I mean, I do call this site the Zen of me, and I haven’t written in regards to Zen in quite a while. Which, if you weren’t aware, is the philosophy I currently identify with and I guess you could say I’m a student of. It’s the closest thing to religion that I’ll come to as I am a *gasp* atheist.

If you’re not familiar with Zen (and I don’t claim to completely understand it yet or have all the facts exactly right), quick recap:

• Zen is the philosophy behind the religion of Buddhism. It has a long and sordid (well, ok, not really) past through much of Asia
• To me, Zen is very common sense, which is why I like it. Believe it or not, I learned the basics of Zen from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Zen (I’m suddenly linking to Amazon a lot tonight…must be because I spent an hour earlier updating my wishlist in a very non-Zen state)
• Zen has some basic tenets, which boil down to (in my words) 1) Desiring endlessly is bad 2) All things in moderation. It’s that simple? Well, no, not really. But you strive towards it in your life. Living Zen isn’t so much a destination as it is the way that you get there, if that makes sense. If you actually accomplish Zen 100%, in Zen-speak ‘reach enlightenment’, then you’re a kick-ass Zen master and should open your own zendo. In other words, you never really do, you just try to and realize you make mistakes along the way.

The desire part may seem odd. It doesn’t mean I can’t want something, or buy anything materialistic necessarily. What it means is, I can’t sit and pine and pine for something. Like a new job, or a faster car. If I want something and I can get it without being excessive in my lifestyle, I get it. If it’s something I should save up for and get in a few months, then I do that. Otherwise, I find a way to take what I have and make the best of it.

I’ll say it again and again, I’m not perfect at it by any stretch, but it’s helped me a lot. Do I love my job? No. Am I going to bitch and bitch and despise my job? Ian may beg to differ on this, but I think I’ve been fairly good. I’ll gripe, but I’m not hateful about my job like I’ve been in the past with other jobs. What else would I do? Be a writer? Well, ok, then, I’m going to write in my spare time and if I suddenly sell a book, maybe I can shift careers. Maybe I’ll design games. So, I’ll read up on it, and try doing it in my spare time with friends. Until I switch though, I’ll keep up my current job, keep a good attitude, and do my best to contribute something while I’m there.

To keep this from being too long an entry (editorial note: too late!), I’ll get to the point. Zen has helped me with balancing personal desires and angst, but it’s been more complex for me to apply it to the soapbox. In other words, does a Zennist rail on and on to others on political, religious, civic and other issues? To do so as much as a politician does seems very self-centric (Zen is also about helping others). I’m still figuring it out, but I think Zen’s approach in this area is again moderation. While if you practice Zen you should be at peace with the world as it is, you should also seek out change to make it better for yourself and others in a moderate pace and fashion. While the world will always have radicals pushing for too much change, and those pushing to keep things too much the same, I think the Zen approach is to listen to other view points, be comfortable and proud presenting and explaining yours, and be open to changing your mind and reaching a reasonable compromise to allow for change for the better.

Hence, the short point to my endless prattling on and on here. I used to go on and on about any issue that bothered me, and I’ve become quieter about them recently. I think I should still work for moderate change to better the world, but to put it more in the style of Zen, it is our right and our duty to speak up for ourselves and for others, but if one only speaks then one will never have a moment to listen.