C.P. Snow's Novels

 "It might be a good idea if each of us accepted just what his enemies said; it might make us better, and the world too. It would certainly rub into us that we were all miserable sinners" (CP Snow, Corridors of Power, Penguin Books, p.332)

I quite enjoy reading C.P. Snow's novels. One of the reasons I enjoy them is that they essentially explore how people in power interact with each other to gain influence, negotiate for power, lose gracefully, and gain credibility. These novels aren't terribly dramatic in the sense that there aren't any car chases or murder scenes. Instead, the drama plays out slowly and in conversation. All the characters in Snow's novels illustrate the concept that people are similar in their desire for success, to look good in others eyes, for status, and to save face. Acknowledging this, the characters work through their differences and help each other to gain what they need, knowing that they have similar needs. I like the civility of the characters and their recognition of fallibility or what Snow sees as sinfulness.

Snow's world is different from the world I live in. It's definitely a world where people work together to get what they need and know how to be graceful to each other. There is a sense of belonging in the stories that attracts me.

Handling Bodily Pains and Afflictions

     Sensation need not be something that I can make a story out of. That is, even painful sensations can just be viewed as phenomena that arise in the mind. When I remind myself that pain is temporary, fleeting and a mental construct, then I can relate to it more as a moment-to-moment experience. I need not be tied to it. I need not embellish on it or create a story out of it. It can be seen for what it is, just one of many momentary situations.

     When I am with my sensations, then I can relate to them in a friendlier and more curious, spacious manner. That is to say, they are not my enemies. I am able to see them as something that temporarily arises, then passes away, from one moment to the next. Now, I am no longer identified with these sensations. I can just appreciate them as the workings of complex causes and conditions. This can also most certainly help me to better focus on what needs to be done.

   Pain can be a stabilizer of the mind. It can be used as a way to focus on what matters the most. For instance, with pain, we can prioritize the thoughts that are most needed. And we can even use the pain to practice not adding panicked thoughts or judgments to it. If we are able to alleviate the pain, then by all means, we can put our best efforts into it. However, if we can't influence the pain in any way, then it's best not to add anxiety to it. In other words, we don't try to control what is not within our control, but to simply allow it to happen, once we have exhausted all the possibilities. This is one way that we can learn to separate what is in our control from what is not.

    

        

Adversities

  When facing adversities, it's always helpful to ask certain questions. Firstly, do we know the whole picture? Sometimes, we might be worried about a few isolated factors, and not have a clear picture of what is happening, so we find ourselves trying to piece together the whole from the isolated pieces we know. So, we might be filling in things that aren't part of the full picture.

   Second, is what we are experiencing permanent? Usually not! Surprisingly, what seems like a "forever" thing turns out to be something that has different phases. A pain in the body may feel bad on a certain day, but it ebbs and the body later finds ways to adapt to the situation. So, we can pay attention to whether the experience is fixed in one place, or if it might have different unfolding phases.

    Third, is the adversity something I can change? Or, conversely, is there something I can do to better relate to adversity? Perhaps we can see adversity as exciting, as a challenge to be overcome, or as a learning process. In these cases, I don't make the dire conclusion that the adversity is "all bad", a "catastrophe" or "doom". I leave open a space in the heart where I can connect more spaciously with it, taking a more logical and reasonable approach to it rather than simply wanting it to go away.

     So, to reiterate, adversity might involve asking ourselves whether we know all the full picture, whether we are seeing something fixed/eternal, and whether there are things I can do to allow the situation to sit better with me. 

Delightful Skies

  The sky is beautiful for all beings, on all occasions. There is no need to hoard the sky or even the clouds. They belong to everyone who can see or who imagines. When we open to this reality--that the sky is owned by all---then we can also open our hearts, minds and vision.

    What prevents us from delighting in the sky? I would say, attachment to the clouds , or the thoughts that circulate in our minds. As soon as there is an attachment to thoughts, we start to proliferate and identify with them until they become our prison. Anytime we catch ourselves suffering, it's because we are jammed in thoughts, especially anxious or grasping thoughts, especially about wanting to be something o someone. And this leads to a sense of discontentment.

