Talk of a recession has many Oregonians cringing at the gas pump, editing grocery lists and rethinking priorities. Under it all is the fear of losing ground, of having to make do with less. Buddhists have a reputation for paring down their lives. They believe that human beings cling to people, objects, attitudes and behaviors, and that these attachments create suffering. They also believe it's possible to overcome attachments.... Buddhism's most useful teaching is distilled in the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind. They are the preciousness of human life, cause and effect, impermanence and suffering.... Attachment hurts: Being attached to anything -- a television show, a car, a ballgame -- can isolate people and obscure what gives their lives meaning....
Sometimes, people stop me on the street with a very simple question: "Hey, Jack, you're a Buddhist, right? How can I use what you know to deal with this recession?" Well, first of all, I'm not so certain that I really "know" anything...and as for dealing with the recession this country finds itself in...well, do I LOOK like Alan Greenspan? I'm still trying to figure out why my cable bill was $100 this month....
Seriously, though, now is pretty much like any other time for me in that trying to achieve something approaching happiness and balance involves re-evaluating my attachments- to things, ideas, people, or anything else I've attached a degree of importance to. It's (once again) time for Jack to play "Hey, Kids!! Guess what's really important??"
If I were to invite you to my humble abode, you'd probably notice that it's not exactly redolent of acquisitiveness. It's not that I practice a "sackcloth and ashes" sort of asceticism, but I don't really have a lot of "stuf". My man-cave has the basics- a bed, a couch, a recliner, and a 42" television, a microwave, and a coffeemaker. Even with that, I'm trying to figure out how I can pare things back a bit. At this point in my life, I'm trying to determine how I can create and nurture the things that should be of primary importance in my life- relationships- if only because I've too often done a damn poor job of just that. I don't need, nor do I particularly want, a lot of "stuff"...though I'm like anyone else in that I do see things and immediately think "WANT!!" (Note to self: just because you put that Lexus RX400h on your Christmas list...well, that doesn't ipso facto mean you're going to get it....)
I can't go back and fix the relationships I've screwed up, as much as I might like to. Some damage by it's very nature can't be undone. What I can do, though, is to try and create and nurture relationships and to value them for their precious and irreplaceable nature...because I've far too often treated them as disposable.
Sometimes I step back at my life and wonder what others must think. Moments later, of course, I realize that it realize doesn't matte what others think about my life. If I'm happy, if I'm nurturing the relationships in my life, and if I'm doing no harm to others, what else really matters? I'm at the point where I'm recognizing that upon my departure from this Earth I most likely will be little known nor long remembered, and that's OK. What I want to be able to do is to have the privilege of drawing my last breath knowing that I made a difference for at least one person. I want to be able to honestly believe that I did my level best to respect, honor, love, and support that person to the best of my abilities- whether that person is a partner, a child, or someone else whose life happens to intersect with mine in a meaningful way. That's something I'll be able to take with me when I go...and, really, is there anything else that could be more important and lasting?
