With agency in mind - on the road to easy peace

8/6/2019 With agency in mind - on the road to easy peace

1/36

With agency in mind - on theroad to easy peace

An SRDS compilation document

George G ClarkMay 2011http://www.srds.co.uk

- 1 -
http://www.srds.co.uk/http://www.srds.co.uk/


2/36

Preface

The articles in this compilation first appeared on the website Let it begin with me - a

rough guide to meditation and mind training.1 The website is now an archive of sixty

eight articles that are listed in four sections - Classic Eastern, Recent Eastern,

Western, and Home grown.

This compilation is of seventeen home-grown articles that were written between 2001

and 2003. In the website they are listed chronologically; in this 2011 version they

have been rearranged in a more logical and developmental sequence. See the

introduction and the two contents pages for details.

The articles presented here follow the Words of Faith2 collection of articles prepared

by the author for a local newspaper in Lesotho in the late 1990s. The articles also

predate his Existential Soft Rock blog

3

The articles are offered as they first appeared around 2002 and are thus more technical

in terms of concepts and vocabulary than more recent plain language materials.

At the turn of the centuries the author was also writing about change agents and social

development under the auspices of the Caledonia Centre for Social Development4. In

more recent times his interests have been in exploring ways of rooting development

planning in a more spiritual framework.

George G ClarkB.Sc (Hons), Cert.Ed., MSc, MA

Email [email protected]

Twitter http://twitter.com/dodclark

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dodclark

May 2011

1http://www.srds.co.uk/begin2

http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/whispers/3http://dodclark.blogspot.com/ (Begun on 17 Nov 2002 and still alive)4http://www.caledonia.org.uk

- 2 -
mailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/dodclarkhttp://www.facebook.com/dodclarkhttp://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/whispers/http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/whispers/http://dodclark.blogspot.com/http://dodclark.blogspot.com/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/whispers/http://dodclark.blogspot.com/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/dodclarkhttp://www.facebook.com/dodclark


3/36

Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................................2

Contents ..........................................................................................................................3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................4

Contents Annotated ........................................................................................................5

01 Cloud cuckoo land .....................................................................................................7

02 Heave yourself from the quicksand of treacle ...........................................................9

03 Attending to Imaginations ....................................................................................... 10

04 With Peace in Mind .................................................................................................12

05 Subjectless Contentment a thought on waking .................................................... 1306 EXIJEL - putting the salve back in salvation .......................................................... 16

07 Renunciant Frugality so easy, so difficult ............................................................ 17

08 Productive Agents ................................................................................................... 18

09 Accentuate the positive ........................................................................................... 21

10 Scratching the existential itch ................................................................................. 22

11 Steps on the road to bliss .........................................................................................24

12 On the Primrose Path to Peace ................................................................................ 26

13 The roller coaster ride to peace of mind .................................................................28

14 A drop in the ocean ................................................................................................. 31

15 Five Skandhas are Empty ........................................................................................ 33

16 Anguising angst .......................................................................................................35

17 Changed Mind ......................................................................................................... 36

- 3 -


4/36

Introduction

The articles in this compilation reflect the authors ongoing interest in (a) the

psychology ofperception as it appears in its various western and eastern forms and

(b) in the parallels that appear to exist between the two.

The main argument is that it is (a) always possible and (b) never too late, for minds to

become more peaceful.

But this raises the question ofagency - what are the causes and conditions for

change? Why do I want to change this way rather than that, and what is the nature

of the I who wants when the mind has a mind of its own?

A taster of each article is presented in the annotated content list on pages 5-6. The

overall story line is presented here:

We begin by recognising (a) the possibility of minds changing and (b) the

need for effort and discipline on the part of the agency of change (Me?).

We then indicate the possibility of experiencing easy peace as a result of

mindfulness meditation and of how this leads to an effortless embrace of

renunciant frugality.

Some more attention is then given to the nature of agency and this leads to

thoughts about the roller coaster ride experienced by those who seek the way

and tread the path.

