TWOH Update: A Whole New Blog, and Maybe the Secret to Happiness Too

Picture, if you will, an arc; a great and grand, glorious arc. Okay maybe not so much, let's just say a boat, a really leaky dinghy at that. That's been, I'm sure, the state of my blog, especially since my last post was unforgivably just shy of two years ago. But let's let this boat function as an arc that carries the World of Humans into a new dawn. 

One a little less heated.

Let me tell you what's been going on that has kept me from posting these last two years. I don't mean the silly work, school, relationship, life distractions. I mean the ones I can write about. The kind that have kept me up at night and, more importantly, away from the keyboard. 

I've changed. A lot, actually. My blog started out as a means of making sense of things, with the overall goal of putting good ideas out there. That remains the same, but I've realized just how little wiggle room there is for that. I thought the world's problems were sociological, that our interactions were the key to solving our problems. That may be true to some extent, on some level, but there's a deeper level; the spiritual level. Don't let me lose you yet...

I've been in the Air Force nearly four and a half years now, and I'm now waiting to get out. In that time I've maybe spent an effective month doing "my job", the one I was trained to do. What I have done, for over a year now, is an alternate duty as a Chaplain Assistant. In the military, we stress the importance of spiritual well-being. We place it on par with physical exercise and mental health and social interaction, things we all take for granted (rightfully so) as being necessary for a well rounded, healthy individual. The spiritual aspect always leaves an odd taste in our secular world though; and I think it's because we tend to associate that word "spiritual" with "religious".

Let me break this myth now. Spirituality and religion are two separate entities. Spirituality, or the military term we use, spiritual resilience, has to do with the idea of being able to know your core values, your motives, and to determine your purpose. Meaning-of-Life jazz. For some people, religion fills that role. That's fine and acceptable and good! That's what a religion, a good one, should be designed to do. 

I like to look at it like this: the goal of every human being on the face of this Earth is one two-fold goal: to increase happiness and decrease suffering. Don't let the "and" confuse you; it's one goal, just in English I have to use two clauses to express it.

It's differences and variations amongst that goal that create conflict. Many Christians think if one believes in Christ, one will gain a ticket to heaven, thus removing oneself from the sufferings of this world and finding happiness in the afterlife. Many aesthetics think that if they devote their lives to their practice, they will remove themselves from the primitive-human, suffering realm and find union with the divine, thus finding inner peace and, ultimately, happiness. Many businessmen think if they can just make enough money to not have to worry about making money, then they can remove themselves from the sufferings of always striving for money and be at peace and happy. Many politicians think if they can just make the appropriate reforms needed to eliminate X, Y, and Z social issues, then harmony and happiness will ensue. Many terrorists think if they can just get people to listen, to hear their ideas and confirm to the one true way, at any cost, then the world will know peace, and in time happiness. Many Atheists think that if people will just stop conforming to outdated traditions and ideologies, and use their heads, then they can solve their problems, which would lead to happiness. Many executioners think, if they can just eliminate the scum of the Earth, or scare people from committing criminal acts, then crime will cease, and people can live and prosper and be happy. 

There are many sides to this coin. Everyone wants that goal. Some people want it at different levels. 

Some say, "I want to decrease my suffering and make myself happy." 

Some say, "I want to decrease the suffering of my friends and family, so that we can be happy."

Some say, "I want to decrease the suffering in my community, or my country, so that our people can be at peace and live happily!"

And then some say, "I want to eliminate the suffering of all people, I want all human beings to be happy!"

And then still others say, "I want every living thing, every being capable of suffering and happiness, be it plant or animal, or stars and planets and rocks and clouds, if they can have emotions, I want all to be free from suffering and to exist in harmony and happiness!"

Every one of these goals is equal in its wholesomeness. Problems exist when we cling to certain levels at the expense of other levels. The altruist who suffers from depression but focuses all her effort on helping friends and family is neglecting part of herself, and that will reflect not only within her soul but in her relationships as well. The miser who keeps all to himself at the expense of his community might get what he wants, but he will most likely be riddled with guilt, or if oblivious to such things will suffer the worst emotional crash when he looses all he has acquired, not to mention the suffering he has caused outwardly. After all, all those resources that built into his wealth had to come from somewhere. The consumer who eats healthy, supports his family, and donates to charities is an exceptional human being, but if he supports the fossil fuel industry or international warfare, be it in spirit, action, or taxes; then he too, along with the rest of the world, will have to come to terms with the suffering our global society inflicts on the planet. No one is perfect.

Myself personally. My spiritual journey has been long and, to an extent, neglected. 

I was raised Methodist, then after moving away from Small-Town-in-the-South to a place with an adequate library, I learned of world religions. I then lost the "if everyone believes it, it must be true" card, and all of a sudden the world wasn't composed of just Christians and Jews anymore. I eventually became an Atheist, then once I realized I had a spiritual void in my heart, I started looking back for the "true" religion. I generated the idea of Omnitheism, that the very power of belief made all religions equally true! I even went so far to state that all religions negated each other, which drove me to Agnosticism. 

Eventually, since it didn't matter what I believed so long as I believed it wholeheartedly, I landed on Wicca (it was based off older religions, so must be more true, right?) and enjoyed it for a while. But after talking to the moon, alone in the cold air of night, for so long, I knew something was missing, and that spark fizzled out. I defaulted back to Atheism once more, but I had questions that weren't being answered. I had lost many traditions I wanted refilled. I longed for a sense of community, or at least reassurance. Atheism was nothing more than the opposite of Theism, and I didn't want to critique anyone for their beliefs. I just wanted people to be happy, myself included, and if any religion, Islam to Pastafarianism, did that for someone, and it didn't impose on the pursuit of happiness in others, it was fine by me (still true today). I just needed it for myself. 

Humanism helped a lot, philosophically, but the community is riddled with militant atheists who constantly bash anything resembling religion. Half of their "church", the AHA, is a bunch of lawyers suing religious people for their practice, and in a lot of cases it's a good thing, as they are protecting the rights of the non-religious from coercion or persecution. It's just the attitude they do it with that did me in. 

Then one day I found a book, The Idiot's Guide to Zen Living. 

Let me just summarize and leave you on a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm still a humanist, and an atheist, but I'm also now a Zen Buddhist, and today I read something about Pantheism that I might have to look into. I've changed my education goals, instead of sociology I'll be dual-majoring in Religious Studies and Psychology. I hope to one day find a career in spiritual counseling. The inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness is, ultimately, not just a civil matter, but a spiritual journey. Zen Buddhism works for me, and by no means am I proselytizing. That would deny you, my reader, from discovering why it works by itself. A famous author, H.P. Lovecraft, said, "If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences."

Buddhism for me is that quest for truth. For others it's Christianity, or Atheism, or a liberal arts college, or a novel, or a blade of grass, or a pet, a lover, a long walk, or a therapist. It doesn't matter, because the only thing that's true for all is truth itself. The rest is subject to interpretation. 

In my future postings I will elaborate on this search for truth, many like to call it "the Way" or "the Path". I like those terms and will use them. I will talk about Buddhism at some point, but remember the ultimate goal... 

I will try to express ways I think function effectively in the theater of decreasing suffering and increasing happiness. 

Best wishes, and thanks for reading.