Is Hope a delusion?

I saw a billboard for a Christian music station on the way home yesterday that got me thinking.

Their current ad slogan is "More Hope".

Hope is often thought of as a good thing. Some say it is the only thing that drives Humanity through the dark times in our collective lives. Hope of a better tomorrow. It's funny that people believe in "hope for tomorrow" yet they insist on the idea of a separate self. What's the point of a better tomorrow if you're only improving things for other, independent beings who aren't a part of you in any way?

From the Wiktionary:
hope (countable and uncountable; plural hopes)
1. (uncountable) The belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
I still have some hope that I can get to work on time.
2. (countable) The actual thing wished for
3. (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope
We still have one hope left: my roommate might see the note I left on the table.
4. (in Christianity) The virtuous desire for future good
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1Cor. 13:13)
In Japanese, it's kibō.

So is hope a delusion? Is it delusional to wish for something to happen? I think it comes down to action. You can hope something is going to happen and if you take steps to allow it to happen then it is reasonable to expect (hope) that it will happen.

If you hope that you'll win the lottery and yet you never buy a lottery ticket, or even if you do, is it reasonable to expect the winnings to come rolling in? I think this where hope becomes a delusion, when the expectations of the outcome far exceed the bounds of reason. I don't think this kind of hope is detrimental in most cases but I do think it falls into the realm of illusion at best.

Hope can be detrimental. Staying with an abusive spouse year after year always hoping that the spouse will change when years of evidence says otherwise is probably detrimental, especially if said spouse never makes any attempts to improve his behavior or get help for his (probable) illness.

So I suppose this street can go either way. Like most things you just need to apply the test of reason to it.

Gassho.

Being Mindful when you're not...

So, I woke this morning and the theme from the Sopranos started up in my brain.

 

This is never a good way to start the morning.

 

I slept well. I don't feel sick. I just feel groggy, not tired just groggy.

 

Then after I manage to slog my way through my morning routine and finally make it to the communal kitchen we share with my parents it's full of people.

 

All of these people have no work to go to. One of them is retired and the other is off for the summer. They have no schedule that need be adhered to. They know that I have to leave for work by 8:10 to be on-time.

 

Yet, here they are, making a large breakfast and taking up what little space there is available in the first place.

 

My first reaction matched the bear. However, it never came out. It just passed me by. I'm aware that my brain howled in contempt and irritation, but for some reason I didn't get on the train.

 

I did squeak a bit when my 18 year old niece walks in and sits down at the one remaining seat at the table. I'm loath to evict my five-year-old so that I can sit and eat as he always perches anyways when there is a television on anywhere in the house. I'd rather there not be one, but that is a whole other story, of course.

 

I limited myself to one comment that I supposed that I would have to stand in the kitchen and eat since there was no place for me to sit. I tried to inject as much humor and light as possible as I nearly kept it from my lips and that was my mitigation of damages and bad karma at that last nanosecond.

 

My mother didn't seem to realize that I was irritated and she's very reactive to me. So maybe I was successful at making it seem a joke instead of the pressure release valve of agitation that it truly was.

 

So was I mindful? It seems like I was by automatic. Maybe all of this studying and writing and dribs and drabs of practices add up even though my daily practice is still a distant dream?

 

Gassho.

Some Days, A Brother needs to Atone

And this is one of those days....

All evil karma ever committed by me since of old,
Because of my beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance,
Born of my body, mouth, and thought,
Now I atone for it all. 

I just feel like I've been a jerk all day.  Some days you get the bear and some days, well the bear gets you.

Take, 'er easy, folks.

Gassho.

Entertain Me? No Thanks!

A blank page can be tantalizing, so many possibilities, so much potential. Will any of it be fulfilled? Will the potential be wasted on something trite and meaningless?

Life is much like the sheet of paper. It’s blank. You decide what to fill it with. It could the pursuit of the trite and meaningless or perhaps, something more.

As a Buddhist, I like to believe that I’ve decided to pursue something greater.

I’ve decided to walk a more definite path and a less definite path. A path that leads somewhere and also leads nowhere. However, it is often tempting to fill my page with random scribbling, to deviate off the path and cavort in the meadows. Whether that meadow be the latest fantasy series, video game, or sci-fi movie or television program, they are all deviations and lead to serious detours.

As such I’ve found that I must curtail what I take in. I try to limit my exposure to the modern media. It’s difficult to work in an office with those who gladly revel in the fleeting entertainments of the moment. I’m constantly being asked if I have seen this movie, or that TV show. Usually, I say no and they leave it alone, but not always. Occasionally I get badgered about my lack of interest in celebrities or movies or “pop” music.

I’m torn between celebrating American holidays for the sake of “fitting in.” I’m an American; I can appreciate Thanksgiving and what it means. It has decidedly Christian overtones that I’m not particularly in favor of, nor do I approve of the celebration of animal slaughter and gluttony that it has become.

Christmas is another problem. I want to participate in the merriment and I have no problem celebrating the possibly mythical birth of the possibly mythical Bodhisattva, Jesus Christ. The commercialism and greed that the holiday engenders is an issue for me. I know Christians struggle with this too. I can’t find solace in the “true meaning” of Christmas. The Christmas story is supposed to evoke the majesty of the Son of God. I don’t believe Christ WAS the Son of God, and I don’t care about his birth other than the reverence he might be due as an enlightened being. However, it’s always nice to celebrate someone’s birthday. We celebrate the Buddha’s birthday and our folks and friends’s birthdays, why not JC’s?

In the end it’s important to remember to fill my days with worthwhile activities. Watching the seven-hour Mythbusters marathon might seem like fun at the time but think of all the constructive things you could have done? Think of all the Dharma talks you could have listened to or all the zazen that could have been done in that time or even non-Practice activities , though really everything is practice even walking your dog or scratching your butt. 

As a culture we have come to believe that we have the right to be entertained. Even if there’s always someone willing to entertain us just waiting inside the idiot box, maybe you shouldn't’t turn it on.

My days are usually more fulfilling if I don’t even hit that power button.

Gassho.

 

I want to welcome anyone who found me on my networked blogs. The beauty of psoting on posterous is that I send one e-mail and a post goes out to wordpress, blogger, livejournal and of course right here on twitter. Also this is one of my syndicated posts on my "official" blog over at http://www.chron.com/channel/houstonbelief/commons/bayoubuddhists.html

so you might be reading it there. If you've seen it already I apologize. I'm jsut trying to give people options on where to subscribe and what to look at. Each of my blogs are a little bit different. Some have legacy posts that go back quite a ways. Thanks for reading either way!