Beliefs

To quote Nick Cave, "I don't believe in an interventionist God"

As a Buddhist, I have read that the debate of the existence of god - is irrelevant, it simply doesn't matter to how you live your life, you need to be accountable now for your actions, not later when you are dead.

But I sometimes have no patience for those who seek meaning in things that are meaningless. Like inexplicable things, random cancer for example. I don't believe god singled those people out for suffering.

In an article today in the newspaper about a filmmaker who lost his left hand to cancer, a Rabbi asks - "How is it that people who are good can be challenged ... with terrible circumstances?" The question makes me think of how religions of the world like to say they offer a recipe, or plan to avoid suffering, the implication is those that follow this plan do not suffer. So individual suffering is your fault for improper devotion and the displeasure of your creator - and by some extension, the implication here is other people suffer less than you.

Buddhism teaches that everyone suffers, and has been called a bitter religion because of it. It says the main root of suffering is desire... wanting things, some of these things we can let go, and will be happier. Wanting to have more money, etc. Things. Somethings that we want, we can't let go of, they're practically biological, love and desire for the well being of children, parents.

But this calls to mind a parable, the story of the mustard seed, a woman's child had died, but she could not accept it, and she went from healer to healer, wiseman to wiseman, to find someone who could help her child, and no one could. Finally her search brought her to the Buddha, who told her he could heal her child with a potion made from a mustard seed, but it had to be a mustard seed from a house that had not know death and loss. The woman went from house to house searching - but could not find a single house that had not know the loss of a loved one. When she came back to the Buddha she was ready to let her child go.

I had a different intent when I started this, I will try again tomorrow