   I truly believe that education must teach us the basic of contentment. Without inner contentment--the ability to appreciate the free sky--we become consumers of, or consumed by, our thoughts. This is a genuine hazard that we need to learn to release at any given moment.

   Delight begins when we practice just awareness. This is not the same as being intelligent. It simply starts with unembellished awareness. Resting in awareness is the beginning of real peace.

Patience and Right View

  Sometimes, a plant won't grow because some factor wasn't ripened. It's not that the plant itself is defective, but there may be some condition that didn't prevail when it could have. When we accept that not all conditions ripen in the moments that we expect, we might adopt a more calm approach. We aren't blaming the plant for not growing. Instead, we try to figure out how that missing factor can be added or implemented.

    By reflecting more deeply on cause and condition, I believe that we can eliminate the sense of blame that can lead to intense suffering. Blame, whether for ourselves or others, is one way we might hold someone responsible. But this can sometimes cause a lot of intense anger or hatred. So instead of blame, we might decide to see the situation as the combination of shifting forces that are subject to change or influence. Instead of punishing the plant for not growing in a desired way, I can analytically decide why the plant may not be growing in the way I expected. 

    Even the human brain can be seen in this way. A person who is angry is not "inherently" so, but is so as a result of many conditions co-arising in the mind due to past and present factors planted there. We can't blame a person for those feelings since they are there as a result of complex conditions beyond that person's control or influence. When seen in this way, the anger in a person is impermanent, not inherently a part of that person, and is reason to treat the person compassionately.

   Conditioned arising is one way that we can let go of attributing success or failure to one factor that's beyond our control. We can then experiment with changing conditions that are within our control to see if it gets the desired result we want. This is a much more manageable way of tacking problems.

The role of suffering in Patience

  I am currently reading a book about patience, called Perfecting Patience by Dalai Lama. One area the book describes is how, by accepting suffering as an inevitable part of life, we can more readily embrace tolerance and patience. There is another aspect, which is that we learn to embrace suffering as part of the spiritual path. But when I read about this aspect of patience, I wonder if it means resignation of sorts. What's the difference between true tolerance and resignation?

    According to Buddhist teachings, suffering comes from attachment of some kind, usually to thoughts. If I continue to think and dwell on something that hasn't yet happened or isn't really my total responsibility, I become a prisoner to the thought. I add proliferations of thoughts until it becomes bigger and bigger. Then it gets out of control. Only through the grace of the present moment--it's sheer weight of being--can I be released from the tyranny of the thought. That comes from just being present with what is, like a fist that is opening up to the contingent moment.

    Embodiment is an easy reminder: I am here, in this moment, and nowhere else. Even something like getting up to go to the washroom during work break is one opportunity to relax into the steps. We can even imagine ourselves in that moment as Sisyphus, taking his break from the next roll of the rock up the hill. 

   One enemy of patience is simply overthinking and overcalculating. When I let go of trying to calculate my life--like trying to figure out every move and every step exactly--then a breath of fresh air comes in. I am able to release myself from the pressure to constantly align myself to my inner goals.

   Most importantly, when we realize that the world does not go according to our plans, we can treat this not as inconvenience but more as opportunity to reflect: does the success of this outcome really make a difference to who I am? What if the plan simply fails? Am I a failure because of it? And who is this I anyway? The ultimate tolerance is in realizing how the ego endlessly demands, yet many of these demands are not actual needs. They are nice to have but not absolute shoulds. So when we think this way, we can breathe more and enjoy what is happening rather than seeing it as a burden or tribulation.

Snowfall in January

    The snow is a beautiful tonight, and there were few cars on the road. I reflect: this world really is as pure as snow.

   The mind, just like the snow is pure. We only need rest in the moment, knowing that snow melts and turns into spring again.

    The cold will become warm and then cold. Being aware of these cycles will help us to become whole.