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wolven7The dreams were a jumbled mess. Not even worth mentioning, really, except that i already did. I bought myself two books, yesterday: "Count Zero," by William Gibson, and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," by Phillip K. Dick. I bought these because i was almost done with the book i was reading. It was a good book...
So I've recently-- as in yesterday-- finished reading "Zen in the Art of Archery." I like Zen, as a school. You've all heard me, here, as one of the School's highest supporters.... or something. But i've found an objection, within myself, to Zen, and it's the same objection i have when people tell me to give myself over to a higher power, and let "It" take it's course: Why the hell should i, and why is my "I" such a horrendous detriment and taboo?
For those of you who study Zen, you know, or know of, everything upon which i'm about to expound. For the rest of you, here's this: One of the major tenants of the Zen Buddhist practise is the losing of the Self. The [non-Freudian] Ego, must be lost-- merged and given over to the All-- if there is to be any connection, whatsoever, with the All. Now, at the beginning, this is all well and good; we are without the Self, and the attachments there-to, and this can and will help us to overcome many obstacles. Losing the self is a wonderful step in the process, and it is exactly that: A step. Another step is the integration of "opposites."
In the school of Zen, there are many sayings that, upon first glance, seem oblique, and, perhaps, extremely evasive. These sayings include "The Gateless Gate," the "Artless Art," "Master and No-Master," and so on. These are all phrases that try to show the All/Nothing encompassing nature of the "It", and to help along the path to becoming that same relation. There are many dichotomies to be perceived, in the universe, but, supposedly, when we have "It", these dichotomies will resolve themselves into the unbroken resoluteness of a perfect circle. The whole encompasses itself. But in this merger of dichotomies-- mind you, while retaining and accepting the individual nature of the parts-- one crucial pair has been missed.What of the Self, and the All?
Some will say that i have contradicted myself, here, and have missed my own point. Did i not already say that part of the process was the merging of the self and the all into one? I did say that, indeed, but the merger of which i spoke, before, leaves nothing of the individual, and everything of the Godhead Soul. What of the Preferences our souls had to Choose, in order to become incarnate, on this plane, in the first place? In order to detach ourselves from the Cosmic All, we had to decide that A was preferable to B, and that Blue=Up. Don't mind me, i'm rambling a bit. The point is that without the retention of the self, after the merger and acceptance, if we are not allowed, by Zen to have the Self and Not-Self, then what is the point? How are we to learn any lesson?
But, then again, i'm not a Zen Master.
Day Dream
So I've recently-- as in yesterday-- finished reading "Zen in the Art of Archery." I like Zen, as a school. You've all heard me, here, as one of the School's highest supporters.... or something. But i've found an objection, within myself, to Zen, and it's the same objection i have when people tell me to give myself over to a higher power, and let "It" take it's course: Why the hell should i, and why is my "I" such a horrendous detriment and taboo?
For those of you who study Zen, you know, or know of, everything upon which i'm about to expound. For the rest of you, here's this: One of the major tenants of the Zen Buddhist practise is the losing of the Self. The [non-Freudian] Ego, must be lost-- merged and given over to the All-- if there is to be any connection, whatsoever, with the All. Now, at the beginning, this is all well and good; we are without the Self, and the attachments there-to, and this can and will help us to overcome many obstacles. Losing the self is a wonderful step in the process, and it is exactly that: A step. Another step is the integration of "opposites."
In the school of Zen, there are many sayings that, upon first glance, seem oblique, and, perhaps, extremely evasive. These sayings include "The Gateless Gate," the "Artless Art," "Master and No-Master," and so on. These are all phrases that try to show the All/Nothing encompassing nature of the "It", and to help along the path to becoming that same relation. There are many dichotomies to be perceived, in the universe, but, supposedly, when we have "It", these dichotomies will resolve themselves into the unbroken resoluteness of a perfect circle. The whole encompasses itself. But in this merger of dichotomies-- mind you, while retaining and accepting the individual nature of the parts-- one crucial pair has been missed.What of the Self, and the All?
Some will say that i have contradicted myself, here, and have missed my own point. Did i not already say that part of the process was the merging of the self and the all into one? I did say that, indeed, but the merger of which i spoke, before, leaves nothing of the individual, and everything of the Godhead Soul. What of the Preferences our souls had to Choose, in order to become incarnate, on this plane, in the first place? In order to detach ourselves from the Cosmic All, we had to decide that A was preferable to B, and that Blue=Up. Don't mind me, i'm rambling a bit. The point is that without the retention of the self, after the merger and acceptance, if we are not allowed, by Zen to have the Self and Not-Self, then what is the point? How are we to learn any lesson?
But, then again, i'm not a Zen Master.
Day Dream
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no subject
Date: 2002-08-10 05:23 pm (UTC)But i would think that zen emphasizes Non-self so much because the vast majority of human beings are constantly obsessed with Self and don't give much thought to the possibility that there are other types of awareness which don't involve the Ego's perception. Awareness of Self as not separate from All is critical to spiritual growth. -Sister Anonymou
hrmph
People, as a whole, suck. i love Individuals, on principle.
Words from the master
Falling far short of Gir's intense mastery of Zen and the Art of Noisy Contemplation, I say thee this:
Every Tick, the world has infinite decisions to make, programs to run, processes to determine, and spatial analyses to...analyze. Everything must be somewhere, and it's momentary rate of motion is actually recorded in that Tick, even though it's technically not moving (Ticks taking no time, and all).
Whoops; gotta check something, be back in a Tick.
I'm back. The Tick took you no time, took me time (Supposedly, but how can I prove it to you?) and the universe didn't end.
Likelihood of the universe ending is slim. And huge. 0/0. Zero over any number is infinity. Zero divided by any number is Mu.
Of all the options the universe has to make, its quasi-infinite choices, it has the single option of ending. It can only end one way, and it can only end once. In a binary, computerized world, every switch, in a world of infinite switches, would have to be turned to 0. One switch left on, it's not over. Odds are so close to 0 it's practically impossible.
Butbutbut. Odds get much better when you consider Ticks taking no effective time. Any given second there is an infinite number of Ticks. So. Is the universe gonna end tomorrow? Who knows?
Assuming it won't, here's the thing about giving oneSelf over. You as a Being can touch and move the All, what with being Aware and so forth. In that, you don't need the giving over.
Except sometimes you can't get it to move the way you want. Sometimes it doesn't seem to LIKE you.
Plugging yourself into it (Enjoying the feeling of Being/Letting yourSelf dissolve a bit in the All), making concessions to the way the universe wants to be working (Similar to getting around Paradox in a game of Mage), and recognizing that Godhead you keep talking about and your Being as both Whole and Segment of it, are ways to remind The Works (Just as they are ways to remind yourself) that moving things around to suit you is perfectly reasonable, since it's self-serving. If it makes you happy, it's making itself happy, yadayada.
Every second that the Universe goes without ending, considering the math above, it has been Working to preserve itself. Beings don't always work, but the Universe...it's like Ankh-Morpork. It really WORKS. Sometimes we don't want it to, but it does.
Enough out of me. Rest.
Re: Words from the master
Date: 2002-08-11 06:55 pm (UTC)