[Reflection] The Modus Operandi
This pretentious sounding title might sound familiar to some. It’s a common thing (and honestly, I think, a cool thing) to sprinkle in some nice Latin phrases into one's writing and speech. Ipso facto, bona fide, alter ego, et cetera, etc. These words hold some archaic weight and authority because, despite becoming a very obscure language in regards to being actually spoken in its original form, they come from the Latin language which, along with Roman culture in general, has impacted the Western World, and the world at large, greatly. The only reason I can write this and the only reason that a reader can read this is because of the Roman script that it’s made of. Perhaps it could have been a different combination of lines and curves had history gone a different way, but this is what we’re working with now.
Ancient culture seeps into modern culture in many different ways, of course, despite the vast differences in the way that our lives are lived and experienced. Although the times appear different, although the ways that people eat, sleep, work, interact, etc. have changed and transformed, people face the same problem: suffering. Being born in this world, ipso facto, one experiences suffering. This is not a good thing and something should be done about it.
Okay! I know! Let’s create media content that sucks the life and time away from its viewers, slaughter literally millions of innocent creatures so we can all have a tasty snack, advance and widely distribute poisonous chemicals and substances (in most cities you can find a liquor and/or smoke shop on every corner), and at the end of the day, let’s just have a bunch of sex with someone (or more than one person) and say that we love them because they let us exploit them. That’s the life!
How has that worked out for us so far? Is there a better way than pleasing our senses at the expense of our health, the lives and experience of other beings, and the planet at large? Well, there are some different views about this. One that I would like to share comes from the Katha Upanishad, a couple thousand or so year old text which narrates a conversation between Yamaraja, or Death himself (literally “king of death” in Sanskrit), and Nachiketa, a young and inquisitive child of a high birth. Through some arrangement of circumstances, Nachiketa visits the abode of Yamaraja and is offered three boons from him. The third boon that Nachiketa asks for is knowledge about what happens after death. Wow. That’s a pretty good question. That knowledge was not one of Aladdin’s three wishes from the Genie. In the course of their discussion, which was certainly full of depth and intrigue, there is one part that I would like to highlight.
Yamaraja relates to Nachiketa the difference between the two things one encounters in life: the good and the pleasant. Things that are of the good are more difficult initially but lead one to deeper, more sustained happiness, and things that are of the pleasant are easy to engage in at first but lead one to more suffering ultimately. So what exactly does this look like? Waking up earlier is good, and sleeping in is pleasant. Cooking a wholesome meal is good, and eating at a fast food restaurant is pleasant. Proactively working on an assignment is good and procrastinating is pleasant. It’s pretty intuitive and easy to understand. Almost always people are able to recognize the difference between these two things when going through their daily duties and making choices. What happens when we choose the pleasant too much? This same timeless suffering that humans have always felt. This is not hard to understand. One can surmise that indulgence in the aforementioned activities will cause suffering. People who experiment with sobriety and intoxication, temperance and indulgence, cleanliness and squalor, etc., often find that the former makes one happier than the latter.
Choosing the good is our modus operandi. There is nothing more to it than that. As one advances spiritually by inquiring about the goal of one’s life and associating with people who are also spiritually minded, the concept of what is good gets deeper and deeper, and thus the satisfaction one feels deepens in turn. One needs only to inquire sincerely about the important things in life. Why am I here? What am I supposed to do with my life? Who are all of these people around me? Have we always existed? Things like that. These are the questions that will eliminate our suffering entirely. Inquiry and intention in understanding the transcendental is the highest good. Our modus operandi is to choose the good over the pleasant, and this will make all of the difference in the course of one’s life.