Purpose

I was just thinking..
How American... how the "western" thought process is.
Question Question Question. Skepicism. Cynical. Purpose.
This is all general, of course... but
we can't do something just for the sake of doing it. We have to ask, why? Why should I do this? What do I get out of this? What's the payoff?

For example... someone I know went to thailand at some point and somehow managed to get this very prestigious buddhist monk guy to teach him. It was very very lucky because this guy didn't speak english and had always refused to instruct any "westerner's" previously. Anyway... I wont go into much detail.. but he had my friend do a lot of this gruesome meditation stuff. Very difficult. Eventually, my friend was about to give up...He went and asked the monk "Why am I doing this?" "What am I getting out of this?" And the monk just laughed at him, because he knew that his thailand students would never ever even think of questioning him. And it was one reason he never taught westerners.

Anyway... in some ways it's an asset. The cautiousness and such keep you out of trouble in some situations. But... when you think about it... maybe it came from materialism. You have to get something in return or it's just no point.

Well, was just thinking about it.
I'm gonna start meditating just to meditate.