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. When we sit down to watch a movie or read a book, we don't want anyone to spoil it for us
by telling us how it ends, right? We love the unexpected twists in the plot and enjoy a surprise ending, which is also why we watch live sports instead of simply checking the final score at the end of the day; the thrill comes from not knowing what will happen next. At the same time, however, we are obsessed with wanting to know what the future holds.
From parents wanting to know the gender of their unborn babies, to asking them: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" as early as five years later. Strangers still wonder, "Where do you see yourself ten years from now?" And some people even pay fortune tellers for a glimpse into the future. Would you want to know the exact date of your death, for example, or is life better lived accepting the fact that each day could potentially be your last?
Most of our anguish, especially these days, stems from our discomfort with uncertainty. Organized religions attempt to ease that discomfort by telling us exactly where we came from and where we are going. And Eastern philosophies try to ease our discomfort by acknowledging that while we can't know for sure where we are from or where we are going, rest assured that you will be okay no matter what... It's not good. it's not bad, it just IS.
It's funny spelling that out, and I'm not sure which option sounds more sane, considering both demand predictability from an arbitrary world. Mindfulness, on the other hand, invites us to embrace uncertainty and celebrate not knowing what comes next, how the movie is going to end, or who will win the game. Is it possible that Nirvana is simply the letting go of that need to know?
Having grown up in a war-torn part of the world, we never knew when the next bus was going to be blown up, or if we will one day finally wake up to peace in the Middle East; both felt imminent. And in romantic relationships, when your partner says, "We need to talk," they may propose to you or leave you for someone else; nothing is certain. For all we know, them leaving you might be the best turning point in your life,
or maybe marriage ends up being the dream-come-true. Nobody knows because knowledge is an illusion. The day we admit we never truly know anything in the first place is perhaps our day of liberation from anguish. Sometimes, what didn't work out for you, really worked out for you.
And although the path of mindfulness makes the most sense, it goes against the narrative around which we have constructed our entire lives with schedules, written contracts, savings and retirement accounts, promise rings, investments, and other plans for a future that may never come. So, in order to practice letting go of my personal need to know, I've been doing a little experiment with my meditation timer.
It is set to ring a bell once at the start of each meditation session, and three times when the session is over. The timer has presets for a 3-minute session, 5 minutes, 10, 15, 30 minutes, or an hour. Until recently, I simply selected the duration for my meditation, and then sat down for that predetermined length of time. Now, however, I click on one of the presets with my eyes closed. The bell rings once to begin the meditation, and I have no idea if it will chime again in
3 minutes or in an hour. I just keep my eyes closed until it does. It was uncomfortable at first, but now I find it exciting.
To further practice letting go of the need to know, I also read books that friends recommend without even glancing at the back cover, I watch movies without first seeing their trailers, I say goodbye to the people I love as if I will never see them again, which makes seeing them again the following week all that more exciting if it happens, and I consider every day a blessing so that I don't take any of them for granted. This experiment has already transformed my life in many positive ways.
It is a way to practically eliminate expectations, enrich relationships, deepen my practice, and amplify my sense of gratitude. I keep reminding myself that the only thing I know for certain is that I don't know anything for certain, and I am actually learning to love not knowing when the meditation bell will chime, how long the relationship will last, or when I'm going to die. So, even if you somehow know what the next year will bring, don't tell me. I don't want to know.
Experiment with enjoying that freedom for yourself. Namaste. 🙏 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. 🙏🏼