Hi Everybody,
I've been busy finishing off a script so the blog has had to take a back seat for the past couple of weeks. I hope I've been missed! Anyway here we are at Chapter 12, the sort of summing-up chapter. I may go back to Chapter 10 later, the one on Buddhism and Anger. Not sure. And there are a couple of important appendices. But let's see how we do with 12, which is entitled A New Beginning.
' That brings us just about full circle I think, and time to pull together some of the many threads of the argument. This has turned out to be a somewhat more divergent journey than I ever intended when I set out, taking us into many more byways of science for example than I had anticipated, and some that might seem to lie well off the beaten track. Although even if they have started out as eemingly peripheral, in each case they have contributed something special to this central quest; where do we turn in the modern world to tune our moral compass? Where do we go to get a deeper understanding of just how we set about building a life that is genuinely fulfilling and hopeful and optimistic for ourselves, and at the same time, one that creates the greatest value for the communities and the societies in which we live?
As I described right at the outset, I started out on my own long journey into Buddhism with no small measure of reluctance. I cannot say that there was at the start any clear vision or sense of direction. There wasn't an overriding idea or an obvious goal towards which I was heading. I believed I had encountered something that could contribute great value to my life, and to the lives of those around me. But we are all of course, to a greater or lesser extent, captives of our time, and the prevailing spirit of our time I suggest, is a profound scepticism about virtually all institutions, not least institutions that have any sort of religious basis. There is a strong need to disbelieve if you like, as part of our modern culture. A need to take things apart and turn them over and question them almost to bits, before taking them into our life. That was undoubtedly a strong factor with me when I encountered Buddhism.
And I have to say, I see scepticism as a source of strength, rather than weakness; a route to a far deeper and a stronger understanding, so long of course as we don't let it degenerate into mere cynicism, which must rank as one of the most prevalent and dysfunctional qualities of our time. Cynicism may seem superficially cool, but it has never created anything of value.
But if I try to cast my mind back ito that situation, there was also I now realise, an inner resolution. I was determined that once I had set off on this somewhat surprising journey, I woud continue until I was quite sure, one way or the other, about the value of the practice in my daily life. It was easy enough for people to say to me, ' Buddhism is daily life.' The question was did it actually work at that level? Could it make a fundamental difference to the way I viewed the mindane stuff of every day?'
The answers yes!! And we go there next time. Really glad to be back. Hope you are well and flourishing. And reading this stuff.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon or on Kindle. In fact its doing well on both I'm totally pleased to say.
