Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

When we sit down to watch a movie or read a book, we don't want anyone to spoil it for us by telling us how it ends, right?

We love the unexpected twists in the plot and enjoy a surprise ending, which is also why we watch

live sports instead of simply checking the final score at the end of the day.

The thrill comes from not knowing what will happen next.

At the same time, however, we are obsessed with wanting to know what the future holds.

From parents wanting to know the gender of their unborn babies to asking them, what do you

want to be when you grow up as early as five years later? Strangers still wonder, where do you see when you grow up as early as five years later.

Strangers still wonder where do you see yourself ten years from now, and some people even pay

fortune tellers for a glimpse into the future.

Would you want to know the exact date of your death for example or is life

better lived accepting the fact that each day could potentially be your last?

Most of our anguish, especially these days, stems from our discomfort with uncertainty.

Organized religions attempt to ease that discomfort by telling us exactly where we came from and where we are going.

And Eastern philosophies try to ease our discomfort by acknowledging that while we can't know

for sure where we are from or where we are going, rest assured that you will

be okay no matter what.

It's not good, it's not bad, it just is.

It's funny spelling that out, and I'm not sure which option sounds more sane

considering both demand predictability from an arbitrary world.

Mindfulness on the other hand invites us to embrace uncertainty and celebrate not knowing what comes next,

how the movie is going to end, or who will win the game. Is it possible that nirvana is simply the letting go of that need to know?

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