“Therefore, with my two hands joined, I appeal to you the reader to ensure that you make the rest of your life as meaningful as possible. Do this by engaging in spiritual practice if you can. As I hope I have made clear, there is nothing mysterious about this. It consists in nothing more than acting out of concern for others.” The Dalai Lama
There is a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark that has stayed with me from the moment I saw it. In the midst its signature, choreographed mayhem, Indy is faced by an adversary wielding a large sword. He is draped in black, exuding an evil smile, a personification of the grim reaper. Anticipating a classic battle between the swordsman and our bull whipping hero, Indy takes out his pistol and shoots him. There is no scene ending wisecrack either.
I always think of this scene when contemplating the simplest solution to any problem. No matter how frightening or unsettling it may be, you just shoot it and walk away. In the case of the film, there was a compelling reason for the quick resolution. Several crew members, including Harrison Ford, had a wicked bout of dysentery and a prolonged fight scene could have been catastrophic. OK, that was a movie and I am talking about real life, but it makes my point.
There is a paucity of any good news these days and I am being kind. The news itself is bad enough, but there are people hell bent on making sure everyone they know is aware of it. I know I am not alone in trying to share ways to cope with it all. Unlike Indy’s solution, complications abound for us today. Recently, I confess to being guilty of crafting creative ways to come to terms with the spiritual upheaval caused by the totally deranged actions and statements of our president. I wish I could say he is yours and not mine. The sad truth is he has clones all over the world, morons addicted to power.
I am definitely not advocating for an intellectual and emotional disengagement from the barrage of bullshit we are drowning in every day. At the same time, nothing is allowed to be simple. There always needs to be some convoluted, esoteric approach to unraveling our plight as humans and very often there is some kind of commercial connection to it. Self-promotion is never far from the mix. Everyone wants to be followed, friended and funded. I have failed miserably in all areas of self-aggrandizement, primarily because I honestly don’t care. I do what I do, because I can’t seem to help myself, a formula for success if ever there was one!
Change is a scary business for most of us. Even if the way things are truly sucks, the idea of change is an unknown, eliciting a paralyzing fear that freezes many of us in our tracks. Spending an inordinate amount of time unhappy with the world around us is terribly suffocating. Listen, if it is OK with you, it is certainly just fine with me, but not for me. In the absence of the will to do anything about your state of mind, the futility of complaining is all that awaits.
We are all incredibly complicated beings, our minds on the fast track, trundling off the precipice in search of perspicacity. I know it seems counterintuitive to say that simplicity is the way forward, but I believe it to be true. I know there is no money in effortlessness, so you don’t hear much about it. Sure, you could give it a sexy name and create an entire program, making something out of nothing.
It’s funny, I was feeling a little stuck with this story, not sure how to bring it home, so to speak. Last night, I had a call with a very important person in my life. His name is Eiju and talking with him is like talking to the Buddha, which is the last thing he would ever claim. There is a magic in his simplicity, the marrow within the mayhem. One of the reasons we get on so well is because we speak the same language. While I practice this on paper, it is not always easy to articulate in conversation. Talking with Eiju reinforces my internal monologue, like a word mirror.
This story gets a little tricky here. I am dangerously close to suggesting what you should do to recalibrate your relationship with yourself and the world you inhabit. Proselytizing is absolutely the last thing I could ever imagine doing. I need to call a time out. Sure, there are things to think about, but the path forward for any of us is the one that is just wide enough to fit ourselves. The challenges I alluded to above are my challenges and my life’s work.
Stillness has been my antidote for the barrage of bullshit that is our lives. It is a mental red light, leaving the traffic jam of trivia just on the other side of the light. When you stop moving, the blur dissipates and focus comes into view. Yes, I am talking about sitting, the most comfortable way to be still. Breathing is the rhythm for this internal interlude. Gradually, the volume of all the clutter begins to run out of gas. Right now, I can feel Eiju smiling.
Sometimes, when I do this, it can feel like I am disappearing, dropping all that thought history, leaving a kind of quiet in its place. Like Indy, I turn my back and move on without making a fuss. Who I want to be and who I am, don’t need to be parallel efforts, at odds with each other.
In those moments of quiet, I am guided by two realities. I think about my own mortality and the context it offers when engaging both with myself and the world around me. In its light, what truly matters begins to shrink in scope and I chose the quote from the Dalai Lama for that reason. Beginnings and endings are life’s continuum and what we do in between is our legacy, our unique footprint on the path for one.
An extension of the truth of life’s continuity is the interconnectedness between all that has ever been and all that is to come. Yes, it is a very heady idea, sounding terribly ethereal. The science of quantum physics has butted right into it, thousands of years after the Buddha spoke of it. We are both citizens of our own, everyday world and interstellar travelers in a world far beyond our comprehension.
This is a good way to end this story. Coping with our world is not simply putting up with it. I am forever trying to find my way in the midst of it all. My choices are my own and not meant to set an example for others. However, I think we are all better served looking inside ourselves to grapple with what goes on around us. It is not that hard and just requires a small effort.
Shoot the swordsman!
Bill Moyers (1934-2025)
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