The Uber Chronicles

Here he is. My Uber driver in crimson robes, sporting horn-rimmed glasses and a clean-shaven head, just like the Dalai Lama. Dorze was smiling, ever so peacefully, as the mad Houston traffic whizzed by.
“Going to a costume party?”
Dorze threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “I am training to be a Buddhist monk.” His chuckles finally settled down. “Working through my final vows. But gotta pay the bills man.”
“You have a Texan drawl?” I asked.
“I was born here, but my parents are practicing Buddhists from Tibet,” Dorze clarified. “I asked a lot of questions about God when I was young.”
“That’s normal,” I said. “Every kid is curious.”
“I shouldn’t have been.” He sighed. “My parents dispatched me to a monastery in Tibet to answer my questions and become a monk.”
“Bye-bye childhood,” I laughed dryly.
“Such a bummer!” Dorze looked at me reflectively.
“How was your experience at the monastery?” I was curious.
“It was nonstop suffering, penitence, and chastity.” He rolled his eyes.
It was my turn to laugh.
Dorze turned serious. “But I learned a few things about the human condition.”
“So why not join the material world?” I said. “What’s in it for you now?”
“Well, this is all I know now.” Dorze abruptly changed lanes with minimal inspection of his rearview mirror. “And you know what? There is immense suffering in this world. I think humanity needs all the help it can get.”
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“Why is there suffering in this world?”
“Because of the desire.” He fell into a thoughtful silence. “We want and crave more of everything. More love. More power. More money. More emotion. More attachments.”
“Isn’t that the whole point of living?” I said, somewhat agitated. “What’s wrong with it?”
“More will not fill our soul.”
“So, what’s the answer?”
“Stop craving. Stop wanting.”
“You mean the human race should stop dreaming?” Maybe I was taking Dorze too literally.
Dorze braked hard into the upcoming bend in the road and accelerated up the freeway. The momentary jolt pushed me against the seat. And in the throes of brief panic, I thought this guy might be a spiritual master, but he needed a little more finesse in the laws of the physical world.
“The human race needs a spiritual rebirth,” Dorze said, weaving in and out of lanes at will on the expressway.
Great words of wisdom to live up to—if this driving didn’t kill us first.
“Desire is the engine of humanity,” I continued a little plaintively. “What would a man be without love, attachments, hunger for greatness?” I looked outside the window and noticed the airport signs coming up. “Not wanting, not desiring—that can’t be the answer!”
“Well, letting go is the only answer Buddha found two thousand years back.” He forced his foot down on the accelerator and quickly cut through the traffic, only to slow down when our car got too close to the winking brake lights of the car ahead.
“What’s the answer then, two thousand years later?”
Dorze let out a deep, low breath. “Keep suffering.”
“How about finding a balance between the spiritual and the material world?”
“That’s like applying a Band-Aid to a knife wound.” Dorze abruptly changed lanes again. “You can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube.”
“Toothpaste?” I asked. “What does that have to do with suffering?”
“The human race has caged itself in the vicious cycle of desire and possession.” His hands left the wheel and pantomimed squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. “There is no going back.”
Please get your hands back on the steering, I thought to myself.
“I thought humanity was about hope and redemption.”
He fell quiet, then finally spoke as if in a trance. “We need to stop conquering time and space and instead feed our souls.” I saw him almost close his eyes. “Then the universe will be saved.”
“What does that mean?”
“I am not sure, man,” he said weakly. “I am confused too.”
“I am glad we sorted that out.” I laughed. “Good timing. We are here ten minutes early, thanks to your speedy driving.”
I got out of the car and entered the material world.
Author’s Notes: Gurus have been looking for the “answer” for thousands of years. Not surprisingly, Dorze was confused. But searching for the answer itself is a good start. Taking an inventory of our baggage (physical and mental) and reducing the footprint of desire might be a positive undertaking.