The Human Pursuit for Connection, or My American Best Friend-The Buddhist Priest...

Hood Canal, Seabeck, Washington

Yesterday I enjoyed a lunch with one of my oldest and dearest friends. I met him when I was 12, and we have been extremely close ever sense, dubbing each other our "favorite person" and that is a title that has ceased to change.

One of my favorite things about this friend has been our ability to have extremely philosophical, and intellectual conversations. He has always challenged me mentally, and thus making me feel brighter and more educated just about every time we see each other. Where as I have always found myself drawn to the historical and artistic side of knowledge, he indulges more in philosophical and spiritual. Our conversations have become heated before, since we are both such opinionated people but generally they just seem to focus around a mutual desire to learn new things, despite our disagreement with them.

Once upon a time he planned to become a Catholic Priest, and even converted along with his family to Catholicism so that he could. I listened to him as he would embark on study of this religion or this religion while he studied theology in college. For awhile he's followed the spiritual path of Buddhists, and has even began training to be a Buddhist Priest. Listening to him talk so broadly about the Buddhist belief of reincarnation and the simplicity of just living a moralistic life I decided to look up, and read into the religion.

Just from the bare basics of information on the religion I must admit I like it. I love that the main three principles are to lead a moral life, to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and to develop wisdom and understanding. I also really appreciated that the Buddha wasn't a God, but simply a man who seeked and taught a path to enlightenment. I really appreciated the Four Noble Truths. I love that the third truth's focus is that we need to focus on today, and not the past or the imagined future. It was something Allen and I spoke about briefly during lunch, and is something I have always tried to do. That belief that today is all that matters because yesterday is gone and there is no control over tomorrow. Life is unexpected, and it's difficult to plan for the unexpected so why try to?

Now, don't expect me to suddenly become Buddhist. As impulsive as I may be, I personally find aspects of the 5 precepts as things I would struggle with. Things like intoxication and loss of mindfulness, or sensual or sexual overindulgence... which lately hasn't been an issue but I could see it being one in the future. Still, it felt nice to have an intellectual conversation. It felt nice to read and discover something I knew nothing about. That has always been one of my favorite things about my friendship with Allen. Mutual respect for different beliefs and a mutual curiosity.

Still, I can't help but envy his pursuit for enlightenment. The calmness that comes from it. It would be a nice change from the chaos and emotional turmoil of my day to day life.

Just saying.

But that is just one aspect of the human experience isn't it. Connection. Rather it be to a person, or a theory, or an ideology, or a religion. We are all wondering aimlessly seeking a connection because it is one of the many things that grounds us to this world. However fleeting, or significant they may be, these are the things that tie us to what is around us, and alleviate living too much in our own minds.

But maybe that's just me.