Belief’s and Chan

“I intend to live forever or die trying” – Groucho Marx

I love patterns and processes, so much that it’s really become more of a view than anything. We love content, but we rarely look at the process, the how of things.

All our current “belief” systems insure some form of immortality don’t they? Even Buddhism, supposedly not a “religion,” ended up in the long run pointing towards future and past lives and reincarnation, another “we must be immortal, in some way shape or form” belief.

It might be one of those things humans love to do, say one thing but believe another. Sure, we can say this life is it, but deep inside, where our atheist and religious friends can’t peek, we want to somehow, in someway, go on past death and yet keep our present consciousness.

But, up to now, unless your running on the simple “I believe this” conditioning, “We Don’t Know.”

So “Don’t Know,” seems like a pretty good bet as far as a life philosophy goes, because we don’t. It seems like a skillful focus would be staying in these present moments as much as possible. It’s the only place where we actually know the mechanics of our world and how we operate.

Chinese Ch`an is an interesting mixture of Taoism and Buddhism that occurred when Buddhism made it’s way to China. When it evolved through Japan it acquired the label “Zen.” It encourages to be in attention when possible, do what’s in front of you, avoid believing the stories running in the stream of thought, be kind, and realize that expectations are a form of control that results in suffering. It’s a simple direct way of living life as closely to these passing moments as possible. To live life in the unfolding as I fall into the future.

And there is an encouragement for those of us who love the philosophies of Ch`an, but are keeping an eye on the entire human process. Life apparently ends in the sense that we loose consciousness and many of us fear that, but there is one little fact I find interesting. Transience rules our universe, nothing is wasted, everything continues, and although we have yet to define exactly what consciousness is, we do know that if will also engage in a transient transaction somewhere in the future. That’s it, so far.

I’m crazy enough to find that encouraging. (Or grasping at another story, after all, I’m Human. Seeing some things clearly sucks, there simply isn’t any ground to stand on!)

More so than any conditioned spiritual or religious stories that rise, all comforting, stable, a nice little next, one that suggests this life is only a warmup for future existence.

I prefer this, and my experience of this, and the rawness of this. After all, as far was know, this is it. And sometimes I wonder, “Why isn’t this enough for us? Why is this one miraculous precious life, not enough? That I’m able to live this one time event in such a sensuous and fascinating universe isn’t enough?

Take care of you, that only one of you, today.

Bryan Wagner

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