Suffering For Happiness

From the Buddhist perspective every day of our existence in physical form is hell. Acknowledging this hell, that earthly life is based on suffering, not happiness, is the cornerstone of their belief system. The point to life, they claim, is to transcend earthly concerns, to dismantle the lie, the prefabricated societal architecture, to go beyond it to what is true.

But if I had a partner and soulmate, I would be happy. But if I had more money, I would be happy. But if I had 2.5 children, a big house in an affluent neighborhood, a late model BMW and Palm Pilot full of names and addresses called friends, then, yes then, I would truly be happy.

This is crap. I know plenty of people who have traversed this 'A then B then C, D and E' path who are still very much unhappy. It isn't a destination, this ellusive happiness, its something you pick up along the way from the struggle. Without the struggle, there is no contrast and the happiness is non-existent. Without the struggle there is numbness, an anesthetized void ending with 'And here rests ...'

There is a writer in Seattle who crafts the blog, Living Above Ground, I'm obviously a fan. Her most recent post, "This morning was rough...met the world without an airbag" is a portal into this very struggle. Its a riveting piece, any further comment I could make would seem trite.

Living Above Ground