A Road Less Traveled

I was reminded this morning of a great book I’ve read many times over the years…one that has had an impact on my philosophy of life…The Road Less Traveled, by Dr. M. Scott Peck.

I’ve written a couple posts that were motivated, in part, by this book. Here’s one that I thought I’d resurrect from the ashes of my old Costa Rica Guy blog…

In Buddhism, the counterpart to christianity’s Satan is a dude called Mara.

Mara is the instigator, or the embodiment, of human suffering.

The Buddha, while seeking enlightenment under the bodhi tree, was tempted by Mara, much the same way that Christ was tempted in the desert by Satan.  And, like Christ, Buddha was able to withstand these temptations.

There are many stories in Buddhist literature of encounters between Mara and Buddha.  I came across one recently that tells how Mara one day came to visit Buddha.

Buddha’s most trusted disciple saw Mara approaching and was very distressed and wished to drive the demon away.  However, when Buddha learned of Mara’s arrival he was overjoyed, as if he was seeing an old friend.

He told his disciple to ready some tea and he invited Mara to come, sit and talk.  Mara confided to Buddha that things hadn’t been going so well lately. That he wished he could be something other than the great demon tempter.

This story, while humorous, has a really important meaning.

In Buddhism and indeed in my reality in general, life is suffering.  Life is hard.  Life hurts sometimes.  Suffering is inevitable.  It cannot be avoided.

But what is suffering?

If suffering is an integral part of life, then why fight it?  Why resist it?

In The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck makes the profound claim that all human mental illness is a direct result of trying to avoid suffering.

Suffering, like all other events in the time span of our lives, is temporal.  It will pass and be replaced by other, different, and perhaps more pleasurable experiences.

So why fight it?

If you believe that there’s an intelligent design to life, that things don’t really happen by accident, then maybe suffering is actually meant for our good.  Of course, in the midst of it that’s a hard thing to accept.

But that’s only because we are so deathly afraid of it and will do anything to avoid it…

I know because I’ve done my share of suffering and of medicating.

I believe that rather than resisting, maybe we should just relax, invite the experience of suffering in, feel it in its fullness, discover what we are supposed to during its endurance, and only then move on to the next level of our human experience.

That might be a road less traveled, but perhaps it’s the correct one…the way of Buddha, the way to enlightenment, spiritual growth and evolution.