Contemplative Views of Decision Making

I am trying to deconstruct what makes decisions so difficult, and I think that there are several reasons for it. As I indicated in my previous blog entry, however, a contemplative method of decision making might begin to ground the mind a little bit. When I say 'contemplative', I am talking not just about meditating prior to making a decision (which is a great idea, I think), but also how decisions can be viewed contemplatively so that they don't appear as onerous or frightening in an overwhelming sort of way.
   Perhaps I should divide my entry into six major principles, which arise from my own personal experience of what decision making feels and looks like for me. They are as follows:

1) Stay close to the everyday roots of things.While decisions may seem like life-changing situations, they often refer to realities which are closer to the ground of experience in the everyday world. It seems not so necessary to cloud the whole process with abstract ideas which only add layers of unnecessary meaning or verbiage to the decision. For example, if I am deciding whether to embark on a trip that will cost a lot of money, I don't need to couch it as 'insufficient good karma', or something of that sort, when the solution might be saving money here and there or adjusting one's view of what 'costly' is. It might even involve taking an inventory of one's spending habits, to see if some things can be forsaken without loss of life or limb. The point is that it's not so necessary to add so many discursive judgments about the process when in fact there are actions one can do in the moment to alleviate suffering for everyone and make the plan run in a harmonious way. This seems to correspond with a contemplative aspect of directly contemplating the experiences in themselves as they are without adding dualistic concepts.

2) No decision is ever 'once for all', 'all or nothing' absolute. This idea corresponds, to my thinking, with the Buddhist notion of upekkha, or 'equanimity', which I believe also translates to the wisdom of non-attachment to views. One could say that any decision one makes it not carved in stone. It is one stroke which can easily change to something else over time, and it is always part of a deeper and multilayered tapestry of actions. While some decisions do in fact have deep repercussions and even fall-outs at times, decisions are always part of a never-ending flow of events. To put great store on one choice one makes is often reflective of an attachment to a notion of 'everlasting bliss': "now that I made that choice, I will always be safe, and at least I didn't make that other disastrous one". While this idea of delighting in one's choices seems pretty innocuous, it leads to the suffering that comes from fear of making a wrong or misguided future choice, or even 'fear of falling' from one's present state of 'bliss'. In fact, notions such as 'hell' and 'bliss' are only values that we create and then assign to our experiences, and they too can be modified through imagination or at least a calmer mind. An alternate perspective is to be mindful of the attachment to the view of what a choice means, and to perhaps be a little bit questioning or discerning of that attachment, rather than falling for the seductive fantasy of 'the right/wrong' choice, which so pervades culture and media.

3) Decisions are only moments in a continual state of flux. As mentioned in the second principle, decisions are always made in the midst of impermanence, and even the emotional effects of decisions are bound to fall away as well. Schopenhauer at one point suggests in The Wisdom of Life that happiness itself is not much more than a negative state of 'relief from suffering', which eventually abates once the source of suffering itself has cleared. This is just to say that decisions are a string of many long decisions which require constant maintenance and awareness. There is no such thing as making one big decision and 'that's it', because there will always be new conditions arising all the time, and it's not in our control to fix arrangements one way, or even to know for certain what lies ahead.

4) Work with what one knows and can do. At the same time, decision making is not a passive event of just watching conditions come and go. Rather, it involves seeing where one can take an active role in bettering conditions and streamlining processes, as well as knowing what one doesn't know, and being open to new information coming in. Good planning and thoughtful reflection can always lead to a wiser appraisal of how to face the conditions, but again, it doesn't mean that one is in control of the outcome all the time.

5) Anticipate Adjustments. Good plans always come with contingency routes, as well as the ability to ask, "What could go wrong?" "What is the worst that can happen, and how do I face that possibility?"

6) Still working on it... None of the previous five ideas about decision making mean or entail that I have overcome any anxieties, hesitations or doubts I have when it comes to making them. In fact, the ability to hold one's anxiety with compassion is one good (and very mindful) strategy when making difficult choices. This again, relates to the notion that decisions can sometimes bring us close to a natural humility, where we truly come to face and accept the unknown as well as the greater forces that move through life, rather than succumbing to comforting illusions of control and omniscience.