My friend Rory is a writer. Maybe even a Writer. He has been known to write things that get me thinking, and we've been known to think in similar directions from time to time. Rory's a LOT older than I am, so I like to think of him as wise. Older and wiser.
But sometimes he's so dumb.
Yesterday he wrote a piece about how the future doesn't really exist and how thinking about what doesn't exist makes people unhappy and ... well, there was more. You should read it here. I mean, he is probably a Writer, even if he's wrong, and I know all my readers love a good Writer so if nothing else, it's a good bit of writing.
And if I'm honest, maybe not altogether wrong. But to be clear, definitely not right either.
So of course, I commented. As if I can ever not say something. And he replied, because of course, it's not like he can not say something back. He's like that - it's why I like him. Anyway, he says in his reply to me that he thinks that the opposite of what I said was probably true. In case you missed it, that translates from Writerese into Wrongo Bucko in regular English. He ended his email with, "I think the Buddhists thought would be that both are meaningless" (trans: The Buddhists are with me on this). I replied, very wisely I thought, "Buddhists are morons."
The high road is over-rated.
But as I am wont to do, I have been thinking about this for a few hours now, and it occurs to me that I think he and the Buddhists might be mistaken, for reals.
His post was pointing to the suffering that is brought by our desires, our wants, by living in What Lies Ahead instead of in What Is. So far so good. However, they (he?) go (goes?) further to say that What Lies Ahead does not actually exist and that "dwelling on what doesn't exist is a stupid idea".
Now I'm a tad Jesus-y. And Jesus was a here and now kind of guy, no way around that. Don't worry about tomorrow, he said. Doesn't today have enough trouble of its own? But he also said, I am preparing a place for you (i.e. it's not ready yet: it will be ready in the Future). In fact, he talked about the future a lot - Matthew 25 comes to mind. It was the promise of a future that made sense of his passion for the Now, for the kingdom of heaven on earth part. And in some kind of kooky time warp, the future was in fact already past, in that it was the Creator's great love that Came Before we did that made What Will Be - a future reconciliation with Them - the reason to be okay Now. Yikes. I may have sprained my brain.
Anyway, I wonder if the buddhist future-doesn't-exist-now-is-all-there-is is a privelege of okayness. Were there a lot of buddhist slaves in America? Are there a lot of buddhists in the Sudan? Because if your Now is suffering, the discipline of living in it and a derisive no-thank-you to What Will Be seems like cruelty. When our Right Now is kind of kick-ass, then maybe it's just greedy to hope for better still and so choosing to forego future thinking is more appealing? I don't know.
But I do know that a conversation like this always leaves me surprised by my real fondness for that wiley Jesus. I like a guy who could live in the crosshairs of Now and Then and find a way to make both necessary while acknowledging that neither mattered very much, except for the part where they're both crucial. A paradox. The collision of two opposites. I still feel at home here.
So probably Buddhists aren't morons. Probably Rory isn't Buddhist. Certainly he's not a moron.
But he is a Writer, so it's on friend. It's a Blog-Off.
5 comments:
So I kinda think Rory the Writer is Right. Ish. It is true and factual that the future does not currently exist. It simply hasn't happened yet. However the future is coming. Just like the Visa and water bill at the end of the month, the Future will soon be the present. So planning, hoping and preparing for the Future seems wise, to me.
Didn't your friend Jesus prepare for the future? Even after his own death did he not work towards a better future for his children / flock? A selfless act. Buddhists have to appreciate that don't you think?
I can ACCEPT now (well I want to and I'm working hard to accept now and make now pretty okay too), but I also have great hopes, dreams and plans for the future. So that it doesn't sneak up and surprise me.
Karen, happily, you and I agree on this... and truly, I think Rory probably agrees too, knowing as I do that he has made several future-minded decisions in his time.
I think "accepting" now is more possible for me than Living In The Now in some kind of Yipee! It's All So Awesome way that I feel I must choose if I go with the Buddhists. Accepting and enjoying aren't the same, right?
I think this is a very interesting conversation. As One who tends to over-think the future, I am constantly challenged to enjoy/embrace/engage the now. I was much more intrigued by the comment around 'my wanting = suffering' and the discipline of being still. I'll have to ponder that for a bit.
Well Alison, I am honored by your blog. you bring up an issue I have with the evangelical faith community ( one among many). Its this business that we are just visiting this planet - that this place that's being prepared for us, now that's real living, we just have to gut it out here until that glorious occasion comes. Again I say, just plain stupid.
I get and love the notion of hope. I am all for dreaming and visioning. I have been know to actually plan.
But its when what we WANT or DESIRE affects where we are or what we have now - it will lead to suffering, or suffering on suffering depending on our circumstance.
part of the issue is comparison - it makes whatever is present pale compared to the shiny what might be.
I get your irks with the evangelical community Rory, but perhaps we forget that the Good News wasn't really meant for them, and if they've wrecked it, they can work it out with Jesus later.
The Good News, that Now is not all there is (among other better bits) is for the Not Favoured Now, Not Affluent Now, Not Living The High Life Now crowd. I understand that my want for an extra 800 sqft might be contributing to my suffering, and I suppose it's true that that mother in Congo wanting not to watch her daughter be brutalized is creating her own suffering, but you can see how they might not be quite the same. And maybe telling that mother to just live in the Now, that her wants are part of her suffering, might be kind of, I don't know, assholey?
The gift of faith for me is the opportunity to lean away from my own wants that do seem to = suffering and lean into Holy Wants that bring peace and rest.
Sitting still seems like a really good way of making space to hear what Holy Wants to take on, and to create a buffer from my own wants. I'm with Nadia that that sounds like a good discipline to think on and add to life.
But to say that the future isn't, that counting on the "shiny what might be" is to assume that your pretty shiny right now is universal, that everyone's missing the glory of the here and now if only they would look a tiny bit harder. I can't find the exact verse, but I'm pretty sure Jesus said something like, If your Right Now is so awesome that you aren't pining for the Kingdom of Heaven, you're not the one he came for and you would do best to get rid of whatever is making you blind to suffering, yours and theirs.
You can see why there isn't a ton of happy clappy in my particular brand of religion...
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