Many Questions, No Answers

The status of my commitment to positive change in 2010 and beyond

Normally, I would dwell on such negatives as horrendous political events, problems at work and the general displays of ignorance by the public at large. As I have stated previously, I am working diligently on becoming a more positive person and focusing on those things that I can control and worrying less about those that I can not.

However, this does not absolve me from having opinions, nor expressing them when I need to rid myself of such negativity and evil outside influences. But NOT in this posting.

For much of my life, I have been fascinated by two fields of study that I dive in and out of on occasion, that of religion/spirituality and physics. For thousands of years, mankind has taken a bit of an exclusivity approach to religion and science. Sure, many scientists (not the least of which was Albert Einstein) had a religious background and even worried about what God was thinking. Generally however, people rarely are comfortable speaking of these two topics in the same setting.

With the advent of quantum mechanical physics (circa 1910), the understanding that there are many "weird" objects and forces in the universe, opened up the opportunity for science and religion to begin a processes of interconnection. This process has been extremely slow in developing over the last 100 years and many are still more comfortable with keeping science and religion separate.

I am not.

I have read the Bible, parts of the Koran and some of the Torah and I have always been a "fan" of Taoism. I even read two books about Hinduism and frankly got lost in all of their many deities. I have never explored Buddhism, other than some light reading and an ever present love affair with bronze Buddha statues and statuettes. Looking at the likeness of the Buddha has always made me smile and feel at peace. I have no real clue why, but it does.

So when my daughter gave me a Borders gift card for Christmas, I bought a new copy of my favorite Taoism book AND I purchased my first ever book on Buddhism.

Imagine my surprise when the first thing that I read in this book is a quote from Albert Einstein, "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description."

Huh

I have found that there is some quirky weirdness in Buddhism, but the basic premise and structure is truly appealing. I wouldn't say that I am or ever will be a "Buddhist", but I will say that this won't be the last book on the topic that I read.

Meanwhile, I continue to lose weight through diet and exercise. I will begin formalizing how I meditate (it turns out that I have been meditating at times during my whole life and didn't know it). I will continue to focus on the positives and learn to let go, including to let go of my own self doubt and guilt and fear and negative emotions.

I also reviewed some literature on physics yesterday and I will spend the rest of this morning dwelling on that topic, as I allow my mind to wander around and wonder about the universe.

Peace