Abounding: Sampling Errors

Last time, I wrote about how the suffering of Fibromyalgia drove me to seek solace in the fantasy life from which much of my creative writing emerged. I then described how this strategy produced a fictional character for whom I needed to invent a religion. Lastly, I outlined how my internet research on the topic re-ignited my interest in Buddhism, and summarized a few of my past experiences with meditation based on the work of John Kabat-Zinn.

In the course of my Internet searching, I came across a confusing and often conflicting assortment of web pages, books and audio books. There is a wealth of information out there, but what good does that do when it’s so disordered?

Eventually, I began to notice certain patterns, however. For example, Ajahn Brahm has a lot of material out there. A good place to start is the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. There’s a lot to see on this site, but what grabbed me first was his theme of happiness. For a while, I was determined (foolishly, no doubt) that all I had to do was decide to be happy and all would be well. For a few days I was deliriously happy and then I crashed again, as I usually do when I get a hold of one of these popular ideas.

Oh yes, the self-help book/video/audio madness is still going strong. We may feel ill but the get-well-quick-business is very healthy. I don’t think Ajahn Brahm is part of that show, but his ‘advertising campaign,’ style sometimes strikes me as a little over-the-top, and there are hints of a hardness behind it that doesn’t appeal to me. Nevertheless, I am sure that some of you will find some comfort and wisdom in his message, as well as humour.

The Vietnamese, Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, is quite popular too, though I had trouble understanding his perspective. After listening to, The Heart of Understanding (Berkeley, USA: Parallax Press, 1987), in the notes I filed with it, I wrote, “Most of this is sheer fantasy, containing many contradictions, but he spins a good tale.” I later discovered that a lot of what I had found concerned a difficult Mahayana Buddhist concept called “emptiness.” It made no sense to me then; hence I moved on.

The Teaching Company has an entertaining course on Buddhism, taught by David Malcolm Eckel, for those seeking a general understanding of Buddhism, and it certainly helped with my fictional religion construction. I, on the other hand, had already embarked on a journey of another kind, entered a completely different boat, or plane or bus from the one I thought I had intended to, but had not yet noticed.

Next time, everything is turned upside-down again, but I still don’t catch on.