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. Before I talk about our sense of self-worth and the possible reasons we look outside ourselves for validation, I'm grateful to let you know that later this month,
I'll be giving a talk at Folsom State Prison. This is only made possible thanks to listeners just like you, who see the value in Buddhist Boot Camp, and show their support with just one dollar a month through Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp So, on behalf of everyone benefitting from your contribution, thank you for making this podcast possible, and for supporting our Books-to-Prisons Program. Every time you order a book from BuddhistBootCamp.com, another copy
is donated to the Prison Library Project on your behalf. It's a really cool program that only exists thanks to you. So, thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. Most of us grew up on praise for good behavior and punishment for bad. The Judeo-Christian theology postulates that we are all born sinners, and the best we can do is hope that by the time we die, our good deeds outweigh the bad so we can be worthy of entry through the gates of heaven instead of burning in hell
for all of eternity. The word "Buddha" is not a name but a term that means "Awake." According to Buddhism, we are not born sinners, we all actually have Buddha-nature, the ability to awaken from our illusion of separateness. But over the years, our greed, hatred, and ignorance causes suffering in a sort of living hell, if you would.
So, the concept of eternal damnation is not a destination to which we are sent after we die, it is the anguish we experience while we're still alive, unless we learn to live in peace
with ourselves and with others. But, this is where it gets tricky: religion asks us to accept what it tells us is the truth, often without question or doubt, whereas Buddhism, or any spiritual path for that matter, does the exact opposite: it tells us NOT to accept any truth, even if it is given to us by someone of great stature, unless we question everything we are told and test it the way a gold buyer would test gold for authenticity before buying it to see if it is true.
The reason I bring this up is because from a very young age, we've been buying into the story that we are not worthy unless we prove ourselves to be. We first seek praise from our parents, then validation that we are good enough to get into college, worthy of someone's love, important enough for recognition, valuable enough
for a pay raise, and noble enough for a ticket into heaven. We have bought into the story that there is a void within us that can only be filled by others, and social media has even built an entire platform so we can temporarily fill that void every time someone "likes" our Instagram post, for example, until the next one, and the next one, and the next one, in a vicious loop of trying to fill a bucket with a hole at the bottom.
We have believed a system of hierarchy that, even within our families, we have been compared to our cousins who are doing so well, or "Why can't you be more like your sister" competition. But I don't think our sense of worth is a contest. In fact, I don't think our job gives us value, WE add value to the world by doing our job with integrity. Here's what I mean: whether you're washing dishes in the back of a restaurant or performing brain surgery every day, if you do it with integrity,
it can be extremely fulfilling and altruistic. If you do it without, then even the most honorable position loses its merit. I have watched Buddhist priests treat people around them with hostility, impatience, and disregard, and I have seen heads of nonprofit organizations driven by their egos instead of an unwavering dedication to their cause. So, we don't all need to be the Dalai Lama's personal assistant in order to bring a sense of fulfillment or purpose
to our lives. The world requires that each of us do our part to make it function, and no gear or tooth in this great big ol' machine is less or more valuable than another. A car's engine isn't more important than its tires; we need both for the car to move. Now, without dismissing brain surgeons, I'm extending a deep bow of gratitude to those of us who mop the floor in the hospital room, for example,
wash and sanitize the surgical tools, or drive the ambulance. Dare I say, it's the people behind the scenes, the unsung heroes, invisible contributors, anonymous donors, and silent do-gooders, who inspire me more than those in the headlines. Whatever you do in the world, you are making a difference that we all appreciate even if we
never tell you so; that's a failure on our part. We are grateful for construction workers, customers service around the clock, all of you teachers, bank tellers, flight attendants, custodians, ministers, programmers, bookkeepers, servers, mechanics, grocery store clerks, retail workers, miners, farmers, pilots, cashiers, plumbers, bus drivers, house cleaners, accountants, engineers, nurses, search and rescue personnel, lawyers, politicians, strippers,
chefs, midwives, secretaries, actors, judges, artists, librarians, stay-at-home parents, and yes, Buddhist priests, and surgeons too. We all serve a purpose in one way or another. And even though some of us have lost our sense of fulfillment, we can get it back if we do what we do with a renewed awareness of our interconnectedness and the intention to heal. There is a story about a little boy who was walking along the beach after a tsunami washed thousands of starfish
onto the shore when the tide rolled out. To prevent them from drying out and dying in the sun, the little boy was throwing the starfish back in the water. Someone saw him do this and asked why he was bothering with all of it.
"There are thousands of starfish covering miles of beaches," The man said, "what difference are you making?" That's when the little boy smiled, picked up a starfish, threw it back in the ocean, and said: "It made a difference to that one!" It's a beautiful story that I've seen play out in real life a few years ago. I remember being overwhelmed by the invoice I got from the printing company when we were first trying to get paperback copies of Buddhist Boot Camp into prisons.
I thought there was no way we could ever cover that cost. And even after I posted a copy of the invoice online in an attempt to crowdfund it, the bottom line was so far out of reach, that very few people even bothered trying to put a dent in it.
So, I changed my approach and insisted that nobody worry about the grand total, but simply donate just one dollar or, you know, five dollars at most, and in less than two days, we raised thousands of dollars to benefit countless communities extending far beyond the prison walls to include veteran support programs, schools, rehab clinics, recovery centers, and so on. So, never believe that you or your one dollar has no value or can't make a difference.
It's amazing what we can accomplish together. I've heard it said that our image, with which we are so concerned, has to do with what other people think of us, while integrity is who we REALLY are. So, let's worry less about our image and focus more
on the value we each add to society in our own way. We all have Buddha-nature or, if you prefer, we are all God's children, but somewhere along the way, someone changed the story from God's love being unconditional, forgiving, understanding, and kind, to assigning God some human-like traits of being extremely judgmental, getting angry when His children misbehave, or joyous when they serve their Dad. That may be true of human love, but not God's love.
Not my God, anyway, but that's beside the point. Ask yourself where along the line you started believing that you have to prove yourself to someone other than yourself in order to feel you have value. And then determine for yourself what integrity looks like for you. What set of moral guiding principles do you aspire to live by? And, at the end of each day, acknowledge that if you've lived in line with your values,
then you can be at peace with yourself. You see, comparison is the thief of joy, so don't measure how much good you do in the world at your job, for example, compared to someone else, just focus on doing less harm, and immediately you're part of the solution simply by not being part of the pollution. Some people are just starting out on their spiritual journey, and others have been up and down these trails for many years.
Nobody has ever reached a point where the road ends, because it's not a journey to a destination, we evolve to a transformation. It doesn't matter how long you've been on the path or from which direction you came, we are all kindred spirits. So, unpack some of the ideas you were fed growing up without questioning, and see if they are beneficial or detrimental to your well-being. As Aristotle said: It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without necessarily accepting it.
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. 🙏🏼