Things Are Perfect Just As They Are, Even When Things Are Shitty

I would like to preface this by saying if you are religious, that's fine by me. I consider myself an agnostic Buddhist and I don't tend to agree with a lot of traditional, organized religions. I do however believe we all need to investigate and find out what works for ourselves, so if for you that means religion then by all means live your life accordingly. No judgements from me.

At first glance this title might seem like I'm suggesting belief in some sort of supernatural order in life, as if some force greater than ourselves is dictating our lives and therefore everything is just as it should be, but that's not it at all! One of the greatest draws of Buddhism to me is that it is a philosophy of investigation and action. We are taught to learn for ourselves, to take nothing for granted and to find meaningful, logical answers. This goes hand in hand with scientific theory and logic, no Gods or religious shit necessary. I believe from a logical, scientific viewpoint things have happened exactly as they needed to for us to be where we are now. There is no greater opportunity than the present moment and without the circumstances leading up to the present moment this opportunity could not exist. Furthermore, there is no other way that things could have happened! We can sit around and dwell and wish things had occurred differently but that won't change shit! So why torture ourselves wishing for the impossible? That would line up better with traditional religions and prayer than Buddhism or even science.

When things are going well it may be easier to entertain the idea that everything is as it should be, but life isn't always pleasant. Still I believe even in the worst times, everything is as it should be. Without the bad parts, we would never be motivated to improve nor would we appreciate the good parts of life. In that sense tragedy is just as important in our lives as happiness. Even great tragedies serve a purpose. I certainly would not be the person I am today had I not lost my mother and sister when I did, and every loss since then has only further fueled my search for meaning. This might sound cold, but my mother and sister, my grandparents, aunt, friends, everyone in my life I've loved who has passed, had to die. Eventually all of us have to die, we never know when or how but we can't escape this truth. With that in mind, surely it is a waste of our present moment to wish they hadn't died. I can morn, and I do often, but more importantly I try to carry them with me and use that to fuel my life. I believe there is a huge distinction between dwelling and remembering. Dwelling impedes our ability to be present, to be alive. Remembering however, when done with the right intentions can be very liberating and motivating.

The fact is none of us know what happens when we die. This brings up two very important points of contemplation: if our loved ones can somehow watch us, would they want us dwelling on their deaths? I don't believe so. Secondly, given that we know nothing about the afterlife, and this might be all we get, shouldn't we strive to fully live instead of dwelling on the uncontrollable? Absofuckinglutely. So get out there and fucking live. Remember tragedy, but don't dwell. Keep in mind everything that has ever happened has created an amazing opportunity in the present moment and take that moment for everything it's worth. Live your fucking life and do good as often as possible!

Xoxo Dildos,
Mig

Karma...and some other shit

I went to Catholic school through 4th grade. I also went to Church regularly until my mother began to move away from organized religion and more towards open spirituality. To me organized religion was all bullshit. I couldn't accept (and still can't) many of the inherent contradictions in that world, but over time I've grown to be more accepting of people and whatever they want to believe. The religious aspect remains pretty unappealing for me personally, but the spiritual side of life has become something I embrace very strongly. A lot of what attracted me to Buddhism was the idea of investigating my own spirituality without having any rules or beliefs forced upon me. The basic premise is you sit on a cushion and find out for yourself what works and what doesn't. So really, anybody could benefit from the practice. There are Christian Buddhists, Atheist Buddhists, celibate Buddhists, Buddhists who put things in their butts and everything in between. Personally I'd say I identify as an Agnostic Buddhist (who sometimes puts things in his butt) because honestly I don't know what is really out there, nor am I sure it's very important to how we live our lives in the present moment.

One thing I have come to believe is that we all share a basic goodness that unites all human beings. Over time most of us lose touch with our basic goodness for periods of our lives, some people lose touch with it forever and end up doing some really horrible things.. BUT we all start the same.  Again, I don't expect anyone to believe in basic goodness just because I say so, or the Buddha said so or God or whatever the fuck else. I think it's our duty to investigate this stuff and find out for ourselves. That said, I have looked for myself, and I do very much believe in basic goodness. This is the part of us that lets us feel happy, sad, connect to other people and know the difference between right and wrong. I also believe it to be the source of balance when it comes to karma and karmic debt.

Now a lot of people understand karma to be you do something good, good things will happen, you do bad things and bad things will happen to you. This is kind of the idea, but not entirely. The word Karma actually translates to action, and so karma isn't so much the action/reaction we tend to think of, but our actions themselves. Many believe karma works because a mystical force of some sort is keeping everything in checks and balances, so it knows when you deserve to be punished and when you deserve rewards...but that's not it either. Again, you can believe or not believe anything you want and still benefit from Buddhism, or at the very least meditation. Personally, I don't think there's any fucking guy in a cloud or mystic fucking fog that keeps track of us and the things we do. I do however believe in karma and karmic debt.

My understanding of it is that our basic goodness allows us to know the difference between right and wrong. We can lie to ourselves and try to justify shitty behavior, but deep down we know when we've done wrong. This will cause us suffering because it goes against our basic goodness. The biggest joy we can experience as people is doing the right thing. Of course the right thing to do will vary from one situation to the next, there are no firm answers, but the important thing is for us to do our best in each moment. If we've honestly done our best then we have created good karma and worked to level our karmic debt. In the end I don't believe there's anything or anyone who will punish or reward us for our actions. I do however believe that we can all be happier if we work to do the right thing. So if you can't help others and do the right thing for the sake of..well..helping others and doing the right thing...then do it because it can balance your karmic debt and make you a happier person. Whatever reasons you find to try and do good in this life, be it some old dude in robes on a cloud threatening to burn your dick off in hell unless you do... or maybe a simple part of your being that wants to be good, get out there and fucking do it.

xo Dildos