Hmmmm…..Buddhism

I guess part of this blog is to do with me breaking with old habits and learning to become a more peaceful and balanced individual.

What brought this about was the slow realisation that our culture is increasingly self-involved. We’re all disconnected and few of us actually care about people anymore.

• Look at the glut of reality TV stars these days, or the so-called ‘professional celebrities’ - people who are totally absorbed in themselves. Is the human race so superficial we deify these attention-seeking morons?
• Look at how we consume incessantly, buying stuff we don’t need with credit cards we can’t afford. Media tells us what we want and we go out and get it - how lame-brained are we?
• And after we’re done with the ridiculous consumption, we leave our waste everywhere! We’re buring up the planet at a furious rate, global warming is a very real threat across the globe, but on we soldier. . .
• While we’re at it, what about the almost daily waste of life? Pick from any number of Planet Earth’s ongoing wars! Marvel at how governments allow their citizens to become innocent victims! Do you care that thousands of people die needlessly every day? Do you even notice?

All of this concerns me, as a growing indication of how far we’ve fallen as a race. . .

I need to find an alternative lifestyle. Not just for me, but for my wife and children. I can’t go on feeling aggressive toward people I don’t know or understand. I don’t want to be like this.

I typically shun organised religion - I dropped Christianity (read: Catholicism) at the age of 16. However, doing some browsing the other day, I came across some excellent introductory articles about Buddhism. Now, I’m not planning to devote myself full-time to Buddah, but I really believe there is great substance in what I’ve read so far. Have you looked at the Buddhist moral code?

The Buddha taught that it is important to live a good moral life if an individual is to gain enlightenment. The basic moral guidelines are captured in the five precepts. These are:

to abstain from harming living beings

to abstain from taking what is not given

to abstain from sexual misconduct

to abstain from false speech

to abstain from intoxicating drugs or drink

Buddhists, therefore, aim to be compassionate for the welfare of all sentient beings, taking care not harm any creature big or small. Similarly, they see stealing as something morally unwholesome, as they do being unfaithful, promiscuous or having sex with minors. The Buddha stressed the importance of being honest and truthful and warned against the dangers of intoxicants that cloud the mind. Monks and nuns take further precepts, including a vow of celibacy.

None of these one things define me, but I can see how elements of each have been biting away at my consciousness for years now. Backstabbing people, looking at other women (note: not acting on it!!!), and so on all have a cumulative effect. I can see it in the people around me and how bitter the smallest thing makes them.

There’s much more to it - the whole series contains 10 articles - but I’ll certainly continue to read through and pass back any thoughts that arise!