The one about Truth and Reality

There is a quote from the Buddha in Nyanatiloka Thera's book The Buddha's Path to Deliverance that I have not only highlighted, but am making a calligraphy copy to put in my room here in Korea:

"Undisturbed shall our mind remain, no evil words shall escape our lips; friendly and full of sympathy shall we remain, with heart full of love, free from any hidden malice."

It isn't that I observe this perfectly, but it is guidance from the Buddha to inspire me daily to correct my behavior, to live the right way despite any temptations to do otherwise. There is no guarantee that living rightly will take away all trials and troubles.  There is no afterlife salvation to be gained, either.  The only reward for behaving rightly is the behavior itself. 

Some may say that this isn't enough.  They don't want to lose opportunities by having to respect others, by having to be fair and honest in their dealings.  They want. They desire.  They crave.

We know this stems from ignorance, but ignorance can't be dispelled by force.  Ignorance is uprooted not by the force of violence but by steady erosion which little by little undermines it, and grain by grain washes ignorance away.  Once we let go of ignorance, we see the truth of reality.  We see things as they really are.  And we marvel at how long we resisted it!  That is what we call salvation, seeing truth as it is, face to face, and letting that truth govern our every word and every deed.

Why I Am Leaving Facebook

   Facebook is that social wildfire that has caught us all up with the people from our past and keeps us ever aware of the shiny trinkets of civilization that grab the attention of our friends, family, and acquaintances.
   What have I learnt from my time on Facebook?  First, my Facebook friends and I really don't hold the same views on much of anything. Some unfriended me early on when my liberal values appeared on my timeline, but others just decided to edit what they see and exclude me from their timelines.  We don't see each other's postings, and that includes all the neutral things like outings in the park, trips to faraway lands, and even those cute photos of my darling cats. So why stay Facebook friends?  
   Facebook is just reflecting real life. We grew apart and lost touch for reasons that our Facebook moments just iterate again and again.  We have little to nothing in common except that we attended the same college or the same high school or served in the same unit in the army or worked in the same department.  The memories are both good and bad.  Did I think Facebook would erase the bad ones or make new good ones?  I think I did.
   Reflecting on why I started doing Facebook, it was probably curiosity mixed with nostalgia.  Maybe some part of me thought it was possible to pick up where we left off all those years ago.  That's unrealistic, and I should have known it.  The past is what it was and can't be frozen and thawed later like a delicious lasagna.  Each one of us moved on in the directions we chose.  Our paths crossed once for a time, but then we crossed other paths, and the web of our social intercourse grew with a life of its own, mostly out of our control, widening every year the gaps and chasms between us.  I need to let the past be on its own terms.  It's foolish to impose my current condition upon what was, hoping to relive a happy moment here and there.
   There is another reason for me to leave Facebook.  I have never been able to make solid social connections.  I can't build lasting personal relationships.  It's a flaw that a very small percentage of people have, and try as I might, it's just not going to get fixed.
   Facebook gives me the illusion of social connection.  It is a sort of plaster over my flaw that allowed me to pretend I had personal relationships with these people.  The reason I can't build personal relationships isn't clear, but it manifests itself with impatience and impertinence, often with acerbic attempts to make myself look clever or even better than others.  The people on my Facebook should not be subjected to my little insults, my partisan banner waving and condescending attitude toward their religious faiths.  I love them all, but they would never know it from how I behave.
   Leaving Facebook is from disappointment with myself and my lack of discipline.  There are many places online where a person can be partisan, join in political debate, be a loud-mouthed asshole and ridicule the ideas of others.  Facebook is not that place, but I did it anyway.  I was the drunk uncle at Thanksgiving dinner ruining it for everybody else, and it pains me.

   On New Year's Eve, I'll post something on Facebook for the last time, a farewell of sorts, though my online presence isn't disappearing entirely, though.  Just Facebook.  Withdrawal will be a bitch, but I'll work through it.

The Really Green Party

The Really Green Party

or

Why a Green Party Webpage Banned Me

by

Mike Raymond

     Several months ago, when I spoke up and suggested that our party leader, Dr. Jill Stein, not run on a Green Party ticket for President because Senator Bernie Sanders holds nearly identical views with Dr. Stein, I encountered a number of Green Party supporters who castigated me soundly for that position. My defense was that we should focus our resources on support for Green candidates at lower levels of government and not compete with Senator Sanders for the White House since he has a better chance of winning that race than Dr. Stein has. My rationale has been that Bernie Sanders can take our Green causes and ideals to a national stage whereas Dr. Stein more than likely could not.

     The Democratic Party race and convention will be front page news next year, and if a candidate speaks up for Green ideals even though not being in the Green Party, I thought that would be a better way to help more people see the value of causes such as the preservation of our environment, stopping war and teaching peace, ending government corruption, eliminating the theft of wealth by the one percent, healing the rift in race relations, and improving the health and stability of the working class in America.

     The causes and ideals that the Green Party represents are what I feel is in the best interests of the future of the United States and of the world in general. I speak up for these causes; but I am not under the illusion that these noble ideals must be wrapped only in the Green Party banner. 

     If a Democrat, Libertarian, or even a Republican were to say, for example, we must stop polluting our water supplies and dumping oil in our oceans, I would cheer and support that person in that endeavor. As the old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” I don't care if it's served on a ceramic plate, in a wooden bowl, or wrapped in a newspaper. 

      The causes are greater than any one person; the ideals are more valuable than any one party. For comments and questions along these lines, I was thrown out of the Green Party USA Facebook discussions and banned from contributing to or even reading that page any longer.

     Dr. Stein and the Green Party hold high ideals and harbor a love for our country and our world that is rarely matched among us. But let's stop being party shills, break the mould, and start being spokespeople for ideas. It is ideas that have power and yield consequences, not political parties. A political party is a messenger for its ideas, not an end in itself.

     The Green Party presidential candidate wants to be in the presidential debates, and that would be a beautiful step in the direction of democracy in America. I suggest, though, that in the interest of integrity and honesty, Green Party operatives stop punishing their own people for expressing their opinions and offering their ideas. We are not mindless robots meant simply to drone the party mantras.

     We should allow free discussion without resorting to emotional outbursts or excessively legalistic wrangling and nitpicking. If we won't allow free debate among ourselves without censorship or banning each other, then by what right has the Green Party to ask the nation to let our candidate debate the other candidates in a national forum?