The compilation moves on to three rather erudite articles concerning the bliss

body, rationality, and angst. We can think of them as appendices to help with

digging deeper.

The last article is something of a poem that pulls together a few of the authors

thoughts dealing with the possibility of changed minds.

- 4 -


5/36

Contents Annotated01 Cloud Cuckoo Land

A cloud cuckoo is not a bird. It is a

cloud formation that looks like a bird.

Its existence is in your mind rather

than in the cloud formation. How can

this be?

02 Heave yourself from the

quicksand of treacle

There is the part option of choosing

todays circumstances so as to

influence those of tomorrow. It is a

part option because old habits die hard.

Clean breaks on the road to Damascusare not the norm. The task is to heave

yourself from the quicksand of treacle,

and he who hesitates is sucked back.

03 Attending to imaginations

Recuperating from a hernia operation

involved just sitting. While doing so

attention was captured by present

externalities by feelings from the

wound, by the sound of traffic in the

street, by the sight of blue sky throughthe window. What else might capture

attention? There appear at first to be

six possibilities

04 With Peace in Mind

It is possible through prayer and

meditation to discipline your mind. It

is possible to be rid of negative and

wasteful thoughts and to limit

necessary thoughts to their appropriate

time and place. A well disciplinedmind is thus occupied by positive

(Godly) thoughts. This is how the

world can become a better place.

05 Subjectless Contentment

While there is unease with having

nothing to do in the evening there is

none in the morning as the mind flits

lightly like dappled sunlight on a forest

floor. Eventually the I will reassert in

up-front consciousness but, while

absent, there is subjectless contentment

ie I am content because there is no I

to be discontent.

06 EXIJEL - putting the salve back

in salvation

Fearless joy is the ocean into which

those who know it merge without

remainder. It is always and everywhere

like the air we breathe although,

throughout human history, most poor

souls have not accepted that even the

concept makes sense. The crippled

realists of flat earth. But now ...

07 Renunciant Frugality

Renunciant frugality is at once the

easiest and most difficult lifestyle.

Easy because you already have

everything you need the toolbox lies

within. Difficult because you do not

know you have everything to hand;

you know yourself to be both the

prisoner and the keeper without

realising that the prison is only in your

mind.

08 Productive Agents

The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra

encouraged me to be more aware of

thought processes. I realised that many

thoughts and moods were due to blind

habit and previous conditioning and

that 'I' was not in control of what

happens inside my head. This has

given rise to a greater confidence and

trust in 'the muse' who/which wasresponsible for the content (if not the

layout) of this article.

09 Accentuate the positive

So what is this 'thing' called boredom?

It is a frame of mind. Mindfulness can

be brought to bear on it. Its dimensions

can be brought into attention and its

features can be recognised. Know the

enemy. Then firmly but

compassionately deal with it.

- 5 -


6/36

10 Scratching the Existential Itch

The mood has changed several times

since I woke this morning. The change

drivers were partly internal and partly

external. Neither will ever go away but

I can choose to respond to themdifferently. This involves re-

conditioning my mind.

11 Steps on the road to bliss

If you notice what you notice and think

about what you think, you will

unshackle yourself from thoughts and

emotions. You will then inevitably

detach from the illusion of having a

self and the stage will be set for the

state of no thought to well up andmerge into oneness and the peace that

passes all understanding.

12 On the primrose path to peace

The reality which can be described is

not the real reality. There is only spin

from human minds. And all human

minds are erratically conditioned by

time, place and parents and so are

chaotic, jumbled and trippling with

inconsistencies. Pose value and spin,

even when perpetrated with integrity,

is all there is. Or is it?

13 The roller coaster ride to peace of

mind

Joy, sorrow and emotional flatness are

created by your attitude towards

things. Things appear in your mind

either as inputs from your sense organs

(eyes and ear etc) or as imaginations

from memory or in dreams. First the

thing, then the reaction to the thing:

and you choose how to react. But youhave developed a lifetime of bad

mental habits; can these be broken?

