Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye. I used to think the difference between knowledge and wisdom is application. I may know what's good for me, for example, but if I don't actually do it, then I'm simply knowledgeable, not wise. I don't think wisdom is about acquiring additional knowledge at all anymore.
Perhaps it's about letting go the illusion that we know any ultimate truths in the first place. It was my dad who made an interesting observation when I explained my spiritual journey to him. He said: Timber, you're not trying to learn anything new here, you're just trying to go back to being two years old, aren't you? I laughed, of course, but to some degree, I think that's true. I mean, I didn't know how
to be prejudiced when I was two years old or judgmental at that age. I was fascinated by everybody regardless of their race, their weight, height, gender, or even species. We are all born caring and compassionate, with the capacity to unconditionally love all sentient beings without exception. But as soon as we are old enough, our parents, our teachers, our preachers, and society, teach us to segregate: to only love and trust family members, or, at most, people with the same color skin.
As a result, by the time we reach high school, we're so disconnected from one another that we can watch an entire nation starving on TV, and not feel an ounce of compassion simply because they don't look like us. It's sometimes not until after college, if at all, that we wake up to realize: Hey, wait a minute... they're people too. They may not look like me or share the same beliefs, but they try to avoid pain just like I do.
They want to fulfill their life's purpose just like I do, and they're just trying to get by. I admit having felt very distant from people who were different from me in my pre-teen years. But, luckily, we don't have to stay who we were when we were young. Nowadays, I can't even watch a caught fish flopping on the sand without feeling its agony, let alone see another human being in pain.
So, let's take an inventory of our beliefs. Look for thoughts that create some sort of hierarchy in your mind, that deems some people are less worthy than others. Let's start looking at every life in the world at eye level. Not better than, not worse than, but equal. Sometimes life and wisdom isn't about anything new that we have to learn, but about what we need to un-learn instead. Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless and Buddhist Boot Camp.
For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com, where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project, watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list. We hope you have enjoyed this episode and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions. Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