ENTER BUDDHISM

What if Brahman, God, is not unchanging, eternal, abiding, but is evolving, just like the universe that emanates from him.  What, for that matter, if the universe does not emanate from him at all, but exists, has always existed, quite on its own?  What if the purpose of life is not to find God?  What if, in fact, life has no purpose?

Enter Buddhism.  Buddhism rejects such philosophical questions on the grounds they tie everyone in knots, are crazy-makers.  They are crazy-makers because they cannot be answered with any finality.  They cannot be answered empirically, in other words, to our satisfaction.  Faith is all we have.

But the Buddha wanted nothing to do with faith or with questions concerning the existence and nature of Brahman, God, and the meaning, purpose of life.  Set all those aside, he said.  One issue alone is important, and that is that all sentient beings suffer.

We do not suffer constantly but we do predominately.  Some things cause us more distress than others, but, all together, they make our lives miserable.

Chief among the causes of suffering, the Buddha taught, was attachment.  Attachment in and of itself is not bad.  Rather is it what we become attached to that is the problem.  What we grab onto is transient.  We identify with our egoic selves, for instance, which is ever changing.
 
When we interact with other egoic selves, which are always changing as well, and with the circumstances of our daily lives, in flux, too, we are like ships in a stormy sea.   

We become frustrated, depressed.  Depression always accompanies frustration.  Even though we profess happiness, we are sad.  It is precisely this chronic sadness that the Buddha sought to remedy.