14 A drop in the ocean

When an individual mind rises above

its conditioning and habitual illusions

it returns like a raindrop to the ocean

which is the one mind. This is the

peace that passes all understanding.

This is the bliss body from which we

came and to which we will return.

15 Five skandhas are empty

This article offers a rational schema to

blow away rational schemas. This

might assist compulsive rationalists

who have difficulty going beyond.

16 Anguishing Angst

In the spirit of existential jujitsu the

anguish of angst is to be welcomed. It

drives you to the spiritual path more

effectively than most other frames of

mind.

17 Changed Mind

Then: thing, thought and worry. Now:

no-thing, no-thought, no-worry

- 6 -


7/36

01 Cloud cuckoo landIt would be easy to drift through life on

a cloud of sex, drugs and rock and roll

with all gaps in distraction plugged

from a quality collection of up to date

consumer products.

If you are lucky enough to be hidden

from the worst excesses of disease,

pollution, poverty, violence, old-age

and death then why not eat lotuses in

your cloud cuckoo land?

A cloud cuckoo is not a bird. It is a

cloud formation that looks like a bird.Its existence is in your mind rather

than in the cloud formation. How can

this be?

Light from the sky enters your eye.

Your mind interprets the signal as

fluffy white things on a blue

background and, if English speaking,

labels them as clouds. Then a pattern

recognition centre associates the shape

of the cloud with a bird.

The cloud cuckoo is thus created and is

immediately linked with other thoughts

and feelings from your subconscious

(desire, aversion or neutrality) and a

dynamic chain of illusion is set in

motion.

So it is with all other things/illusions

which the mind decides to isolate from

the Flux.

People, palaces and planets perish.

There is only the Flux.

Impermanence.

No thing exists or lasts.

An experienced meditator sees the

world of things (including her

individuated self) as no more

substantial than passing clouds.

All things (which are not things as

ordinarily understood) are intimately

connected with all other not-things. It

becomes apparent that there is only one

thing which is everything. And there is

no self conscious subject to whom this

is apparent the Oneness does not

know its Self. No knower, no

knowing and no known.

Language evolved to deal with the

world of phenomena and cannot easily

deal with the end point of mind

training - the numinous experience ofthe filled emptiness.

There are options ofrememberingacloud cuckoo that you once saw and of

imaginingone that has never existed

and the remembered and imagined

ones have as much real reality as the

seen one.

Mundane people are condemned byrationality, language and cultural

conditioning to grasp at a meagre

world of common sense phenomena

and the latest round of fashions and

gadgets.

Poets and mystics pull back the mind

blinkers and know their non-selves to

be one with the oceanic Mind which is

everywhere and always in a state of

fearless and blissful tranquillity.

- 7 -


8/36

"As the senses never and in no

single instance enable us to know

things in themselves, but only their

appearances, and as these are mere

representations all bodies, together

with the space in which they are, mustbe held to be nothing but mere

representations in us, and exist

nowhere else than merely in our

thought."

Emmanuel Kant is his "Prolegomena to

any Future Metaphysics":

People, palaces and planets perish

The reality which can be described

is not the real reality.

Whose reality counts?

- 8 -


9/36

02 Heave yourself from the quicksand of treacle

I am as I am. Circumstances dictate.

There is, however, the part option of

choosing todays circumstances so as

to influence those of tomorrow. It is a

part option because old habits die hard.

Clean breaks on the road to Damascus

are not the norm.

The task is to heave yourself from the

quicksand of treacle, and he who

hesitates is sucked back.

Our life is shaped by our mind;

we become what we think

The origin of a thought train is the life

force that totally unknowable and

thus unspeakable something-or-other.

It obviously exists as the source but it

is impossible to describe in other than

vague generalisations.

Suffering follows an evil thought as the

wheels of a cart follow the oxen that

draw it.

