I’ve just returned from a meditation and ritual at the local Buddhist center, and I’m finding their concept of “middle way” does just feel right. It also feels like an easy cop-out, a way to not commit to a strong opinion on something. That part is a challenge as having, testing, defending, and implementing strong opinions is highly celebrated for anyone in a knowledge worker role.
But in a very “middle way” manner of thinking, I think both things can be true. The middle way can be an easy cop-out. And it can also be the most skilful way to handle a situation or way of thinking. Figuring out which to apply when is one of the challenges and interesting parts of life.
Collecting tools and lenses from our experiences as well as schools of thought considered by those before us surely complicates things! If only there were simple answers. It would be boring though.
As our toolboxes grow, using all our skills in each situation becomes less and less manageable. Can’t spend all our time analysing everything, need to focus on action and learning from experience.
All these worldviews and approaches to handling new situations can be incredibly complex. But the real world is so many orders of magnitude more complex than any toolbox I build could ever be, so at least this approach gets me a bit closer to the real world.
But in a very “middle way” manner of thinking, I think both things can be true. The middle way can be an easy cop-out. And it can also be the most skilful way to handle a situation or way of thinking. Figuring out which to apply when is one of the challenges and interesting parts of life.
Collecting tools and lenses from our experiences as well as schools of thought considered by those before us surely complicates things! If only there were simple answers. It would be boring though.
As our toolboxes grow, using all our skills in each situation becomes less and less manageable. Can’t spend all our time analysing everything, need to focus on action and learning from experience.
All these worldviews and approaches to handling new situations can be incredibly complex. But the real world is so many orders of magnitude more complex than any toolbox I build could ever be, so at least this approach gets me a bit closer to the real world.
I suppose this is why I ended up in the Kingdom of Conscience moralist philosophy as I played through Disco Elysium - it’s the middle way through the game’s rather insane (and brilliant) dialogue options. Who knew that Buddhism could be so disco. Or not at all. Or both.
With thanks to: Mike for introducing me to Disco Elysium; Miguel and Bryan for the long chats about Buddhism; the London Buddhist Centre for a great retreat over the holidays.
Written from all over London on a busy day (I tried for the style of the comic Family Circus, but somehow at least one Waldo/Wally has appeared!):
While listening to a favourite from high school:
