Mass Distraction

This may be different for certain people.  But what would happen if you turned off your TV, stepped away from your games, or stayed home from the pub?  Just with silence around and nothing to do.  Would you feel lost?  Confused as to what to do to past the time?

Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh said in a Dharma talk that, we thrive on these distractions because we are afraid of ourselves/one's own mind.  The more I think about this, and the more I try to break away from these stimuli, the more I find it is true.

Our present day is filled with a constant stream of input and data.  90% of it is essentially useless in all truth.  It's filler, not unlike the foods we think we taste with other elements mixed in.  It distracts us from who we truly are and who we can be.  But how many of us take time to take that inward step to realize what we are and where we are?

Understandably, not everybody's life can include a long period of solitude.  But what about a half hour, or even twenty minutes a day to reflect and be mindful of where we are and what we do?  Just to mindfully breathe and realize that we are not the only thing that matters. What we do inevitably influences others in some way. 

This is important even to the non-Buddhist.  It can be stress relieving, and open the mind to more things than a self-centered reality. 

As Bright as a Light

Every day on my way to and from work, it's a twenty mile drive.  On the route, there are 3 blinking lights.  When you drive, the mind wanders, does it not?   This got me thinking the other day.

As a light shines, no matter the distance you are from it, or if you are not looking at it, it's still the same brightness, or blinking as it takes its course.  People's character are the same.  There is always a base.  Character is always the same.  We can change, as people, or mature, but isn't there always something that has always been there?

Does a light shine any brighter whether you look at it or not?


So I applied this self-thought riddle to life.  Are people the same whether or not you are around them?  Do things keep their course whether or not you are there?

Do clouds hinder the sun's true brightness?  The sun still glows whether or not clouds are in the way. Also if it is night where you are, it still shines on another part of our earth.

Thus it is the same with all things.  Be aware that all things are what they are, and their nature.  This is comparable to the Dharma.  We cannot change what is.  Consider this.

If you can think of other things relative to this, I'd like to read it in the comments.

Gassho.