Remaining forever in your village you

do not know the source of the river that

runs though it. You are aware of water

flowing. Why concern yourself with

where it comes from and why? Whenthirsty, drink.

Joy follows a pure thoughtlike a shadow that never leaves.

So long as I live there will be thought

trains and each will have an object as

its engine. But neither the thought nor

its object has substance. Both appear

spontaneously and briefly in my mind.

OK there may be some concrete

referent upon which the object is

based: but I cannot know the concrete

referent as it is in itself, only as an

object in my mind.

As rain seeps through an ill-thatched

hut, passion will seep through an

untrained mind.

The map (object) is not the territory

(concrete referent).

I live in a world of home made maps.

I am free to draw and redraw thosemaps at will. I am also free to ignore

them.

So much freedom when you think

about thinking!

Those who recite many scriptures but

fail to practice their teaching are like

the cowherd counting anothers cows.

They do not share in the joys of the

spiritual life.

Source of quotes: Easwaran, Eknath (1986) The Dhammapada; Arkana;

ISBN 0 14 019014 7 [Chapter One]

- 9 -


10/36

03 Attending to Imaginations

Recuperating from a hernia operation

involved just sitting. While doing so

attention was captured by present

externalities by feelings from the

wound, by the sound of traffic in the

street, by the sight of blue sky through

the window. What else might capture

attention? There appear at first to be

six possibilities:

Internalities Externalities

Past 1 4

Present 2 5Future 3 6

But the past exists only in memory and

the future only in imagination: so past

and future externalities are obviously

sub sets of their relevant internalities.

The only difference between past and

future internalities (like justice) and

externalities (like the Millennium

Dome) is the extent of their rather

loose (see below) relationship to aconcrete referent. Thus if past and

future referents exist they do so only

in memory and imagination.

How are concrete referents like the

Millennium Dome known? Do we

know them as they are in themselves?

No! Our sense organs receive inputs

(sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) and

send electrical impulses which are

processed in the brain to generateimaginations which link to pre-

existing imaginations including

feelings (magnificent monument

celebrating a thousand years of human

progress v disgraceful waste of

taxpayers money). So where does the

present externality which is the

Millennium Dome exist? Surely, from

the standpoint of human knowledge, it

exists as a widely dispersed set of

diverse present internalities (ie as

imaginations) that may be stored in,

and retrieved from, memories.

This suggests that memory is a

storehouse of those imaginations upon

which the spotlight of attention does

not presently shine. This in turn

suggests the idea of attending to

imaginations. And this begs two

linked and very tough questions,

"Does an imagination exist if

attention is not being given to it? And, if it does, where, and what

form does it take?"

A gentler question would be, "What

are the characteristics of an

imagination to which attention is being

given?"

Dodging answers can approach from

two directions.

The question assumes an imaginer

imagining an imagination a subject, a

verb and an object. But to assume = to

imagine. So the imaginer imagines an

imaginer imagining an imagination.

And there would logically be an

imaginer imagining the imaginer

imagining an imaginer imagining

and so on in infinite regress to First

Cause.

Another approach suggests that the

answer is impossible to capture in

words. It involves a type of knowing

which predates the recent linguistic

incapacities of the naked ape. It is

intuitive rather than rational, poetic

rather than pragmatic, spiritual rather

than scientific, and holistic rather than

reductionist. It is famously said that

those who know do not speak.

Annoying isnt it.

- 10 -


11/36

More people should have to recuperate

from hernias. They might thereby

come to appreciate that their lives are

the creation of their minds.

You are what you think, and it is never

too late to change your mind.

Reality is present internality.

Our life is shaped by our mind; we

become what we think. Suffering

follows an evil thought as the wheels

of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.

Joy follows a pure thought like ashadow that never leaves.

(Dhammapada)

- 11 -


12/36

04 With Peace in Mind

"They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and

their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up

sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any

more." Isaiah 2:4.

