Ornoth

If a database contains data, then database design is the process of optimally organizing that data. In order to organize it, you need the concepts and vocabulary to describe and discuss that data. Unless you can identify a dataset’s attributes, operations, and relationships, you cannot create an optimal data model. The ability to think and operate on that “meta-level” is a rare skill which separates Joe Coder from a highly skilled database administrator (DBA).

The Buddha knew all that, of course. He knew that data is just data unless you have insightful data about that data. Similarly, he realized that everyday, unreflective thinking is just thinking, unless you actually think about how you think. Buddhism provides the concepts and vocabulary to describe and discuss your thoughts, then begin to analyze and improve your previously uncontrolled thought patterns.

Buddhism’s central tenet is to wake yourself up from your semiconscious daily routine and continually reflect upon what you are thinking, why you’re thinking that way, and whether it is the wisest and most beneficial use of that energy (usually it isn’t).

Since the Buddha knew the value of metadata, or “data about data”, he also realized the importance of “thinking about thinking”, and that’s all Buddhism is. The central tenet of Buddhism—and the great revelation he realized at the foot of the bodhi tree—is the transformational value of training your mind to operate on that self-reflective “meta-level”.

Which a Buddhist, if he were of a mildly jocular inclination, might call the “metta” level (sic), which gives a whole new meaning to the term “metta-data”.