Tag: religion

Dharma and The College Senior

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A while ago a student about to graduate sat in our store waiting while his friend was being fitted in a suit for upcoming job interviews. To break the silence I asked him what he was planning to do after college. He replied, “No idea,” without looking up, as if he’d been asking himself the same question. His laconic answer suggested not confusion as much as sadness. “I had an interview with Goldman,” he added, “but I don’t wanna be in finance really.”

I asked what he’d majored in. “Philosophy,” he said.

I am sure this young man was familiar with the Sanskrit word dharma. This concept from ancient Vedic tradition can be found in western philosophies, in the writing of Arthur Schopenhauer, for example, and Friedrich Nietzsche. A precise definition of this term seems to elude western thinkers however, as it seems to have two different meanings. Dharma is the spirit within all of creation, a blessed, universal “will.” It also alludes to one’s personal destiny, the path one follows in life. These may seem to be two different things.

The word actually conveys these two definitions in one unified concept. That is, there is a sacred “way” in the nature of the universe, and each of us has the responsibility to follow it, to live our lives accordingly. Dharma is universal and personal. There is force for good within existence which each of our lives is meant to personify. This is confusing to the modern, western mind because we have been taught to think of fulfillment as a material matter. We are generally not aware that the gift of life comes with a personal, moral responsibility and that fulfillment is the ultimate reward for carrying it out.

I felt for the young man sitting in my shop that evening. He was dispirited, not just by confusion about his career, but by an unconscious, heartfelt awareness that he did not know who he was, how or even why he would live out his dharma.

I might have helped him by sharing my story. Years after graduating from college I was led by the brutal futility of living by self-will to practice a spiritual, contemplative lifestyle. After having developed a daily routine of prayer and meditation I found myself on the right path. I got a message, delivered to my heart, to my spiritual subconscious: “This is the way, the truth, and the life.” My life’s goal was not what I thought; fulfillment came from within.

The awareness of our path is communicated by spirit to our heart, not to our intellect. Sensing and living out one’s dharma offers a sense of purpose, confidence and peace not included in your typical employee benefit package.

A Reason To Believe

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Harold Malamud was a generous, kind, thoughtful and unselfish man who lived a successful and not long but happy life, all the while while proclaiming to be an atheist. He was my father-in-law and Jennifer adored him, so we never discussed this. Also, he was pretty stubborn in his opinions. But his life proves one can live a full and rewarding life, be happy, have love and experience everything without ever making the choice to believe in something. So why bother?

I had to come to believe. For forty-five years I have been able to avoid drinking and drug use by calling on the “power greater than ourselves” suggested in AA’s second step. I had a necessary, practical reason to believe in a universal, life-sustaining power present in everything, a force that Gandhi defined as the “living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates.” Some addicts and alcoholics do recover without professing any faith, but I think they believe in the life force in their hearts and not in their minds. Most atheists are rejecting the mythology and superstition, the dogmatism and preposterous failures of religious institutions that they think represent God. They’re justified in this. In the last five centuries the religion of science has won the contest of explaining life. Yet I believe Harold was missing something beautiful and meaningful that would have added to his happiness and his enjoyment of life itself.

Believing is simply a matter of making a decision; of coming to the conclusion that the universe, its very existence, and ours in it, is a sacred gift. It is not necessary to understand in order to believe; it is necessary to believe in order to begin to understand. It is a decision to be grateful and open-minded. Belief, or faith, is a fundamental desire to say Thanks. To spend some time in contemplation of the universal presence of the Giver rather than to arrive at any conclusions.

The unknowable is just that, and to be sure is to stop thinking. We are not supposed to do anything but to ask the sacred question: to seek to find the Name of the Giver and to invoke that name in our daily lives from moment to moment.