Organised and In Control

That is almost what the lecture title of an advantaged business managed course could sound like, or the advice that any parent may give their teenage children, as to how one should lead ones life. Largely that is probably also what many people aspire towards and a surprisingly large number actually also believe that they are achieving. The far more surprising part is not the organised part, though even that is somewhat questionable, but the ‘in control’ part most certainly is. I mention this because now that I have managed to sort out some aspects about the structure of my blog, but by no means all of them yet, I am under the impression that I am now organised, and somewhat in control of this endeavour or undertaking.

Invariably and inevitably most people get up in the mornings believing that they are going to live forever, and also that they are managing their lives, thus are in control of their lives. The truth of the matter is of course entirely different. Nobody is going to live for ever - ever. In the once popular theme song from the movie and musical Fame, “I’m going to live forever”, they are naturally also not referring to the continued existence of the physical, fleshy human body. Because that begins to deteriorate the moment we are born. It seems to not be so, since as we grow up we gradually become stronger, taller, bigger, and we also manage to learn certain skills and activities, but if viewed purely at an atomic level, then we should realise that with every growing day there is also a process of oxidation that takes place, and accordingly after birth there is only one certainty, and that is death of the physical body. But in the movie Fame they are naturally referring to the name or status one creates for oneself, and then again, even that only lives on as long as there is a means of recording, of ‘remembering’, it.

The fact that people believe that they are managing their lives stems from the fact that they make plans which they strive towards, and then when they achieve those goals, whether specifically or only generally, then they feel they have done what they set out to achieve. The natural perception from that is that they managed the process, hence they are in control. But to fully realise how little control we have over most things in our lives, one just needs to consider being in a motor vehicle, which can easily travel in excess of 150km/h, on a freeway where you are legally allowed to travel at 120km/h, and to be stationary! There is a car in front of you, a car behind you, a car to your left, and a centre rail to your right. You have a very important appointment you have to get to in the next half an hour, but the traffic is not moving.

No amount of screaming and shouting, of swearing and gesticulating, of pounding the steering wheel, of listening to any and all traffic news reports and other radio stations, taking out your mobile and frantically making phone calls, nothing is going to get the traffic to move. As long as none of the cars around you are going to move, so long you are not going to go anywhere either, whether fast or even slow. Regardless of how important that meeting or appointment, even if it is a matter of the deal of a lifetime, or a matter of life and death, it suddenly dawns on you that you are not in control of the situation. Not in the slightest in control! It does not matter who you are, what status or position you occupy in society, how rich you are, how intelligent and learned you are, whom you know, whether you are driving a clapped-out old city golf or the latest model Porsche, you ain’t going nowhere. That can be a very sobering and also very powerful realisation.

Sadly most people do not come to that realisation, but only allow them self to be frustrated beyond reproach, and consequently make themselves very angry and bitter in the process of wasting a lot of energy over a situation they have no control over. Largely we do not actually have much control over most of our lives, but we fail to realise that, and even more significantly we fail to admit it. Having your life organised is not out of necessity going to make it more controlled or even controllable, but it will certainly delude us into believing such. Generally one should probably endeavour to have an organised life, as it will make managing things easier, and consequently also create a greater sense of being in control, as long as one always reminds oneself that ultimately it is only an illusion. In terms of Buddhism there is the added component of Karma that comes into play, but even if one does not believe in Karma, it does not change the fact that when reviewing ones life, more often than not one has to concede that much of what happened, and even more so how it happened, is hardly in line with what one had planned or intended for things to unfold.

At times these things unfold more easily and ‘better’, but in the majority of instances that is probably not the case. Thus you may now be wondering what does any of this have to do with my blog? It is quite simple really, in that I at one stage thought that if I get the basic template sorted out, and design the various elements and colours, slot in the widgets I think I should have, then after that it is just a matter of quickly typing something up during the course of the day, and posting it that night or early the next morning. Yeah right! Not only are there constantly issues and aspects as far as the template and internet access and so on go, but there are all the other things one so easily overlooks. Like lack of electricity or only limited electricity, problems with the satellite connection, one or other unspecific computer issue (simply because computers and software are largely unpredictable at the best of times), time itself, when there is something else which is more important right then than writing a page of opinions and experiences, or when your day does not unfold the way you thought you had planned it. No matter how much thought you put into that aspect, there is always something that one has overlooked.

Thus if one is not careful, then one day flows into the next, and by the time you realise it, you have already not written anything for two or three days. The same happened with this particular piece you are reading right now, except that it was substantially more than two or three days. It was intended to be finished and posted more than a week ago. That does not mean that nothing got done during then and now, but for those who have been following the blog regularly they will have noticed some changes happening almost every day. We are now at the point where these changes are likely to be considerably less, and also more of a slight ‘cosmetic’ nature than anything significant, or particularly noticeable to the majority of readers. Many other things not related to this blog in any way have also been done during the time, and I could have become quite frantic and frustrated, or even decided to altogether throw in the towel and not continue with this little project, than to do what I did. That is viewing it as an exercise in tolerance, patience, diligence, effort or perseverance, in order to see this through to the end. Without doing anything much else, l actually practised at perfecting some of the six (or ten) perfections one strives to achieve in Buddhism. The Paramitas are invariably always seen as being something very lofty and special that one has to put a lot of effort into, in order to practise them properly, while in actual fact they get perfected in the course of normal everyday living.

The six more common ones that one is encouraged to practise are charity / generosity, discipline / restraint, endurance / patience, diligence / zeal, concentration / meditation, and wisdom. These are qualities not unique to Buddhism, as all religions advocate them in one form or another, yet in our modern times very few and preciously little of most of them is being practised properly. But more about that another time.

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