I love Irish weather. ‘What?’ – you’ll say. Yes, that’s right. For those of you who have no idea what the weather in Ireland is like – it changes a lot. Throughout the day. Some refer to it as being ‘bipolar’, some say it resembles the mood of a pregnant woman and some say, ‘there are 4 seasons in a day’. I was confused at first. After 6 years in London, with all the rain and wind and all that, I thought I am resistant to any weather. Irish weather threw me off completely. You wake up in the morning and look in the window – it’s grim and grey and rains. ‘Great’, you think. By the time you are ready to leave the house, after shower and breakfast – it all turns around completely. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you don’t even remember it was grey and grim anymore. You are in the office, tap tap tap on the keyboard. Turn your head towards the window – boom, it’s thunderstorm. And you planned an evening walk. Having lost all hope, little do you expect to see bright sunshine and pink sunset in the evening. And those are beautiful here in Dublin. No matter how bad the weather is throughout the day, the sunset is stunning nearly every night. Like a reward for your patience with the weather throughout the day. I painted one, over a famous Samuel Beckett bridge, for a friend. Here it is:
Now what do the 4 noble truths have to do with Irish weather you must be wondering. And what the hell are those? The 4 noble truths are the essence of Buddha’s teaching. I first encountered the concept when doing 10-day silent meditation Vipassana course in Hertfordshire, UK (which by the way I highly recommend). In short, when sitting under a tree just like Newton, Buddha was contemplating why on earth everyone is so fucking miserable. It finally downed on him (as it apparently does if you spend long enough under a tree). His revelation was later formulated as 4 noble truths: 1) Suffering is a universal human thing – everyone is miserable most of the time, it’s a fact. 2) What suffering stems from is our attachment to the good sensations and aversion from the bad sensations. 3) You can only stop being miserable if you stop wanting the good stuff & not wanting the bad stuff. 4) The way to achieve that is to be good and meditate a lot (Vipassana course will teach you how). Out of any religion, Buddhism resonates with me a lot precisely for this philosophy. You are not special; you are not supposed to experience euphoria 100% of the time – stop expecting that and get on with life. And when the good things come – don’t get too excited, those will pass as well. If you manage to achieve this equanimity – you’ve nailed it and you can call yourself Buddha (that literally translates as ‘awakened’ from Sanskrit).
The Buddha
Irish weather teaches you precisely that. In any other country, if you wake up in the morning and it’s miserable – it’s likely going to stay miserable. You get upset and get on with your day. Not in Ireland. Irish weather teaches you not to get too attached – thunderstorm might end up with a rainbow and a sunny day. Sunny morning might turn out to be a windy grey afternoon. You accept what comes staying reassured that it doesn’t matter what it is now – it will change soon anyway (‘Annica’ or ‘impermanence’ they call it in Pali). Just make sure you have your sunglasses with you, and your umbrella, and your t-shirt and a raincoat.
“Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry. Now Ireland has her madness and weather still. For poetry makes nothing happen”
W.H. Auden, English poet, from In Memory of W.B. Yeats
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