It’s been a while since I’ve brought up the Eightfold Path which is kinda like the Ten Commandments of Buddhism, even though it’s not. There’s fewer of them, but they are far more annoying. Here’s a good basic graphic….

That Wheel up there is a far better symbol for Buddhism than any other. It has eight spokes, one for each of the Eightfold Noble Path, and as a wheel’s purpose is to turn, so too must the Eightfold Path’s wheel be turned constantly as each of the Eight Rights informs and instructs all the others.

I’m on Right Intention. I’ve been trying to write a post about it for weeks. During this period I’ve fallen into a deep depression, perhaps inspired by my contemplation about Right Intention. I am a depressive, but even with a lifetime of Oscar worthy Misery, this bout of depression has been a bad one. Lately when I wake up and see the dawn, I sneer at it’s boring predictability, and the more beautiful the sun and sky is, the more I see it as a deliberate lie told by Nature to fool me into thinking everything’s going to be okay when Nature is actually just going to hit me in the face with a new version of Covid as soon as I open the door. And Trump. It goes downhill from there as the day continues.

Intentions have been at the core of my Camino de Santiago experience lately. And because that experience was online, mostly on Facebook, one’s intentions must be called into consideration. Hell, one’s existence must be called into consideration after I found out about 30% of the Participants who were commenting and running Camino de Santiago group pages didn’t exist; they were either false profiles or AI editing programs. https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/family-safety/spot-fake-facebook-account/ Another healthy percentage were only selling books and hiking gear.

So, close to half of the Camino de Santiago community had no intention of actually sharing a community with me. Those lying bastards’ sole intention was to sell me something.

Just like me.

What was my Intention of being on these Group pages? Was I there to be a passive and sharing listener about Camino experiences? Nope. If I didn’t have this Blog and a desperate desire not to return to the food service industry, I wouldn’t spend a single minute on those sites.

This dovetails perfectly into my Intentions for walking the Camino de Santiago. I did not go on the Camino as a pilgrim, as a hiker or even as a fun and cheap vacation. I am not even a Christian. My intention was to make sure my wife would be safe while she went on an actual Intentional Pilgrimage. I talk more about that here https://buddha-meets-jesus.com/2024/09/11/st-jean-pied-de-port-the-camino-begins/.

Buddhist teachers have have a lot of fun when teaching Right Intention. The most direct explanation I’ve found says Right Intention requires Renunciation, Non-ill will, and Harmlessness. Translated into Generation X lingo, you have to make a real and out-loud choice to stop doing bad shit, then spend time thinking good shit, and then make sure you aren’t doing any bad shit to others. All you gotta do is figure out your shit.

The word Shit can be very Zen.

At the moment, I am not living by Right Intention. I am actively pursuing harmful paths that keep me from finding peace of mind. I also have the need to hurt the feelings, and livelihood, of the online Camino de Santiago Community. I want revenge- I want them to feel pain for profiting from their lies and the support of known liars: I want them to suffer. Textbook Anti-Buddha.

And I can see my mistakes, my incorrect thinking, my failures. And I can feel the pain of my failures, and I clearly see how this pain is of my own doing, and I can see even more clearly how The Eightfold Path is a way out of this self-imposed and self-created suffering.

But I’m stuck. And I’m told old to fool myself anymore with rationalizations or excuses. It’s me. It’s all about me. Right Intention takes that Nature’s Mirror Shakespeare talked about and polishes it up nice and bright. Too bright. You’d think with as many selfies as we take that the last thing we need is another mirror, but a picture ain’t you. You are not a picture. And this is not a pipe.

However, my suffering is my suffering. And I suffer as it is my Intention to suffer. I can’t blame anyone for it: not the evil Fake AI Profiles online, not the Catholic Fascists and not even myself.

On the Camino, you get too tired to suffer. I miss that.

Buen Camino.