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Spiritual readings
Jan. 20th, 2025 07:44 amSo in the attempt to avoid spiralling into despair at the state of the world, one of my current resolutions is to avoid doomscrolling social media and instead start my days reading something more uplifting. I've owned Pema Chodron's The Places that Scare You for quite some time yet ironically put off reading it. So I started it this morning.
The first couple chapters are a meditation on bodhicitta (which can roughly be translated as "enlightened mind" or "open heart" or "compassionate heart.") In some ways this is very standard Buddhist teachings I'm quite familiar with, though some of her examples are quite apropos for the modern world--like the strategies for avoiding dealing with the reality of the world: (1) escapism to run away from insecurity, whether drugs, alcoholism, materialism or adventure, basically using short-term pleasures to avoid reality; (2) using beliefs to give us certainty ("isms" we use to criticize others/convince ourselves only we are right); and (3)seeking special states of mind to avoid the ordinary suffering of existence.
One of the things I like about Chodron--about Buddhist teachers in general--is that they advocate compassion even for ourselves. So rather than putting yourself down for the defenses you've erected, they suggest approaching the walls you've built with curiosity and compassion.
A couple quotations I am thinking on: "[W] look for happiness in all the wrong places. The Buddha called this habit "mistaking suffering for happiness," like a moth flying into the flame. As we know, moths are not the only ones who will destroy themselves in order to find temporary relief. In terms of how we seek happiness, we are all like the alcoholic who drinks to stop the depression that escalates with every drink....In repeating out quest for instant gratification, pursuing addictions of all kinds--some seemingly benign, some obviously lethal--we continue to reinforce old patterns of suffering....Thus we become less and less able to reside with even the most fleeting uneasiness or discomfort. We become habituated to reaching for something to ease the edginess of the moment. What begins as a slight shift of energy--a minor tightening of our stomach, a vague, indefinable feeling that something bad is about to happen--escalates into an addiction. This is our way of trying to make life predictable. Because we mistake what always results in suffering for what will bring us happiness, we remain stuck in the repetitious habit of escalating our dissatisfaction. In Buddhist terminology this vicious cycle is called samssara."
The first couple chapters are a meditation on bodhicitta (which can roughly be translated as "enlightened mind" or "open heart" or "compassionate heart.") In some ways this is very standard Buddhist teachings I'm quite familiar with, though some of her examples are quite apropos for the modern world--like the strategies for avoiding dealing with the reality of the world: (1) escapism to run away from insecurity, whether drugs, alcoholism, materialism or adventure, basically using short-term pleasures to avoid reality; (2) using beliefs to give us certainty ("isms" we use to criticize others/convince ourselves only we are right); and (3)seeking special states of mind to avoid the ordinary suffering of existence.
One of the things I like about Chodron--about Buddhist teachers in general--is that they advocate compassion even for ourselves. So rather than putting yourself down for the defenses you've erected, they suggest approaching the walls you've built with curiosity and compassion.
A couple quotations I am thinking on: "[W] look for happiness in all the wrong places. The Buddha called this habit "mistaking suffering for happiness," like a moth flying into the flame. As we know, moths are not the only ones who will destroy themselves in order to find temporary relief. In terms of how we seek happiness, we are all like the alcoholic who drinks to stop the depression that escalates with every drink....In repeating out quest for instant gratification, pursuing addictions of all kinds--some seemingly benign, some obviously lethal--we continue to reinforce old patterns of suffering....Thus we become less and less able to reside with even the most fleeting uneasiness or discomfort. We become habituated to reaching for something to ease the edginess of the moment. What begins as a slight shift of energy--a minor tightening of our stomach, a vague, indefinable feeling that something bad is about to happen--escalates into an addiction. This is our way of trying to make life predictable. Because we mistake what always results in suffering for what will bring us happiness, we remain stuck in the repetitious habit of escalating our dissatisfaction. In Buddhist terminology this vicious cycle is called samssara."
