I guess that I should say a little bit about my teenage years. I can sum it all up by saying: we all make mistakes. I won’t say that every move that I made was a mistake, but of all of the decisions that I made, most have been more difficult to live down than others. It’s kind of like NFL Draft Day: lot’s of coal with a few rough diamonds thrown in the mix.
A mature man would say that he has looked upon all of his mistakes, and learned from every one of them. But I made a lot of bad decisions…too many to remember. So I will sum up with some of the most spectacular decisions, both good and bad, and share what I have learned from each of them. Here are a couple, I will add more in future articles.
Becoming Buddhist
A mature man would say that he has looked upon all of his mistakes, and learned from every one of them. But I made a lot of bad decisions…too many to remember. So I will sum up with some of the most spectacular decisions, both good and bad, and share what I have learned from each of them. Here are a couple, I will add more in future articles.
Becoming Buddhist
It’s not how it sounds…
…okay, it’s exactly how it sounds. After 18 years of living life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, keeping the Law of Chastity, keeping the Word of Wisdom, going to early morning seminary, performing Aaronic Priesthood duties, and just trying to be the best Mormon that I could be…I threw it all into the fire and joined myself with the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists.
It took five years for me to find my way back home. When I say “home” I mean a place where I am comfortable with myself, a place where I can share with my family and loved ones the things that are most important to me. “Home” is where the heart it…and my heart resides with God.
Part my desire to become Buddhist had to do with my own search for “truth.” I wanted to know the deeper mysteries of the human spirit. I wanted to understand why I did the things that I did. I wanted to be aware of things beyond my physical world. Of course these count as only a minute sliver of why I chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo…mostly it was my desire to spend more time with Marla P. In the end I learned that Marla and I had no ultimate intertwined destinies. In fact, we were no good from the get go…my hormones blinded me to that one truth.
I did learn, though. I learned a very important lesson about why God gave us the free agency to choose for ourselves what paths we will take. Because I walked through the stinky morass of atheistic culture, I came to know some of the deeper mysteries of the human spirit: I am a spirit child of God, and my spirit wants to return to Him. I became aware of a spiritual world beyond my own physical being: I could feel the spirit of God urging me to do what is right, and the power of the devil trying to hold me down in a ditch of misery.
I still don’t really understand why I do all of the things that I do.
The Night of Incredible, Yet Sober, Stupidity
…okay, it’s exactly how it sounds. After 18 years of living life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, keeping the Law of Chastity, keeping the Word of Wisdom, going to early morning seminary, performing Aaronic Priesthood duties, and just trying to be the best Mormon that I could be…I threw it all into the fire and joined myself with the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists.
It took five years for me to find my way back home. When I say “home” I mean a place where I am comfortable with myself, a place where I can share with my family and loved ones the things that are most important to me. “Home” is where the heart it…and my heart resides with God.
Part my desire to become Buddhist had to do with my own search for “truth.” I wanted to know the deeper mysteries of the human spirit. I wanted to understand why I did the things that I did. I wanted to be aware of things beyond my physical world. Of course these count as only a minute sliver of why I chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo…mostly it was my desire to spend more time with Marla P. In the end I learned that Marla and I had no ultimate intertwined destinies. In fact, we were no good from the get go…my hormones blinded me to that one truth.
I did learn, though. I learned a very important lesson about why God gave us the free agency to choose for ourselves what paths we will take. Because I walked through the stinky morass of atheistic culture, I came to know some of the deeper mysteries of the human spirit: I am a spirit child of God, and my spirit wants to return to Him. I became aware of a spiritual world beyond my own physical being: I could feel the spirit of God urging me to do what is right, and the power of the devil trying to hold me down in a ditch of misery.
I still don’t really understand why I do all of the things that I do.
The Night of Incredible, Yet Sober, Stupidity
Yeah, there’s no other way to explain it. It was a wild, crazy, stupid night of fun. It was an insane January evening. Andrew M’s future in-laws (they were just his girlfriend’s parents back then) had left town and he was house-sitting for them. He invited some of us out for an evening of joy riding and photo taking in the city of Denver.
