Am I just wasting my time? Is there something better I could be doing? Oh shiny,! maybe I should be doing this instead? I don’t know where I’m going with this… I’ve had many doubts about what I should do with my life. Last year I seemingly had an Existential crisis every month. These questions […]
No self (Anatman, 空 kū)
Here I talk about one of the three marks of Existence (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण, trilakṣaṇa, Japanese: 三法印 sanbōin). The Buddhist idea of ‘No-self ‘(Sanskrit: Anatman, Japanese: 空 kū) It’s a feeling of a self an ego. A thinker who thinks, a person who does, a feeler who feels, a senser behind our sensations. The habitual way […]
Impermanence (Annica, Anitya, 無常 Mujō)
Here I talk about, Impermanence (Sanskrit: Anitya). One of the 3 Marks of Existence in Buddhism (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण, trilakṣaṇa, Japanese: 三法印 sanbōin) What it means is that that all things are in a state of flux. All conditioned things are changing, birth and death, ageing process, objects, possessions, the natural world. It also […]
Romantic to Classical, and back again
Looking back at my journey, trying to deal with the anxiety and fear that held me back, I can see a pattern or path between two forces or worldviews in my life. That of Passion and Reason, or as I will describe here Romantic and Classical attitudes towards life. But what are these two drives […]
Why it’s so hard to accept reality? (and why we must)
Reality troubles me like anyone else. I find it hard to accept that which I disagree with, or I can see causes suffering the suffering I witness. My answer to all this has been a mixture of anger, frustration, and withdrawal from the world. But this in no way to live, to try a separate […]
There is no Secret Ingredient (to life)
‘I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.’ -Umberto Eco At some point in our lives, we ask ourselves ‘why am I here?’ Why does the cosmos, and therefore […]