Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem has always been a family motto of sorts. It all began with my Dad and his neo-Buddhist studies. This 'art of finding happiness' taught him to appreciate the power and authenticity of the present moment. We, as little children with our spongey brains, adopted this mindset as well. I have always leaned more towards the Eastern way of thought, lifestyle and literature. Kahlil Gibran, Rumi and Tarthang Tulku have been a few of the celebrated authors in our home. My new favorite read is 50 Spiritual Classics by Thomas Butler-Bowdon. I highly recommend running, walking, tri cycling, uni cycling, bicycling, scootering, driving or web-surfing your way to the nearest bookstore and picking up a copy. It's worth your effort.

I'll leave you with a little Eastern wisdom. 8 spokes and all....

THE NOBLE EIGHT FOLDED PATH

The doctrine of Dharma is symbolized by a wheel with eight spokes. The eight spokes of this wheel symbolize the noble eight folded path. By going along this path, the Buddhist develops understanding of the nature of existence, of which transitoriness is an important aspect. This understanding leads to the wisdom to find ways to be able to let go of desire and greed and thus leads to redemption. The Buddhist walks along the the eight folded path by:

- The right vision: a vision that holds the four noble truths (see below for the 4 Noble truths).

- The right intention: thinking without greed and anger.

- The right way of speaking: telling the truth, not to gossip or to use abusive language.

- the right behavior: Not killing or hurting humans or animals, and not stealing.

- The right living: having an honest job.

- The right effort: the effort to do the beneficial.

- The right attention: attention to what happens now and here.

- The right concentration: concentration on a beneficial cause, or, that which is going on here and now.

The four noble truths of Neo-Buddhism:

1. Happiness, pleasure and unfortunately suffering, are part of life.

2. There are many possible sources of happiness, of pleasure and of suffering. We can life a happy life here and now. The greed for pleasure, possession or power can be a source of suffering, for yourself and for others. This is especially the case when greed becomes an obsession to want to possess more then you have regardless of what you possess already, without being able to enjoy your possessions because you are obsessed with the dissatisfaction that you don't possess enough.

3. You don't have to live as a monk to be a Neo-Buddhist. You don't have to give up desire or pleasure. It is wise to find inner peace by means of finding balance.

4. The art in life is to find balance between the desire for your goals, your sources of happiness, at one side, and a rational, realistic view on reality to see whether these goals are realistic and whether they are of real importance for your happiness, at the other side.