On the way
downtown, for reasons that I could not then express, I felt the need to jump up on the roof of the van. I roof surfed down the street until the cop came up behind us. Yowza…that’s when I realized how bad an idea I had. Not because they caught me on the roof of a vehicle driving down the street…but because I had a 7 inch knife that I carried to feel cool and dangerous. *
I managed to ditch the knife in a snow bank as I came down from the roof of the van. The cops didn’t see it. Andrew got a ticket for reckless endangerment…I started singing the “COURTDATE TOMORROW” song in my head. How cool did I feel?
We got through that moment, and made our way down to the Design Center at Broadway and I-25. Andrew and Chris H. (a friend) set up their cameras for some black and white photos. I, for reasons that I could not then express, started climbing the Crinkle Fry. If you have never seen it (and I have included a picture so you can finally see this monstrous monument to Ore Ida frozen potato products) the Crinkle Fry is a 50 foot (at least) structure made out of yellow concrete beams. The temptation to climb it overwhelms me still to this day.
About halfway up a cop came along, and told me to get down, I asked if he was going to arrest me, and he said that he just might. I figured that I should go to the top if I were going to jail. The wind was cold and strong that night. Somehow I lost my shirt and jacket, maybe it was the knowledge that my friends were recording the moment on film. I ended up not going to jail, but my dad did get a phone call from the cops. I took that opportunity to tell him that I was going to spend the night with Andrew at his house sitting job.
What did I learn (besides that it is smart to keep clothed on a cold winter evening?) One, that I could have been killed during the van surfing incident…if not the monument scaling. Two, I learned that when I go to court, it’s good to have a lawyer (the misdemeanor charge of “reckless endangerment” was reduced to “unsafe passenger” thanks to Andrew’s Uncle Lyle.) Three, I learned that even though authority figures aren’t around (Andrew’s future in-laws) that doesn’t give me the right to go doing stupid things.
Also, and maybe more importantly, I may have gained some important insight into my motivation for stupid actions. One of the van’s passengers that night was a redhead cutie named Kyrie. My antics had to impress her…though I never saw any signs that they did.
Girls: my teen age addiction.
On the way
downtown, for reasons that I could not then express, I felt the need to jump up on the roof of the van. I roof surfed down the street until the cop came up behind us. Yowza…that’s when I realized how bad an idea I had. Not because they caught me on the roof of a vehicle driving down the street…but because I had a 7 inch knife that I carried to feel cool and dangerous. *I managed to ditch the knife in a snow bank as I came down from the roof of the van. The cops didn’t see it. Andrew got a ticket for reckless endangerment…I started singing the “COURTDATE TOMORROW” song in my head. How cool did I feel?
We got through that moment, and made our way down to the Design Center at Broadway and I-25. Andrew and Chris H. (a friend) set up their cameras for some black and white photos. I, for reasons that I could not then express, started climbing the Crinkle Fry. If you have never seen it (and I have included a picture so you can finally see this monstrous monument to Ore Ida frozen potato products) the Crinkle Fry is a 50 foot (at least) structure made out of yellow concrete beams. The temptation to climb it overwhelms me still to this day.
About halfway up a cop came along, and told me to get down, I asked if he was going to arrest me, and he said that he just might. I figured that I should go to the top if I were going to jail. The wind was cold and strong that night. Somehow I lost my shirt and jacket, maybe it was the knowledge that my friends were recording the moment on film. I ended up not going to jail, but my dad did get a phone call from the cops. I took that opportunity to tell him that I was going to spend the night with Andrew at his house sitting job.
What did I learn (besides that it is smart to keep clothed on a cold winter evening?) One, that I could have been killed during the van surfing incident…if not the monument scaling. Two, I learned that when I go to court, it’s good to have a lawyer (the misdemeanor charge of “reckless endangerment” was reduced to “unsafe passenger” thanks to Andrew’s Uncle Lyle.) Three, I learned that even though authority figures aren’t around (Andrew’s future in-laws) that doesn’t give me the right to go doing stupid things.
Also, and maybe more importantly, I may have gained some important insight into my motivation for stupid actions. One of the van’s passengers that night was a redhead cutie named Kyrie. My antics had to impress her…though I never saw any signs that they did.
Girls: my teen age addiction.
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*Being a man, when I say 7 inches, I really mean 2 inches.
