Okay, so remember a couple of years ago when it was reported on the news that that kid was floating high in the sky in that balloon or blimp or whatever? And then it turned out that it was all an elaborate hoax forged by his parents in hopes of attaining a spot on a reality show? Read the full story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax. Well, this story has somehow made it's way into Man Seeks God as a spiritual lesson. Oh Eric Weiner, you are brilliant!
Buddhism, being a religion founded on experience rather than faith or belief, is a religion of "letting go," according to Weiner, and is based on the idea that all is suffering. At first glance, this sounds incredibly negative and depressing; however, using the balloon boy story, Weiner illustrates how although all is suffering, this same suffering is an illusion. Everything in our life is a dream, thus, we have no reason to be sad, angry, happy, or excited. We should just be. Don't be happy or excited, you might say? But what's the point? Well, the point is to maintain the self, as it is, in a peaceful state on a calm trajectory toward enlightenment.
Of the balloon boy, Weiner says,
"People worried about the sweet little boy, they cried tears, they suffered, The emotions were genuine but the situation was not; it was an illusion. Balloon Boy was never in danger. Is life like that, I wonder - an elaborate hoax? Are we all Balloon Boy?"
As strange as it might seem, this is actually very comforting to me. To believe that the sadness, grief, anger, hope, happiness, and return to sadness I have felt over this whole ordeal is just an illusion. This infertility only exists as some sort of dream state, and my emotions are genuine but not necessary because the situation does not exist. This sounds vaguely like denial; however, with all due respect, I think I have reached a point way beyond denial. So thinking about my situation this way, may just give me the room I need to detach from it to move on with my life. I wonder if Eric Weiner knows he wrote a book about fertility? :)
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