There are four types of thought:

Negative thought anger, fear, sadness, regret, unease

Wasteful thought about things that might not happen or

that are beyond your control

Necessary thought "I must not forget to pay the rent". "I

must remember to milk the cow"

Positive thought encourages peace, harmony, creativity,

love and happiness

Most of the thoughts in most peoples

minds most of the time are of the first

three types. This is because theirsenses rush about like a badly raised

child or an untrained horse.

It is possible through prayer and

meditation to discipline your mind.

It is possible to be rid of negative and

wasteful thoughts and to limit

necessary thoughts to their appropriate

time and place.

A well disciplined mind is thus

occupied by positive (Godly) thoughts.

This is how the world can become a

better place.

"First keep peace within yourself, thenyou can also bring peace to others."

Thomas a Kempis

"It is in the (undisciplined) minds of

men that war is created; it is thus inthe (disciplined) minds of men that

peace can be won".

UNESCO Charter

The Devil finds thoughts (andemotions) to fill undisciplined minds

- 12 -


13/36

05 Subjectless Contentment a thought on waking

While there is unease with having

nothing to do in the evening there is

none in the morning as the mind flits

lightly like dappled sunlight on a forest

floor.

Eventually the I will reassert in up-

front consciousness but, while absent,

there is subjectless contentment ie I

am content because there is no I to be

discontent.

Last night I thought to wake with thedawn and did. It is now but slightly

light. No traffic, and bird song just

beginning.

But a concern for the work programme

emerges "What will I do today?" The

I solidifies. Social routines are

recapturing consciousness with duties

and responsibilities which devour

spare time.

Spare Time? The devil finds work for

idle hands to do! This culture is

fiercely material and mundane. Minds

are shackled to a work ethic. First in

the home and community with hard-

working role models and then through

long years of habituation to the forty

minute bells of school. What chance

does a poor soul have?

Every chance! The system islaughably corrupt. It strangles itself. It

breeds dis-ease, forces the search for

solace and then provides media

distractions and mind bending

chemicals. But these shallow joys wear

quickly thin. And then? Despair! And

then? Breakdown and suicide versus

renunciation and rebirth!

angst,anomie,

- 13 -


14/36

- 14 -


15/36

alienation,

disaffection from the polity

Rebirth?

A change of mind. You are whatyou think. Think different.

It is never too late to change your

mind.

It may not be easy to break old

habits of thought but it is not

impossible where there is a will.

And Will is ever-present.

Will is the fabric of the true Self. The

sun shines behind the clouds of ego

illusion. Blow the clouds away. The 9to 5 routine is dust on the mirror. Blow

the dust away.

Beneath the thin veneer of the

culturally conditioned self lies the true

Self which moves the air and makes

the grass grow. The dynamic Oneness

flows like self motivated putty.

Endless rounds of creation and

destruction.

Permanent impermanence.

Waves on the ocean of cosmic

mind.

That art thou.

From Hinduism Tat Tvam Asi the

Absolute is in essence one with

yourself

Be still and know

- 15 -


16/36

06 EXIJEL - putting the salve back in salvation

Today I sense the fearless joy of Taoist

simpletons.

Fearless joy is the ocean into which

those who know it merge without

remainder. It is always and everywhere

like the air we breathe although,

throughout human history, most poor

souls have not accepted that even the

concept makes sense. The crippled

realists of flat earth.

But now ...

EXIJEL.

The existential jelly. The fluid that

facilitates transcendence. No mere

worldly elixir like overproof rum or

mushroom tea - this is the metaphorical

salve. Salvation's salve.

EXIJEL

Lubricating the spiritual path

Putting the salve back in salvation.

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS

You have an in-built store

of EXIJEL

BUT it is locked in the deep recesses of your mind

Keys are everywhere BUT you see the keys as trinkets for new-age hippies

and weirdos

It is never too late tounlock your mind

BUT you cling desperately to your materialistconditioning

Wise up! EXIJEL is awareness.

Make space for quiet times in your day.

That's all.

Just sit, shut up and be aware of what goes on in your head.

