the pathless path

Finding our Way Amid the Drama

So, as you might expect, I “pulled up” this line watching a sluggish toilet. Never a dull moment here, let me tell ya.

Anyway, I started to think about clients, the world, and living life in the “real world.” Part of this has to do with the drama of a brand new Olympics, and the war-let happening in Georgia, and the war games in the Atlantic, and the beheading in Manitoba, and on, and on. Then, the September issue of Shambhala Sun arrived, and it features a couple of articles on the same theme. I then received this weird e-mail from a marketer whose stuff I occasionally read, and he made reference to the aforementioned Atlantic War Games.

Stuff piling up like that leads me to think, “Hmm. Mayhap an article.”

One of the quotes in the Shambhala Sun article is from U of Toronto professor Thomas Homer-Dixon. He talks about our “cognitive characteristics,” and especially one he calls slow-creep. He suggests that we are genetically predispositioned to not notice small, incremental changes. In other words, “. . .it’s what makes it possible to get up in the morning and not feel we’re in a strange new world.” This one thing, which is necessary for our survival, also may be our downfall.

In Canada, for example, our gas is now at about 1.25 a liter where we live, making gas about 5.00 a gallon. I read an article when gas started heading up, and the writer suggested 1.60 and 2.00 a liter as “tipping points.” 1.60 will be where people start changing their driving habits, and 2.00 will be where driving becomes next to impossible for many people.  Here’s how “slow-creep” fits in. Six months ago, gas was around a buck. Even taking into account the steady increase that happened last month, most people grumbled a bit, maybe slowed down driving a bit, and then, went back to normal. As gas has been dropping for the last week, I’m sure many are thinking, “See. It will be back below a buck soon!” I guess I’m thinking “we” will somehow accept even 2.00 gas, so as not to disturb our precious little lives.

I know, cheap illustration. But interesting point. My younger clients seem numb to the possibility that anything substantial could ever change. One told me how, at age 30, she was prepared to raise her kids, and then “catch up” financially when she hits 45. This is the typical capitalist view: that there are unlimited resources, and unlimited room for fiscal growth, and also that technology will solve everything. It’s the “gas companies have been hiding fuel efficient cars for decades, and now they’ll just crank them out and everything will be well.”

I wonder if the Romans didn’t think the same thing when the barbarians were at the gates: “Rome has never been defeated. We’ll turn this around.”

Well, what if?

It’s no wonder that a Buddhist publication is suggesting a re-think. Mindfulness is all about coming into a clear and present view of life, living and self. There is no place for “pie in the sky” thinking. Rather, it’s about being relentlessly realistic.

See How Simple it All is?

There are entirely too many plates spinning, each dependent on “things staying the same,” (unlimited resources / unlimited growth) and as anyone with open eyes knows, things never stay the same.

Zen is relentlessly practical. One of the earmarks of Zen Monasteries was their self-sufficiency. They realized that being supported by the State was what we now call “being on the dole.” You either capitulated to the State’s demands, or you starved. So, Zen Monks grew food and sold stuff and, of course, solicited donations (a minor thing, mostly used to teach the Monks humility.) Each community, in other words, depended on itself, and the strength for this came from meditation (zazen.)

Today, we seldom know our neighbours’ names. Most people haven’t a clue what a hammer does, let alone how to hold one. There exists this Pollyanna-like foolishness that it’s all going to come out just fine. Hint: this time, I’m not so sure.

Rather than get into doomsday scenarios, (or to disparage them and be like the neo-cons, who are, indeed, cons…) I say, find some like minded people around you, form a community, sit down, shut up, meditate, and then learn to be more self-sufficient. Eat locally, cut costs, stop driving everywhere, save a few bucks, study something that enlivens your soul. Become strong in your self.

More on this next issue.