The Buddha teaches us that life is suffering. Yet there is also a path to end that suffering, Buddha reassures us, a path to enlightenment. What might that path resemble, though, in our modern world, filled as it is with distractions?Gaze, friends, on a spiritual leader of sorts, YouTube user Gamez John, who in September uploaded a video called "me dabbing to johnny cash's hurt." His profound guidance on walking the path to enlightenment is exactly what it sounds like: four minutes of a guy hitting hella dabs while the sonic equivalent of the first Noble Truth plays in the background.How many times does Gamez John dab? How many angels can fit on the head of a pin? The answer in both cases is 76, along with two improperly formatted dabs and one checked dab. That's more than one dab every three seconds. At that rate, dabbing becomes not so much a dance move as an expression of the human will crashing ceaselessly against the unyielding forces of time, a Sisyphean act of fortitude. Calm comes over us, the viewers, as we contemplate this dab, with its incantatory power, a corporeal mantra.As Gamez John continues, the physical challenge of his actions begins to inflict bodily suffering—or perhaps it's simply the devastating lyrics of Johnny Cash singing "Hurt"—and tears seem to well up in his eyes. His pain is apparent. We see his hurt. Such is the human condition. Such must be our fate, the gargantuan inevitability against which we dab. He begins a sad march, a funereal acknowledgement of Cash's karmic admission, "if I could start again / a million miles away / I would keep myself / I would find a way." There is power within this song and, indeed, power within the dab. I urge you to draw on that power. Take each dab as a single blessing, repeating it, letting it give you strength. Let these dabs clear your mind. Let yourself be free.Photo: Screenshot via YouTubeFollow Kyle Kramer on the path to enlightenment on Twitter.
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