by C.W. Metcalf
Note from Queen Lolo: When I took over the blog of my late, great friend, C.W., I promised to post some of his writings from time to time. I found this one tonight and felt it was well worth sharing. Enjoy...
The Joy of Chaos
“The self is not something that one discovers…
it is something that one creates.”
Thomas Szas
We can no longer deceive ourselves into believing that we have control of anything that happens outside of us. There was a time when we had time: a time when events moved slowly enough to allow us the delusion of control. Abruptly, however, the Stone Age ended. The speed of population, power and technological progress went into hyper-drive. Ever since, we have been struggling to cope with quantum leaps of complexity while desperately attempting to maintain a sense of control.
Finally, we have reached a stage where not only control, but even comprehension of our complex world, lives and spirits has been utterly shattered. Now, we are in the “real world” where our last stand for control is being waged: control of all we ever had to work with in the first place, control of how we choose to act instead of react, how we choose to view the events of our lives.
There is a joy in chaos and unpredictability, but it requires a major shift in how we see ourselves in relationship to the world around us: We must learn the wisdom of Albert Einstein who posited that the perfect answer opens the door to a thousand unforeseen questions; the courage of NBC’s Katie Couric, who turned events that could be seen as tragedy into opportunity to be of value to others; the vision of those yet without eyes to see.
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any
given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”Viktor Frankel
© by C.W. Metcalf 2 March 2007
This will be a short blog with 2 brief questions. (But don't let that stop you from long-winded replies...)
I've been wondering:
What does being a "Buddhist" mean to you?
And/or: How do you practice your specific brand of Buddhism?
There are a lot of different Buddhist traditions, and differences within the differences. (As evidenced by the Nichiren debates here and beyond.) I thought it would be interesting to find out where everyone is coming from these days. A good intro for our newer visitors, a re-intro for those of us who have fallen a bit outside the loop, and a little education for those curious about who we all are, what we all do, and why we all do it.
You go first.
Blessings,
Queen Lolo