Here’s my favourite GIF - Elmo, arms spread wide, embracing the fire.
It’s a bonafide classic of the genre, an instant starter in the GIF hall of fame.
Turns out this GIF would probably appeal to the Buddha, too.
Let me explain.
I’m reading The Trauma of Everyday Life by Dr Mark Epstein, a Western psychotherapist and a Buddhist who writes about where the two intersect.
In it, Epstein recounts the Buddha’s Fire Sermon. In Pali, this sutra is called Ādittapariyāya Sutta, or “the way of putting things as being on fire”.
“Everyday life is on fire not only because of how fleeting it is, which we know but don’t like to admit, but also because of how ardently we cling to our own greed, anger and egocentric preoccupations,” Epstein writes.
Of course, my mind immediately listed out the spotfires my ego is always trying to extinguish.
What if I forget places I need to be, or things I need to do? What if I miss important updates?
Where’s my money going to go this month? Do I need anything from the shops? Have I done the washing?
In response, I’ve designed the world’s most complex fire extinguisher, a sprawling network of lists, colour-coded calendars and email inbox categories, coupled with a fierce drive to be absolutely on top of everything, always, all ways.
Something’s happened in the past fortnight, though.
It began when I realised I’m playing an endless game of whack-a-mole.
It continued when I admitted to myself, finally, that colour-coding a two-hour study block into a calendar between 6pm and 8pm on any given day seems to have no bearing whatsoever on whether or not the study gets done.
Now, I’m just letting things burn (baby, burn).
Letting things burn means I have 700 unread emails across two inboxes.
It means that three letters have come in the mail - an unpaid parking fine, an unpaid toll invoice, and a fine for not voting in the local council elections.
It means I’ve cancelled morning boxing sessions in favour of extra sleep, and ignored those red study blocks in my calendar so I can see the sun setting over the sandstone cliffs of my favourite backbeach.
It means I’ve copped a 10% deduction of marks on my university lab report because I just couldn’t find the words to explain how late night phone use impacts our sleep. The irony of late-night phone use impairing my ability to write about late-night phone use was hard to miss.
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished when he reached the underworld. His eternal task was to push a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again before he could reach the top.
Why didn’t he just stop and sit at the bottom of the hill, smelling the roses?
I guess you don’t punish sinners by having them trim the verge. But if hell’s horticultural history is hard to come by, Sisyphus could still have paused.
He might’ve found solace in the infernos blazing all around him.
we should compare complex fire extinguishers. good stack