imperative

.
A young fellow came by here yesterday to find out something about Buddhism. He had seen my web site and, well, he thought he would investigate. So we sat on the deck for a while, took a look at the zendo, and he was off.

Reporting this later to a friend, I realized that I talk about Buddhism in the same way I take pictures ... take a lot of pictures and hope that one of them is decent; talk a lot and hope that something rings a bell.

There is something in such meetings that brings with it an imperative in my mind. It's probably too much -- the imperative -- but there it is.

Someone says Buddhism and, well, no one ever took up Buddhism because they were so damned happy. And I take that implicit unhappiness or uncertainty seriously, with a sense that I would like to lend a hand, tell what I can and hope not to screw the pooch too badly.

But I know as well that people don't get fixed. They fix themselves.

So the imperative is not really necessary.

But at the moment, my heart has its ways.
.