This is shit, but...

Many diverse worldviews can be boiled down to variations of the following statement:

“This is shit, but…”

• This is shit, but there’s a perfect heaven coming next (Religion)
• This is shit, but I can accumulate enough status or wealth to make it bearable (Materialism)
• This is shit, but if I tell myself it means something, I’ll be ok (Relativism)
• This is shit, but when I find the Perfect Partner, they’ll make everything ok (Romanticism)
• This is shit, but when I get enlightened I won’t have to deal with it anymore (Spirituality)
• This is shit, but when technology get sufficiently advanced, we can just remove all the difficult stuff (Techno-optimism)
• This is shit, and I don’t give a fuck (Apathy)

While they all focus on their unique solution, they agree on the initial diagnosis.

But there are rare traditions that propose something radically different.

They make the claim that this actual world is incredible. This actual world is not a corridor, but the boundless main event. It is fully and absolutely present now: a self-propelling miracle that moves without the divisions we so often attribute to it.

And through paying closer attention to what’s going on here, through poking holes in our default beliefs about the world, we share in the wonder, mystery and beauty inherent to it.

This doesn’t mean everything is suddenly peachy. Some of it stings, bites and traumatises. But even amidst the turmoil, this actual world is extraordinary beyond belief.

No belief system will get you here. No ideology. What it takes is sincerity and an ability to unclench. As Peter Brown often said, truth is easy to see: it’s letting go of untruth that’s the hard part.

(This post was inspired by David Chapman’s sermonette, which was in turn inspired by Pema Chödrön)