Ride
Mileage: 20 (Bleriot)
April mileage: 20
Year to date: 631
ipod: Gil Fronsdal ("Letting Go"), This American Life ("What I learned from TV")
Again nothing special but a wonderful toodle on the Bleriot on this very pleasant Sunday afternoon. It's a little windy, but with perfect azure skies and big, fat, puffy clouds providing some texture. I headed out, again RBW style, down towards the riverfront. The Bleriot has developed a "tick" which I'm rather sure is coming from the left pedal; I need to do a quick tightening. Other than that, I can't make one single complaint. The weather was great, the pace comfortable, and the mind cleaned. I've been bothered of late about school and crap and tennis, blah, blah. There's not better way to clear out the cobwebs than letting the mind stay focused on the wheel, the stroke, the traffic and the path.
I read an interesting letter in the CJ ("Many Spiritual Paths") this morning, one that speaks to the on-going tension of our "Christian Nation" that is in power right now. You can follow the link if you would like, but I'll quote part of the letter here:
It is the goal more than the path that is most important.
I think there are two powerful but opposed elements at work here. The first is the eloquent idea presented here that the major figures of several world religions were in fact agents of change, and not merely followers of an established tradition. They were not mired in dogma, but rather saw and lived a "better" way. What would those Agents think now in how their words and deeds are used to justify so much ill will? Would Jesus be aghast at the venal ideology of Fundamentalist Christians? Would Muhammed be shocked and overwhelmed with the situation in the Middle East and how much hatred those peoples are fomenting worldwide? And what of the Buddha? How would he interpret Thailand's efforts to make Buddhism the state religion? like that of an Islamic theocracy? this first portion really makes me smile with satisfaction in a way. Here's a person who realizes that it's the act, not the dogma, that matters. These figures lived the life, so to speak.
The second portion, as a Buddhist, makes me say, "eh, not exactly". It is the path. One aspect of both Christianity and Islam that makes me cringe somewhat is their insistence that Method and Behavior in this life only pertain to the outcome in the afterlife. Yes, Buddhists too, or can, be hung up on karma and karmic reincarnation. But my Buddhists studies have suggested to me that the path is exactly what we're on, the journey that is this present life. I think, perhaps, the author intended something else, but came up with these words. They're not harmful to me; I relate much more with the metaphor of the path. Christians and Muslims, many, are fixated, though, on the rewards of the afterlife at the expense of their time in the flesh on this earth. What if?
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