legs of their own. There in lies the truth that is so difficult to reconcile. Regardless of how the story goes after I’ve gone; I was here. I identify with Jack Nicholson. If you can’t handle the truth then someone who wrestles with the math and trusts the numbers should be trying to get your attention. I suspect I will wake up tomorrow and take comfort in the new day. It will be good enough but not all that wonderful. After all, a true stoic wouldn’t know how to respond to artificial sweetener.
I like to think I no longer need a buffer (an emotional preset) to ease the suffering. If my logic is nothing more than an unidentified emotion then the joke is one me. But iI'm not afraid of the unknown or life's undesirable, unavoidable destination. It simply is what it is. Meditation and withdrawal are not a cure. I am convinced that a short but exciting ride is better than a long nap. Maybe I’ve brainwashed myself into accepting my insignificant little part in disbursing the human genome. My ego and my culture would favor a comfortable afterlife and a plaque on a pillar somewhere but the illusion and the myth have no legs of their own. There in lies the truth that is so difficult to reconcile. Regardless of how the story goes after I’ve gone; I was here. I identify with Jack Nicholson. If you can’t handle the truth then someone who wrestles with the math and trusts the numbers should be trying to get your attention. I suspect I will wake up tomorrow and take comfort in the new day. It will be good enough but not all that wonderful. After all, a true stoic wouldn’t know how to respond to artificial sweetener.
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