Tuesday, June 12, 2007

About those alternate views.

I zipped back through "Hardcore Zen" at the end of last week, and this time some commentary at the end caught my attention. Warner says (and I paraphrase) that Ken Wilbur (Yes, the great KW, specifically) and his alternate consciousness states are spiritual fantasies, and not reality.

I want reality to be no more than this, but I want there to be more.

On the other hand, I've spoken with this other Zen master (not my label), who has claimed some interesting unexplained experiences, that would invoke some unconventional acts of physics. He doesn't claim to understand the mechanism or be able to repeat whatever-happened, so there's not much scientific value to be had.

I've no reason to doubt the sincerity of either "expert", but if asked about the ultimate reality, I suspect they'd have very different views. I think they'd both say that they are the universe, and vice versa, or something like that.

Faced with such opposing views, I tend to want to reconcile them, or pick a side, or something. But all I have is my own experience.

My own observations are varied. They're primarily of the mundane, but of beauty in the mundane. The morning sunlight casts shadows into Lower Randolph that are mesmerizing. I've never known anything to vanish without explanation, found myself instantaneously transported to another place, or walked with someone into a different dimension. I have felt the wind on my skin, enjoyed laying in bed on a Saturday morning, and slowly chewed a fresh-baked bagel. I've been threatened by strangers and recieved malevolence from coworkers. I've closed my eyes and felt what seemed like the depths of the ocean of reality, opened my eyes and felt as though I were standing at the bottom of it. I've opened my eyes and everything's been exactly the same, but completely different. I've opened my eyes and the same damn things are still there. Each was real to me when it happened.

One thing about Hardcore Zen that's so wonderful is that it encourages us to focus on what's going on right now, rather than pining for something else, somewhere else. A seeming tenet of Christianity is a tendency to look toward later - Jesus is gonna come during our lifetime! - rather than looking, wide-eyed and wondrous, at what's already here, now. The teachers who encourage people to think that getting somewhere else is desirable, do just the same thing.

What a ramble. The office has gotten loud so my train of thought is gone. Honestly, it's like being trapped in a Seinfeld episode, sometimes.

Accepting whatever comes along, not striving, seems to be a very Zen thing, but is there room in Zen for when the things that come along are just a little... odd? (In other words, does any existing system have room for reality-as-I-experience-it? Does it matter, and do I care?) There's a lot of pressure out there to fit in.

Sometimes I wish somebody would just tell me I'm on the right track, but there's nobody from whom I'd trust that proclamation.... save myself.

Enough. I can't think during this cacophony of voices.

There will probably be more on competing views: Pronoia is an odd chaser to Hardcore Zen.

7 comments:

Andrew said...

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Pronoia. I don't find myself being innately pronoiac by disposition, so reading in the book has been an interesting experience for me.

As to the clash between THE GREAT KW and Zen Master Warner, I tend to think of it as being more about two big egos than anything else; although as to the larger question, yes, I think there's plenty of room in Zen for things that don't exactly conform to the laws of physics. Otherwise aren't you making of physics some kind of absolute, when actually it, too, is just a way of describing things on a certain level, as best we can?

The same is true of Christianity, too, I think... the "Jesus is coming back in our lifetime" future orientation crap doesn't come from Jesus, who was more of a "Consider the lilies" and "Mary has chosen the better way" kind of a guy, seems like. I mean, even when he was talking about what we today call "the End Times," he was basically saying, "pay attention IN THE PRESENT MOMENT to what happens around you."

My two cents, anyway.

Trevor Harden said...

Pronoia is indeed an odd book, having read it so long ago, I'm not sure I can still fully recommend it save one thing: imagine a life where TRUTH, BEAUTY and LOVE alone are cultivated and where optimism rules all thought. Much of it is mind-f*ck bullsh*t to say the least IF it is forced (pardon the language). As someone once said if you're trying to be a saint, you never will be - either it's spontaneous or its not - but still, to know that others are living the optimism and focusing on life being a Blessing rather than a gone-awry curse is a bit of a spirit-lifter. Whether or not I cultivate those things in my own life, I do find it inspirational to at the very least READ about others who are passionate for LIFE.

Hmm... may be a bit drunk tonight. :)

Regarding ultimate reality, of course there are alternate views. I've found the only peace in life is found when I can PLAY with those views without fully buying any one or taking any one too seriously. It's taken many years to get there - before I'd be up all night some nights - but when it becomes a fun, adventurous exploration instead of heavy and gut-wrenching, life becomes this glorious - and whimsical - mystery.

Trevor Harden said...

A day-after follow-up:

Sorry... hope the language in Paragraph 1 wasn't too offensive and hope Paragraph 2 didn't sound high and mighty (see also: self-righteous) ... didn't mean either of those in that way, both were innocent responses, but upon reading back I may not have communicated most appropriately. It appears beer+blogging may not be the best combo. Mark that as a lesson learned. :)

anonymous julie said...

Hmm... may be a bit drunk tonight. :)

I hope you'll do it more often!

Trev, your comment was wonderful and open and honest and without pretense and you said something meaningful and I loved it. (I attributed to occasional all-caps word to an inebriated manner of emphasis :) so maybe the warning was wise!)

Sometimes I'm comfortable with the notion that existence is a big playground. Sometimes I want there to be more of an overarching purpose than whatever I can come up with. Today I'm of the mind that the best purpose I have is kind of cool. Make beautiful things, enjoy beautiful things. (Why? Because that's what makes me happy.)

Trevor Harden said...

Thanks... glad to know it's OK to let loose for a while (sans the drunk SHOUTING) ;)

"Make beautiful things, enjoy beautiful things. (Why? Because that's what makes me happy.)"

Ya!

anonymous julie said...

Andrew, I think you've more or less got it, there.

And Trev, if drunken shouting is the order of the moment, go for it!

Jon said...

Ok, I'll have to post on Pronoia soon. I just emailed Trev a little review....

As for Warner, I thought his Wilber-bashing was both brave and unprofessional. As I mentioned in my review, Warner has no tolerance for anything that doesn't match his own understanding, and no experience with any alternate mystical systems, such as Sufism or Christian mysticism.

My best guess is that Warner has an intense awareness of what I call "the empty holodeck", but I don't think that's enlightenment.

As for Wilber, well, I'm not a fan, though many people like him. I use to try to diagram and map reality like he does when I was a kid. I took a lot of work to give it up.