BUDDHIST BEGINNINGS

I wrote only about Buddhism at first, starting with a personal confession: 

I felt from an early age that I was being lied to, was being betrayed.  But by whom?  By what?  At the same time, I felt myself a lie.  When I opened my mouth I did not know who it was that was speaking.  I spent years in the academy which I argued to myself was worth the effort.  It was stimulating intellectually, and entertaining even, but of what use was it in the end?  What I really wanted was salvation.

Seek out your own salvation with diligence, Buddhism teaches.  Try it, see for yourself.

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of salvation than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere, the Buddha said.  When we are suffering we are as much in need of our compassion as is any other being, and we are equally deserving of it.