the middle way manager

So I am getting ideas. I just don't have the time and sense of order and routine to write them down. I will have to do that.

When I was deciding to join Peace Corps, I was also thinking of just traveling around the world. I wanted to go and study Buddhism somewhere. I decided to go with Peace Corps. My thinking was I have always wanted to do PC and they pay for my trip. That was the deciding factor. That costs were covered.

I am glad I went, learned and discovered things.

But I still have a strong desire to learn more about Buddhism concepts. I still want to take time and go on a retreat. I was thinking about doing a 10 day retreat and one cannot help but start adding up vacation time, thinking about work, thinking about your obligations that commit you that prohibit you from following your desires. In this case, my desire to to study buddhism to learn to control my desires.

But this got me thinking. Why cannot my work day be a surrogate for a day at a monastary? The monk's day is highly regimented. So too is mine. His day is focussed upon self-discovery. As is mine. His on mindfulness. Why can't mine?

To a certain extent a monk is fleeing the negatives of modern society and seeking sanctity in the halls of the monastery. In the words of my girlfriend in reference to the Buddha and Dalai Lama, "It's easy to be liberated when you have someone cooking your meals and taking care of you." And she's right in one way or another. When one is free from external responsibilities, perhaps it is easier to focus on forgetting the self.

In life I am trying to turn a potential negative into a positive. Into a strength. That is what I want to do here. If I bring this concept into the forefront of my mind, then it becomes a real factor in my life.

Now I am no longer wanting to run to a monastery to pursue an elusive concept of what I think I might find, but bring it into my everyday life.

Buddha put forth the idea of The Middle Way. Is this not the most middle of the ways in today's modern world?