I'd say that I've been on an Eastern Philosophy kick lately, but that would be a lie. My entire life is an an acid trip on Eastern Philosophy, it's just been more properly indulged this semester, as I'm taking a Buddhism class that's given me the opportunity to read a lot of first hand documents I usually wouldn't.
There are a lot of things worth talking about, but it's usually good to start at the beginning and, with Buddhist philosophy, that means starting with the First Noble truth:
In life there is suffering.
Now, every western philosophy either dismisses suffering as something that can be overcome, in large part, with the indulgence of joy or it channels our masochism (a la Nietzsche).
This puts me in a problematic state, as I neither want to simply ignore the existence of suffering, nor do I want to pretend that suffering is the be all and the end all. Suffering doesn't need to be the epicenter of our lives, but casting it out is no good.
In my personal life, I have dealt with enough suffering that I do not need to do as Nietzsche sometimes proposes, make that suffering unbearable. Instead, I learn from what suffering I have to deal with, take the lessons as they come, and then work in pursuit of happiness.
Epicurus was on to something when he acknowledged that there is great joy to be had, when he wrote on pleasure. In fairness, the Kama Sutra beat him to the punch, but it's still an excellent point.
Life can be a bitch and life can be good. We don't need to live in one life all the time, and almost nobody does (which is a good thing).
Joy is worth pursuing, and since I've been doing a lot of work with this form of ethos lately, I'm sure I'll get into it a little more later, but let's simplify it.
The Buddha's truth suggests "in life there is suffering." What the Buddha means to say is that life is empty and that even our Epicurean joys are not enough to fulfill ourselves. On this point I politely dissent.
Live through joy, and savor it, but also endure and learn from suffering. There is enough suffering in most lives that it does not need to be enhanced by Nietzschean masochism.
