Just reading my friend Joseph's blog, called Somewhere in the Dharma (see sidebar). He wrote about "Shit Happens". It got me thinking to how I'd sum up life. Two nuggets of wisdom come to mind, one from my dad, the other from Seinfeld.
My dad's words of wisdom, which he, and now I, unfortunately, utter as a mantra are "If it's not one thing, it's another." and "It's always something."
This past year or two (or 35) have been really difficult. I'm not sure why; perhaps having a baby; could be moving five times in the past year and half; could be not being able to get a job -- hmmmm, so many reasons.
"It's all bullshit" is my other favorite summary, which comes from a Seinfeld episode. Everywhere is bullshit. Paul wrote something to the effect that in God we move and have our being. I'd disagree -- unless Paul was equating God with bullshit. One's real, the other not.
Buddha is famous for his more elegant presentation of the same basic truth of it's always something. Sometimes it makes me feel a little bit better to know this. It's like, "Well, what do you expect? This is life, it ain't supposed to be a joyride." It's easy to forget that when you buy into a lot of the self-help BS that's being peddled.
Elbert Hubbard, an American author, allegedly said that "Life is "one damn thing after another."
In fact there exist endless quotes to illustrating the wonder of life. Apparently, many of us have discovered the same basic truth.
1 comments:
It was a pleasure to come upon your blog.
Regarding "It's always something," it's my understanding that dukkha, the "something" to which the First Noble Truth refers,is the conditioned suffering that arises from craving,aversion,and ignorance. Alan Watts likens dukkha to sour milk, which goes sour when we try to hold it beyond its expiration date.
Regards,
Ben Howard
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