"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

religion, buddhism and laundry
June 13, 2004 - 9:21 am

in the evening, i went to the bookstore to lounge around - mostly to get away from my neices for a bit.

on a side note, while i do enjoy kids, i have no real desire to have my own. i think that stems from not wanting to pass on my defective genes.

i decided to itch an itch that i've had since come back back from southeast asia and got a book on buddhism.

not sure which book to get, i picked buddhism for dummies (hey, i'ma dummy!) and settled into one of their well worn and not really comfie chairs.

the overview of the book, well the overview of buddhism fit my thinking almost to a T. i was kinda surprised at that.

i flipped through the book. the more i stopped and read, the more i really liked what i was reading.

the thing i liked most about it is.. the incredible flexibility. it's not a rigid dogma that says X is true and Y is not.

i also like that it acknowledges that everything we sense comes through filters and, as such, it's really in how we interprete those stimulus that counts - in other words, it's our mind that matter.

i'm such a cynic when it comes down to humanity it's kinda frightening. our need for things, for better and better things that will make us happy.

it seems, as a society, our quest for happiness is all about things outside of us. a bigger house, a better car, etc. those things are like.. mickey mouse bandaids on a ruptured artery. they may stem the loss of blood, provide a temporary happiness - but you'll soon find that you need something else.. another bandaid and then another and another.

that's not to say there arn't some people who are truly happy collecting material things, i'm sure there are. i'm just not one of them and i can't say as i've ever met someone who was.

most material gatherers i've met are hiding some insecurity.. pitifully so.

no, to me, the quest for happiness is inward.

if you wish to bring up religion as a source for your happiness, don't bother bring it up to me unless you can offer up a reasonable, coherent conversation about the inherent inconsistencies of the faith - this would relate mostly to xianity, as it's the only major religion i'm familiar with.

in other words, a baby jesus bandaid is the same as a mickey mouse one.

i'm not an athiest, so save your breath on that. i just see the modern versions of xianity as riddled with holes and flaws. it's been corrupted by man from the begining - bent to our corrupt will. if you don't think so, read a book on the history of religion.

i'm way, way off base - far afield of where i started.

anyway, i'm going to go switch my laundry now.

it occurs to me, i'm probably spelling buddhism wrong.. i find that funny.