Letting go of views

Well, the name of the blog IS Under a Boddhi Tree, so here goes my first non-software engineering post.

The recent political theatre and downgrading of America's credit rating has made me become upset at what I see as ignorance, greed, and political showmanship over the welfare of the nation and its people.  I couldn't fathom the levels of ignorance that I also saw regarding facts on the situation.  For example, a Yahoo Finance News web report consistently said that S&P downgraded America's credit due to not enough spending cuts.  However, if you actually read the S&P report, you will see that it said that there should have been a balance of spending cuts and raising revenues.

Unfortunately, people see only what they want to see, and people hear only what they want to hear.  If they are conservatives, they only want to hear statements supporting their beliefs (no new taxes, ending social welfare programs, government doesn't create jobs, illegal immigrants are taking our jobs, gay marriage is destroying our culture blah blah), and if you are a progressive or liberal, you only want to hear what you believe in (universal medical care, less need for a strong military, businesses need strong regulations, fair taxation, equal rights for all races, sex orientation, unions only protect workers, they never create unrealistic salaries, freedom of or from beliefs, etc etc).  This habit for people to see only what they want is a huge reason for all suffering. In fact, I might say that the whole purpose of Buddhism is just to see things as they are, with no filters, and no expectations.

I have always considered myself pretty open-minded.  When I was younger, I was a Republican, now I am a Democrat.  Also when I was younger, I was an empirical material objectivist (if you couldn't sense it with your 5 senses, it didn't exist), but now I am an idealist.  But I am beginning to see something now....these very labels are wrong.  I really should have known this a long time ago due to the fact that I am of mixed ethnicity (Irish, German, and Polish from my dad, and Filipino, Malaysian, Chinese, Spanish, Persian from my mom).  I do not consider myself white or asian...I am just a human being.

And that's the point.  I am not a progressive.  I am just someone who is trying to see the world as it truly is, not as I want or hope it should be.  It is very hard.  I feel like the world SHOULD be a certain way.  But the fact is, I don't even truly know who I am.  And if I don't know who I am, how am I supposed to be a judge for the way the world should be?  Does that sound strange that I don't know who or what I am?  People who have not practiced eastern religions are often confounded by that statement.  They don't even really understand the question I think.

But asking, discovering, and knowing who and what you truly are is, I think, the true path to awakening.  I am definitely not a label.  I am not a progressive, or a democrat, or a computer scientist or engineer.    These are facets perhaps, but they must be dropped.  Letting go of these views of my 'self' helps me understand who I truly am.  Otherwise, these views separate me from knowing reality as it is.  I have tried to tell others before that is not your belief in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Capitalism, etc that is wrong.  It is belief in and of itself that is wrong.  If you can not know it and understand it for yourself, then it is an illusion, a desire that ignores reality for fantasy instead.

So who am I?  I do not yet know, but I have traveled a little bit across the stream.  I have understood that I am not my thoughts or feelings.  I am still groping in the dark, but at least I know that I am in the dark.  And I am beginning to see that getting mad at all this political theatre is pointless.  Trying to get people to understand me is pointless.  Trying to convince others about anything is also pointless.  I know all about Maslowe's hierarchy, but chasing after all these "should be's" and "I want's" is in itself suffering.

All that matters is being aware, seeing how things are, and discovering what we truly are.