Dharma as distraction

So why haven't I been writing lately?  Besides the usual excuses, I mean ....

Last spring a dear friend of mine introduced me to vipassana (or "mindfulness") meditation, and I began to learn something (beyond a textbook level) about the ethics and outlook of Buddhism.  And it kind of took the wind out of my sails, because I found myself no longer sure what the point of this blog is.  I started out trying to write a kind of common-sense classical philosophy -- a usable, livable classical philosophy rather than one confined to libraries.  But now I wonder if maybe there already is such a thing.

Of course there are many ways that Buddhism and Hellenism are different.  Each went down its own road of metaphysical speculation, for example.  But in ethics, which has to be the core of any "livable" philosophy, how much difference is there really?  When you sift through all the drama and stage-dressing of Plato's Republic, the fundamental explanation why we should act ethically is that acting unethically makes us unhappy.  Nobody wants to be unhappy, so act ethically and you won't be.  Shakyamuni Buddha says exactly the same thing.  It is clear from the metaphysics of the Republic that -- whether or not Plato really believed in reincarnation (and we probably don't know for sure) -- Plato certainly taught that our actions have consequences for our own souls, that we become such-and-such a kind of person because of the choices we make.  You could repeat that last sentence substituting the name "Buddha" for "Plato" and it would still be true.  And so on.

OK, so they are not identical.  Plato seems to have allowed that there is a positive role (even if a small one) for wine in a good life, while the Buddha doubted it.  Plato certainly thought there is a positive role for erotic longing in a good life (though we can discuss whether he thought consummation was nearly as good), and the Buddha classified it as a form of suffering.  But enough of it is similar that, what with this and that claims on my time anyway, I found I just didn't have enough motivation to overcome the hurdles and get back to it.

But I want to.  Hellenism and Buddhism aren't identical.  And even if they were, spelling out the identity could be kind of fun.  Besides, there are articles I have promised to write: on the Theory of Forms, for example, or on Neoplatonist theology.  Even if nobody reads this site, I ought to pay up.

I'll come back to this.  Soon.  Or at any rate it won't be another year.  Stay tuned ....

"Have you been writing?"

I went to a public lecture this afternoon and saw three people I know – from totally different contexts.  Two are faculty at my son's high school (one of whom is my son’s advisor); the third is a guy I used to work with long ago at a past employer.  I suppose it’s inevitable that I run into folks I know whenever I go out: plenty of people call this a small town.  At any rate it’s a very small town for its size.

As Ialked to my ex-colleague after the lecture he asked, “Have you been writing?”  Well, no.  Not exactly.  Not at all, in fact.  Of course I’ve got reasons: I’ve been busy and there’s been a lot going on and the dog ate my homework ….  But that’s all just chatter, and at least I had the decency not to make excuses out loud even as I rehearsed them in my head.  All I said was “No.”

So my friend started to talk about procrastination, and about how to tackle a big project by breaking it down into little itty-bitty projects and then knocking them off the list one at a time.  Of course he’s right.  He’s also the one who first encouaged me to start blogging, five years before I started writing under the name “Hosea”.  (The first things I ever posted, under my own name, are no longer on the Internet so far as I know, and the Internet is a richer place for their absence.)  So we chatted some more and then went our separate directions.  But all the while my mind was starting to murmur to me, “Get it in gear, Hosea. None of this stuff is going to write itself, you know.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if it did?