Tannishblog

It’s comforting to note that our grandchildren will be fortunate enough to witness the end of humanity in their lifetimes. On a selfish level, I probably won’t be around to see it, so that’s a small comfort. On another level, it has been a long time coming, this self-extinction, so the sooner the planet is rid of us, the better. The fact that our foreseeable progeny must be witness to the cumulative effects of our species’ greed and shortsightedness is not all that comforting.

What brings on these typically Tannish notions? Today’s Washington Post hosts an article about Canada’s oil boom, which illustrates how profit and greed overcome reason and caution as they strip mine bitumen-laden sand for fuel oil. The process is quite toxic, it seems, with the corporate stance being: “future technologies will be able to clean up our mess.”

Honestly – our inevitable and arguably imminent collapse will be well-earned. Only time will tell if it will be spectacular or not. Take heart that the children of the oil barons will be able to eat their stockpile of stock certificates when food becomes too tainted and all the water unpalatable.

As an afterthought, maybe America is doing the world a favor by killing off mass amounts of humanity quickly. The slow death of planet-poisoning would be cruel in comparison. For some reason strains of an REM song is drifting across my consciousness…

“…It’s the end of the world as we know it…”

Too bad the concept of owning vanity plates for my car is antithetical to Buddhist philosophy. I would get some that read: MEDIT8

Buddhism talks about how the mind is central to our experience; everything we perceive filters through the mind…

(Have I lost you yet? It always amazes me how any mention of Buddhism, in any form glazes the eyes of my theistic friends and relations. Looking into their eyes, I can almost hear their minds shut. However, that’s not what I wanted to write about.)

…Somehow, this obvious truth struck me as a revelation when I first heard it. The teaching then points out how control of the mind, or understanding its workings are important to the mental and physical wellbeing of all. To take the time to watch your own mind work, to note its traps and conditioned responses, to learn how the untamed mind is the “usual suspect” when one is mentally instable – that is the basis for wisdom. From there we can begin to loosen its hold upon us; if you know the trap it there, would you continue to step in it?

Buddhists often mention that the consciousness, or the mind, is like an onion. That it requires peeling before one can view its core. Layer by layer, the practitioner must work from the outer regions inward, cleansing each in turn. Only by removing the outward conditions can we progress; as one predisposition causes another, the unraveling of the structure of the mind’s functioning must be reverse-engineered.

Of course, meditation is the method. Sitting still, without outward distractions highlights the myriad of inner distractions, dialogues we have with ourselves, worries and fantasies that ceaselessly loop throughout our subconscious. We are too used to shouting over our thoughts to notice, they are shouting back. The resulting cacophony can be literally mind-blowing.

Instead sit back, get comfortable. Turn off the lights, or dim them. Turn off your electronics and breathe. Meditation is simple, the basic tool – your breath – is always with you, and so you can do this anywhere. Yet meditation is very profound, ever more so the more one practices. Getting away from the manic motion of modern life is therapeutic, soon you will look for ways to recharge, to calm you mind.

Don’t take my word for it. Try it. Google meditation, read the results, and earnestly try it. You don’t have to tell anyone, it’ll be our secret. Do it for yourself, others will benefit by association. Altruism will emerge naturally. Tame your mind, its been ruling your life for years, isn’t is time to take charge?