All else follows as day follows night.

Unplug from the poisonous drip feed of media distraction.

Be still and know.

- 16 -


17/36

07 Renunciant Frugality so easy, so difficult

Notice what you are noticing and the effect it is having on you.

Mindful awareness leads inevitably to renunciant frugality.

The highest language art is in

expressing the inexpressible. Thus are

road signs erected for the spiritual

travellers wishing to change their

mind. Homage then to those who have

gone before and left these signs.

Renunciant frugality is at once the

easiest and most difficult lifestyle.

Easy because you already have

everything you need the toolbox lies

within. Difficult because you do not

know you have everything to hand;

you know yourself to be both the

prisoner and the keeper without

realising that the prison is only in your

mind.

Renunciant Frugality is

easy because ... difficult because it appears that ...

regarding perception

the sun shines behind the curtain of

ignorance

there are no curtains and even if there

were they are pulled tight shut

once beyond the gate, the gate is known

to be illusory

the road leading to the gate is much too

long, winding and arduous

all blockages (phenomena) are creations

of imagination and can safely be ignored

the blockages are out there and real

regarding Will

the pleasures of the senses and the flesh

are fleeting and easily foregone for the

bliss of fearless equanimity

the pleasures of the senses and the flesh

are the only things that make life worth

living

the mind has a mind of its own which

chooses equanimity

the mind has a mind of its own which

craves distraction

if you are still you will know you cannot sit still for more than a few

minutes at a time

The only sin is mindlessness.

The only rule is to be aware

ie notice what you are noticing and the effect it is having on you.

Mindful awareness leads inevitably to renunciant frugality.

- 17 -


18/36

08 Productive Agents

The following train of thought arrived

while reading the Vimalakirti Nirdesa

Sutra.

The sutra encouraged me to be more

aware of thought processes. I realised

that many thoughts and moods were

due to blind habit and previous

conditioning and that 'I' was not in

control of what happens inside my

head.

This has given rise to a greaterconfidence and trust in 'the muse'

who/which was responsible for the

content (if not the layout) of this

article.

Sometimes I feel that I should be more

focused and productive. Is it a good or

bad feeling? This is a subtle point but

Vimalakirti was quite clear about it:

The Dharma is ultimately without

formulation and without verbalisation.

Who verbalises: "Suffering should be

recognised, origination should be

eliminated, cessation should be

realised, the path should be practiced,"

is not interested in the Dharma but is

interested in verbalisation.

the Dharma is calm and peaceful.

Those who are engaged in production

and destruction are not interested in the

Dharma, are not interested in solitude,

but are interested in production and

destruction.

if you are interested in the Dharma

you should take no interest in anything.

The subtlety has to do with the idea of

'agent'.

Language requires a subject for every

sentence, an 'I'. But the conscious 'I' is

an illusion and is the source of the

problem and cannot be part of its cure.

There is thus another concept of agent

- wu-wei. This means something along

the lines of non-action where this

implies that things get done without a

conscious 'I' being involved.

Everyday examples include

automatically snatching up a baby thatis about to fall into a well (innate reflex

(instinct) - nature) and riding a bicycle

once you have learned how

(conditioned reflex (learned behaviour)

- nurture).

So what does it mean to say that, "'I'should be more focused and

productive"?

Two levels ofagency can be seen to beat work :

Conventional agentWhen 'I' is the conventional 'I' then it is

involved with formulation and

verbalisation and with production and

destruction. This is obviously missing

the grander Buddhist point.

Liberated agentThe second level of agency involves

non-egoic-action. There is focus, and

productive work is done, but the actor

is not self-aware of the action. Ego

consciousness is not involved.

The liberated agent is more active than

most people realise. A name can be on

the tip of your tongue but will not

appear until 'you' stop trying to

remember - so who remembers?

- 18 -


19/36

Most poets and writers appreciate that

they are but instruments for their muse.

"The words and ideas appear alreadyformed and all that 'I' do is write them

down."

