Gene Therapy

I was talking with my dad tonight. His family is very much of the engineer mindset. He (and his siblings) won’t go out for a walk without measuring, either before or after, the distance covered. They won’t go on vacation without a set itinerary. They get very agitated when anything deters them from their course of action. Analytical some might say. Anal, might say others.

I tried to explain to my dad a little about Buddhism and how it differs from Hinduism. In Hinduism, a person goes through certain rites of passage – progressive stages in life that see them through birth, education, marriage, and family before releasing them to seek a spiritual path after their kids are grown and married. This makes sense to my dad. When I tried to explain that in Buddhism, you didn’t have to wait to seek a spiritual path…that life itself in this very moment was the spiritual path, he didn’t get it. He wanted to know what we were working towards. What was at the end. He didn’t understand this idea of life without a goal. It seemed very meandering and fruitless way to live. What was this philosophy that didn’t have education and marriage and procreation as essential parts of life? Were Buddhists simply content to sit on a mountain somewhere? This is the same man who find the thought of meditating, “thinking of nothing”, a waste of time better spent doing work around the house. 

I love my dad and he is a very wise man. But he gets these strong genes from his mother. And these are genes I’ve inherited. Genes I’ve been trying to make peace with, because this analytical, mental way of living isn’t exactly in harmony with my philosophical beliefs. When I talk to my dad, I the discussion and arguments that go on within my own mind. Then again, when I talk to my mom, I see the same discussion but from the other angle. But they’re happily married still, so I guess there’s hope for my genes to coexist.