The Illusion of Pain
"The pain's just an illusion, you know."
I didn't answer, just swallowed the pills and took a swig of milk. "What's your point?" I asked.
"Pain is just an illusion, one you can bypass with an effort of will," the buddha said. He was wearing a brown robe this time, and leaning in my doorway, and NOT doing anything related to his feet, for once.
"To an extent, you're right. But y'know, ignoring the pain takes up mental processing cycles, and I can just take a couple IB and then be able to concentrate on what I'm trying to do and not spend half my attention ignoring my headache."
He stepped into the room and sat down on the foot of my bed. "How are you going to develop mental discipline, then?"
"By learning when to deal with things like headaches that distract me?"
"As you will," he said, "So what are you bitching about tonight?"
I looked at him. He seemed serious. "Nothing, I just sat down," I said, "What, should I be?"
"You usually are. Well, if you need ideas, you can always bitch about women, there's plenty of opportunity there."
"I thought you were trying to convince me to let go of attachments such as bitching about things," I said.
He shrugged. "Like you listen to me?"
"Ah, I see, reverse psychology. Sneaky."
"Not particularly. People tend to listen more to advice from those who have helped them in the past."
"So now you're trying to prove you're right by fixing my life? That's kinda creepy, really."
"You were the one who wanted a stereotypical wise advisor to talk to. So, tell me about women."
I spun my chair away from the computer, a great sacrifice. "What about them? They have no interest in me, we don't interact much, the end."
"You seem to have unprobed depths of bitterness."
"No, not really," I said, "it's pretty well probed, and not in any kind of innuendo sense. Like when you lose a tooth, and you keep checking to see if the gap's still there."
I shrugged. "Though kinda the reverse, since the gap's the normal part. What can I say? I'm not handsome, rich, or successful, women just aren't interested in me. Besides, I 'm pretty well used to it at this point. Which probably counts against me too, even leaving aside the fact I never learned any of the social bullshit that goes with dating."
"Of such stories are walls made."
"Yeah, well."
"How do you know they'd say no? Have you tried just asking? That is what you tell others to do."
"As if I had the confidence to do try."
"And that is why you fail."
"Are you going to go all Yoda on me?"
"Do I look like a Jedi?"
I looked at him, in his brown robe. "Quite a bit, actually."
"Fair enough. But it is what you exhort others to do, and at least then you would have certainty, not the agony of not knowing."
"I think I've forgotten how to care. And what are you arguing that for anyway? I thought one of the things in Buddhism was to avoid sex."
"For monks, yes. Not everyone is ready to be, or should be a monk. It depends on their karma."
"Karma's bullshit. Just a way to try and justify the Indian caste system through religion. It's the same kind of thing as that damn 'Everything happens for a reason' cliche. Buddha was an aristocrat before he became a monk. And what was up with the whole ditching wife and newborn kid thing, anyway?"
"We've wandered from the point. As you have said many times, you are not a monk, or even Buddhist, so why should a monk's answers suit you? At least in this time and place. And if you were getting laid on a regular basis, that'd probably help reduce the global amount of angst and suffering, which is good, is it not?"
I shook my head at him. "You're a very weird holy man."
"The credit and blame for such lies on you. I don't expect you'll take my advice, though. That would be too active."
Damn sarcastic religious figures, anyway. Whichever way I did things, he'd be able to be smug and "I told you so" now. Which he wouldn't do. Oh, so carefully wouldn't do it. Jerk.
Prior:
Stories from the Rabbit Hole
Stories from the Rabbit Hole, Part 2
There's a Buddha on My Bed
A Discussion of Procrastination and Buddhism
Buddhablog
Haven't Seen Him in a While
Tags: Rabbit Hole, Mindscribbles, Religion, Sex
I didn't answer, just swallowed the pills and took a swig of milk. "What's your point?" I asked.
"Pain is just an illusion, one you can bypass with an effort of will," the buddha said. He was wearing a brown robe this time, and leaning in my doorway, and NOT doing anything related to his feet, for once.
"To an extent, you're right. But y'know, ignoring the pain takes up mental processing cycles, and I can just take a couple IB and then be able to concentrate on what I'm trying to do and not spend half my attention ignoring my headache."
He stepped into the room and sat down on the foot of my bed. "How are you going to develop mental discipline, then?"
"By learning when to deal with things like headaches that distract me?"
"As you will," he said, "So what are you bitching about tonight?"
I looked at him. He seemed serious. "Nothing, I just sat down," I said, "What, should I be?"
"You usually are. Well, if you need ideas, you can always bitch about women, there's plenty of opportunity there."
"I thought you were trying to convince me to let go of attachments such as bitching about things," I said.
He shrugged. "Like you listen to me?"
"Ah, I see, reverse psychology. Sneaky."
"Not particularly. People tend to listen more to advice from those who have helped them in the past."
"So now you're trying to prove you're right by fixing my life? That's kinda creepy, really."
"You were the one who wanted a stereotypical wise advisor to talk to. So, tell me about women."
I spun my chair away from the computer, a great sacrifice. "What about them? They have no interest in me, we don't interact much, the end."
"You seem to have unprobed depths of bitterness."
"No, not really," I said, "it's pretty well probed, and not in any kind of innuendo sense. Like when you lose a tooth, and you keep checking to see if the gap's still there."
I shrugged. "Though kinda the reverse, since the gap's the normal part. What can I say? I'm not handsome, rich, or successful, women just aren't interested in me. Besides, I 'm pretty well used to it at this point. Which probably counts against me too, even leaving aside the fact I never learned any of the social bullshit that goes with dating."
"Of such stories are walls made."
"Yeah, well."
"How do you know they'd say no? Have you tried just asking? That is what you tell others to do."
"As if I had the confidence to do try."
"And that is why you fail."
"Are you going to go all Yoda on me?"
"Do I look like a Jedi?"
I looked at him, in his brown robe. "Quite a bit, actually."
"Fair enough. But it is what you exhort others to do, and at least then you would have certainty, not the agony of not knowing."
"I think I've forgotten how to care. And what are you arguing that for anyway? I thought one of the things in Buddhism was to avoid sex."
"For monks, yes. Not everyone is ready to be, or should be a monk. It depends on their karma."
"Karma's bullshit. Just a way to try and justify the Indian caste system through religion. It's the same kind of thing as that damn 'Everything happens for a reason' cliche. Buddha was an aristocrat before he became a monk. And what was up with the whole ditching wife and newborn kid thing, anyway?"
"We've wandered from the point. As you have said many times, you are not a monk, or even Buddhist, so why should a monk's answers suit you? At least in this time and place. And if you were getting laid on a regular basis, that'd probably help reduce the global amount of angst and suffering, which is good, is it not?"
I shook my head at him. "You're a very weird holy man."
"The credit and blame for such lies on you. I don't expect you'll take my advice, though. That would be too active."
Damn sarcastic religious figures, anyway. Whichever way I did things, he'd be able to be smug and "I told you so" now. Which he wouldn't do. Oh, so carefully wouldn't do it. Jerk.
Prior:
Stories from the Rabbit Hole
Stories from the Rabbit Hole, Part 2
There's a Buddha on My Bed
A Discussion of Procrastination and Buddhism
Buddhablog
Haven't Seen Him in a While
Tags: Rabbit Hole, Mindscribbles, Religion, Sex