It is as if the subconscious part of your

brain was another 'you'. The familiar

conscious part knows little about it.

The subconscious part is the source of

your dreams and nightmares when you

are asleep and of daydreams and

moods when you are awake.

Most people, when they bother to think

about it, realise that the content of theirconsciousness is a very small part of

what goes on inside their head. And,

more significantly, 'they' are not in

control.

The subconscious has a mind of its

own and dictates what ideas and

emotions get tossed into

consciousness.

The 'I' of consciousness is a tiny cork

on the vast swelling ocean of

unconsciousness.

So can the unconscious mind be

trained and brought under control? Can

it be more focussed and productive?

Yes. This is the purpose of Buddhism.

It sees the conventional agent as the

root of spiritual sickness. 'I' havedifficulty getting my head round the

solution but wu-wei goes with the flow.

Vimalakirti is an eloquent spokesman

for the Buddhist cure when he notes

that sickness arises from total

involvement in the process of

misunderstanding from beginninglesstime.

It arises from the passions that result

from unreal mental constructions, and

hence ultimately nothing is perceived

which can be said to be sick.

Why? ... There is no self in this body,and, except for arbitrary insistence on

self, ultimately no 'I' which can be said

to be sick can be apprehended.

Therefore, thinking, "'I' should not

adhere to any self, and 'I' should rest in

the knowledge of the root of illness,"

you should abandon the conception of

yourself as a personality and produce

the conception of yourself as a thing,

thinking, "This body is an aggregate ofmany things; when it is born only

things are born; when it ceases only

things cease"

The table on the next page sets out the

logic of the argument.

Vimalakirtis counter intuitive

conclusion is that "When you achievethis equality you are free from all

illnesses but there remains the conceptof voidness which also is an illusion

and should be wiped out as well."

So there can/should be focus, and a

productive move towards liberation;

but it will be successful only if 'I' do

not focus and try to move productively

towards liberation.

The productive and liberated agency

that is wu-wei

- 19 -


20/36

What is the elimination of this sickness? It is the elimination of egoism and

possessiveness.

What is the elimination of egoism and

possessiveness?

It is the freedom from dualism.

What is the freedom from dualism? It is the absence of involvement with

either the external or the internal.

What is the absence of involvement with

either the external or the internal?

It is non deviation, non fluctuation, and

non distraction from equanimity.

What is equanimity? It is the equality of everything from self to

liberation.

Why? Because both self and liberation are void.

How can both be void? Because they exist only by names which

have no independent nature of their own

Sources of quotations:

Thurman R A F (1976,1991) The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti - a Mahayana

scripture; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; ISBN 8120808746

Luk, Charles (1972) Ordinary Enlightenment - a translation of the Vimalakirti Nirdesa

Sutra; Shambala; ISBN 1570629714

- 20 -


21/36

09 Accentuate the positive

I am at a loose end. No distractions in

the post or in the email. I am on the

morning's second cup of tea. There is

an urge 'to fill the void'. I am

programmed for 'doing' and am

bewildered by the lack of 'projects'.

Boredom threatens.

So what is this 'thing' called boredom?

It is a frame of mind. Mindfulness can

be brought to bear on it. Its dimensions

can be brought into attention and its

features can be recognised. Know theenemy. Then firmly but

compassionately deal with it.

But this is one of those issues that

torture common sense. When boredom

arrives the task is not to 'push it away'

but rather to 'let it go'. This is more

than two ways of saying the same

thing. The former is an active process

with an assertive ego. The latter is a

passive process born of mindfulness.

There is talk of watering seeds5. The

subconscious is full of seeds. Those

that are watered get bigger those that

are not watered remain small. There is

also talk of good seeds and not so good

seeds. The good seeds (kindness,

compassion, generosity etc) should be

given space in attention while the not

so good ones (anger, greed, boredom

etc) should be passed over. The task isto accentuate the positive.

