Lord Buddha in Crisis -Life As It Is (Part 1)

Despite the weirdness of existence, most of us are able to get on with our lives and avoid debilitating feelings of despair, personal failure, and cosmic meaninglessness. But every once in a while we’re tugged out of our complacency and forced to re-evaluate our lives.

Coming from a corporate background, I have seen a fair share of humans in the workplace. Their overwhelming attitude is of rampant consumption, and fostering an unquenchable thirst for more and more of the same thing. The one avenue that most of us have in the pursuit of this is work. Lots and lots and lots of work. For good or for bad or for worse, that is the sole avenue of self-worth for many people; dare I even say most people?

Life is like a roller coaster ride. It has its ups and downs. Ups and downs are a constant in life, and I’ve been slammed into that roller coaster a thousand times, not knowing what’s happening next. Eventually somewhere along the lowest point of the ride, a conflict within arises — a realization that each of us will one day die; an understanding that life is not endless and that our days on this planet are numbered. Indeed, it was such a moment of lamentation and despair that propelled the Lord Buddha on his spiritual quest in the first place. Can we relate to his life in some way that gives perspective and context to our own? I think we can. We should view Buddha’s life not as an abstract, removed story of somebody who lived twenty-five hundred years ago, but as one that reveals the nature of the universal in us all. On this, I wish to share my thoughts.