Life: life of a Buddhist madman

Last updated on: February 17, 2007 at 8:25 pm by Justin Whitaker

Life: life of a Buddhist madman 2007-02-17T20:25:00-07:00 Justin Whitaker

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I’ve been groaning a lot lately, a sure sign that I’m working too hard, meditating too little, and generally failing to take care of myself. It may also be a sign that I’m going mad.

Today has been the first day in weeks that I’ve allowed myself to read, sit, walk, and eat in a leisurely manner. The result has been nice in some respects, but aggravating in others. Due to a general lack of discipline and focus, my mind is oh so much like the proverbial monkey, bouncing from topic to topic, desire to desire, restless then lethargic. This, I take it, is how my mind has been for most of the past couple weeks, with a few moments of calm here and there.

The good side is that I see the monkey-mind and hence see my narrow opportunity to bring it under wraps. So I have work to do, and that is why I haven’t blogged much lately: every time I start something I realize it is a product of the monkey-mind and not something I will look back upon with a smile down the road. Perhaps that is no excuse. I should blog so as to see my madness more clearly. Perhaps.

So, some monkey-thoughts:

I read a nice article about teaching kids to meditate today. I got a good laugh at this quote:

“I’m kind of crazy these days,” said Ashlin Duncan, 6, “and my mom says I should come here.”

It also reminded me of my old classmate Heather from Bristol. She had two daughters that had learned quickly to meditate and were both quite brilliant at their young ages. She also wrote about children and Buddhism for her dissertation. Recently, my boss at The Center for Ethics did a radio commentary on the movie Children of Men, a movie I have every intention to see asap. In the movie, and more so in the commentary, the issue of children as fundamental to our community and ethics were raised. Without children, the fabric of society unravels. Yet how many philosophers have directly addressed this? Almost none. Dane, my boss, suggests that Wendell Barry, a sort of ‘agrarian philosopher’ comes the closest to explicating this important insight.

I never did finish that essay on Teaching from a Buddhist Perspective. But, as luck (or karma) would have it, the publication date was moved back and I now have until May 15 to get it done. Great, more to procrastinate on. Actually, it will be nice to be able to incorporate some of what I learn from teaching this semester. Things like:

It’s really really really hard to make up a course from scratch
Show movies liberally
Bring popcorn and snacks often
Say you don’t know when you just don’t know (actually advice given to me last semester as well, but far more appropriate this time around)
Find the inspiring aspects of the readings – the juicy stuff, and stick to it.
Don’t worry so much about going over the boring details, the students will do that on their own – IF they’re inspired.

Lastly, I thought about complaining a bit again about academics in general, but really it’s not so bad. Nor is it worth anyone’s time to moan, or groan. So off I go – to try to do something productive.

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