June 29, 2024 – A

We are always trying to turn things
to our advantage.
And here we are.

We are here, now,
with things just as they are,
because we, as a species,
are always trying to turn things to our advantage.

Call it "The Profit Motive."

We want what we want,
when we want it,
where we want it, 
the way we want it,
for as long as we want it,
and then we want something else.

Always wanting.
Always having to have.
And this--look around--is the result
of generations of people 
wanting and having to have.
Or else.

The world as we know it
is the result of wanting gone amok.

What's the cure/fix?

Buddhism claims to have the cure/fix.
But it isn't catching up with the disease.

Indigenous people didn't have the cure/fix.
They were engaging in human sacrifice 
up to the modern era.

I think the cure/fix
does not exist on a corporate, collective, level.
Individually, we can develop our own cure/fix
by adapting a version of Buddhism
for our own personal use,
and living to be true to our original nature,
our inherent virtues (The things we do best
and enjoy doing most),
and our intrinsic intuition
in the service of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
forgetting the profit motive (What's in it for us)--
but our chances of impacting
even the lives of the members of our family
are too slight to matter.

The species planet-wide is suffering
from the wanting/having disease,
and it is terminal.

Don't tell me.
Let me guess.
You want not to hear that, right?