The clouded mind sees nothing
We are not to understand thinking and doing, as the form of spoken and
written language suggests we should, as a one-thing-at-a-time string of
awarenesses but as a multi-dimensional experience that is not writing about
apples but walking in an orchard and eating them.
Anyone who thoughtfully uses language should
realise
that words are not a replication of experience but a representation.
(Ray Grigg)
Linear perception
The danger with words is that they do not represent
reality.
Consider: a verbal description of an event...
You walked into the room and you took the coffee cup off the table, drank
some and then noticed that Mike, Anthony and James were also in the room
watching television.
The verbal description gives the illusion that these events occurred
sequentially.
Consider: what happens in the very instant you enter
the room...
As you enter the room you simultaneously see the coffee
cup/the television/the images on the television/Mike/Anthony/James/what they
are all doing/ how and where they are seated/what they are wearing/the
layout and configuration of the room/the distance of things relative to
another and to you/the weather outside/the bird on the branch eating red
nuts from the green plastic feeder/the decor of the room/the quality of
light, smell the coffee/other aromas, hear the ambient noises
inside and outside the room/television/Mike/Anthony/James/your own
thoughts/interpretations/suggestions/impressions/memories, feel the
texture of the floor covering/your clothing/the air circulation/temperature
of the room.
Words cannot render the
complexity of that first instant but
you probably get the idea.
Koan
Koan
serve to demonstrate the folly of words.
You cannot box
reality into words and hope to have a
healthy, functional relationship with it.
Words can shape and
twist and warp your
perceptions of things, but reality itself
is unchanged.
The problem lies with the fact that we experience reality in our
minds.
If we interpret sensory data in a
distorted way, then our
relationship with reality and the choices we make will be
questionable.
Monkey mind
The human mind is not to be trusted.
Few people are
logical,
clear and internally balanced.
Decisions are reached and actions taken without any
rational thought taking place.
It like rummaging through an old box of junk and pulling something out at
random.
A choice is justified by the
ego, but seldom considered at length.
Contemplation is not popular these days. It
takes too long and people fail to understand the benefits.
Rather than examine the consequences, the
relationships involved or the variables
present - people simply blunder forward and then express surprise when
things fail.
Our minds are a rampaging mess of thoughts, feelings, emotions,
opinions, memories, received
knowledge, rules, codes, symbols and
influences.
Meditation is the beginning of sorting out
the mess. The aim is to empty the box completely.
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Page created 16 April 2005