Sunday, July 06, 2008

Without hope

Most forms of religion I've come across invite us to hope for the 'wrong thing', usually some kind of satisfaction beyond this world, and this life. In Sheldon Kopp I found a religious writer who had no place for such consolation. He described his work as a psychotherapist in "If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!"

The seeker comes in hope of finding something definite, something permanent, something unchanging upon which to depend. He is offered instead the reflection that life is just what it seems to be, a changing, ambiguous, ephemeral mixed bag. It may often be discouraging, but it is ultimately worth it, because that's all there is.


Why do I find this strangely comforting?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Im from Melbourne. I came across your blog via your accurate comments on the highly over-rated Tom Wright.

Please check out these related references on the all important topic of death--the understanding of which is the essential key to right life altogether.

1. www.easydeathbook.com
2. www.dabase.org/dualsens.htm
3. www.dabase.org/noface.htm
4. www.dabase.org/2armP1.htm#ch1