The previous post on Foleygate is, well, a little strident. Maybe not in comparison to the stuff appearing on the political blogs –– some of which is utterly delusional –– but for a guy trying to 'only don't know,' it's a bit overwrought.
Several dozen posts back, I wrote that getting unattached from some things was easy. Those are the obvious things, and the things you didn't care much about, anyway. For me, getting unattached from fashion was easy. Although I was obsessed with it in the eighties, I had already long lost interest in it by the time became interested in Buddhism. Giving up television was easy because I found it mostly unpleasant to watch.
There haven't been any things I've had to 'give up,' per se (other than aspirin, as of this week). Rather, as the periphery of my spiritual vision slowly expands, I find that I'm losing interest in a lot of things that once seemed important to me. They're still in the picture, but as the edges of the picture spread further and further to include more of the landscape, these things shrink in relative size until they're just little dots.
With all that in mind, I have to admit that I'm having trouble unattaching from my contempt for and anger toward the greedy bazillionaire/crabby moralist/lightweight fascist axis that has taken over the leadership of the United States. It's one thing to be activist, but something else to be filled with the rage and resentment I feel toward these people. I find it very difficult to pray for or even 'send beams' to these people. I admit I take joy in seeing Speaker Hastert hoisted now on his own petard.
I think I understand where this comes from. I could probably write several paragraphs about it, but it would be beside the point.
The point is it does me no good to harbor these feelings. In fact, it probably diminishes my overall physical well-being. It's like I'm chasing the Republican party around my own personal wheel of samsara, and even though I know I'm doing it, I can't seem to stop.
(Although God knows I've slowed down. Compared to how much I was ranting and raving two years ago, I'm pretty calm on this today.)
2 comments:
Please do not forget the book on Buddhist unattachment you promised to loan me. I ALWAYS return books.
I think it is understandable that anyone with a brain would be upset these days. Consider the following.
Amish girl, 13, no concept of violence or guns. Taken by surprise, her first instinct is to try and save her younger classmates by asking to be shot first. Our president can't even serve his National Gaurd duty. Our administration sends men and women to Iraq knowing they will be killed and simply doesn't care. Amish girl reacts with what appeared to be true courage. I hate a coward. Bush is a coward. Simple Amish girl was not.
With all that said, you have a good point. Better to detach than to let things like this ruin any part of life. Very hard to do for me. Amish girl story freaks me out. I want to be Amish girl, not part of the Bush regime.
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