Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Food for thought:

We live in illusion and the appearance of things.
We live in the world of concepts.
There is a reality; we are that reality.
When we understand this, we see we are nothing.
And being nothing, we are everything. That is all.

-- Kalu Rinpoche

7 comments:

Phoebe said...

I am nobody. Are you nobody too?
OK, Emily Dickenson said that first, but often it's how I feel. When I now and then remember it's not a social blight to be "nothing," I enjoy other people's realities a whole lot more.

Is this a written Rohrshach test? How did I do?

doug said...

When Kyle from South Park discovers that the adults have lied to him all his life about the authenticity of the Tooth Fairy and all the other make believe feel good characters that are not real he has a reality crisis. Here are his thoughts as he struggles with his new awareness.

Kyle: All made up. Not real. Nothing's real! Oh my God, what if I'm not real? I mean, what if I'm just part of my parents' reality? What if this is all just somebody's dream? Dude [speaking to his friend Stan], this book says there could be infinite alternate realities to every reality. Oh my God, and this book [reading a book on Zen philosophy] says that negative and positive are the same thing; that real and not real are one. Dude, this book says I don't exist unless I think I do. But what if I don't? I can't deal with it, Stan. I mean, all the stuff I've been reading; I really don't think I exist!

Stan: Dude, just stop thinking about it.

Kyle: But I can't, because, what if thinking about it is the only thing keeping my space-time together? Sometimes I think I can see time slowing down, and my own existence fading. Light is a wave unless it's observed? That means all matter is just a wave. Nothing's real! Reality in a nuh- Oh God, it's happening! [Kyle begins to disappear] I am nothing, and everything. [Everything and everyone begins to undulate with Kyle's head and they scream and groan. Next, Kyle's fetus (with the hat Kyle is always seen wearing, it is a SP trademark of sorts) is seen floating against a starry sky. Then, his head flies over a desert and images from his past clock in: a deer, a skip-loader, a mailbox, a slice of Swiss cheese, a boombox, Kyle's head, a frog, Kyle's head, a cow, Kyle's head, a tricycle, Kyle's head, a four-assed monkey, Kyle's head, a half-chicken/half-squirrel shows up as Kyle's head disappears for the last time, and scares everyone]

Now Kyle is back and reality appears restored.

Kyle: Huh. That was pretty weird.

But you know, I've learned something today. You see, the basis of all reasoning is the mind's awareness of itself. What we think, the external objects we perceive are all like actors that come on and off stage. But our consciousness, the stage itself, is always present to us.

My brief thoughts:

Kyle's experience reminded me of my experience upon learning the unreality of my religious belief system - huh, that was pretty weird.

Randy, you reminded me of Kyle with your Zen thought for the day - Good Times.

Ms-Chievous said...

Amen, Kalu Rinpoche. I struggle with my own reality that I ascert on myself daily. Thanks for that Mr.Doodle.

Randy said...

Leave it to South Park to encapsulate centuries of Eastern philosophy in one brief moment. BTW, Voodew, how did Kenny achieve his usual state of nonexistence in that particular episode? I haven't watched that show since the gang went to Central America.

I kind of understand the concept of no-self, but I can't quite buy into it yet. I'm totally down with the ideas that we are attached to illusions, appearances, and concepts, and that because of those attachments we can't be mindful of reality. That is all.

Phoebe said...

Isn't "that is all" a phrase out of the temple movie? It must be, because it causes my hackles to raise. OK. well, I don't have hackles.
Hackles. funny word

Randy said...

I believe the line Phoebe is thinking of is "that will do."

doug said...

What you said about how we are attached to illusions, appearances, and concepts, and that because of those attachments we can't be mindful of reality describes me too, the other non-reatlity thing has lost me.

Kenny (poor soul) drowns in a river. It was the tooth fairy mafia that wacked him by dropping him over a bridge with cement shoes on.