Language begs for an agent of this

process. Using the passive voice skirts

the issue. The process includes

discrimination (this is not that) and

judgement (this is good and that is not

so good). Language thus demands a

discriminator and a judge. He is

commonly thought of as 'I'. But the 'I'

5 This article was written after listening to a

talk by Thich Nhat Hahn

is illusory. So who or what is the

agent?

The agent (or is it the agency?) is

rooted in the subconscious. It is one

seed amongst many while, at the same

time, being the source of all seeds.

There is talk of the host and the guests

(where the guests are offspring of the

host). When the guests have been

watered by culture and worldly

experience they are loud and brash andthe host rarely appears in up front

consciousness. Note, however, that the

host is still there; he is the foundation

of all the guests; he is the root from

which all else springs; he occupies the

basement.

There are, however, occasions when

circumstances (with multiple and

subtle causes) conspire to briefly

quieten the guests with numinousexperiences eg death of a loved one,

the brilliance of a sunset etc. The host

then emerges to suffuse up front

consciousness. There is at-one-ment.

This is a 'good' experience. Those who

notice it want more. Some want more

urgently than others. The most eager

become shamans and mystics. Through

the centuries they have charted

roadmaps for the host to rise above theclamour of the noisy guests.

The various cultural corridors lead to a

single peak pathway. This is the royal

road to the bliss of reunion. The

essence is to be still and know. Know

what? Know 'reality' as it is in itself

(an interpenetrating oneness) and thus

know the peace that passes all

(common sense) understanding.

- 21 -


22/36

10 Scratching the existential itch

The mood has changed several times

since I woke this morning. The change

drivers were partly internal and partlyexternal. Neither will ever go away but

I can choose to respond to them

differently. This involves re-

conditioning my mind.

Two phrases capture the method -

'notice what you are noticing' and

'think about thinking'.

Action verbs - 'to notice' and 'to think'.

They involve using my mind in an

extra-ordinary way. I have to break old

habits - I must stop seeking

distractions and responding to them

automatically and without thinking.

notice what you're noticing

think about thinking

Sit quiet doing nothing and the green grass

growsLilies born to bloom and die unseen

Sit quiet doing nothing and the tree leaves fall

Theres nothing moving but my mind

SO the BIG questions

Why should somebody want to

change their mind and,

how can they do it?

Let's begin with 'dissatisfaction'. Not

enough of what you want and too

much of what you don't want. This

drives the urge for change. How can

we use it?

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Cut out distractions that don't satisfy

you. Enter your secular monastery.

Early to bed and early to rise,

withdraw from the media,

keep to a plain diet, and

use 'leisure' time for 'just sitting'

and reading wisdom books.

If you must give it a name, call it

'renunciant frugality'.

With a simple life you begin to notice

what 'really' happens in your head. It

comes as a shock to many people and

is more than most can handle.

T S Elliot said that, "Mankind cannot

stand too much reality" and most

adolescents rush to switch the tellyback on because, "This is boring".

BUT those who are genuinely

'dissatisfied' will initially stay with

simplicity because it is 'different'. Then

the wisdom literature begins to make

sense. The crazy words begin to

describe what happens in your head.

You realise that there is a well-

established, alternative road through

life. Large parts are still lost in the

clouds of earlier conditioning but now

you know: there is another way; it is

the royal way; it is the only road worth

travelling.

You might at this point give up the day

job and re-arrange your life; or you

might go on living in what looks like

the same old way but, from inside, it

will be a world transformed.

- 22 -


23/36

Illusory blues are a thief in the night

Who steals away what you thought was right

Cmon, wise up, get real, notice what you feel

So why bother?

What's in it for me?

It depends on where you stand. A long

and winding road leads to freedom's

gate. When you pass through and look

back, however, there is no gate. The

sun shines behind the clouds. Yourburdens are illusions. See them for

what they are. Let them go. That is all.

Words cannot do it justice. Be still and

know that 'you' do not exist and that

the answer lies within.

If you have the existential itch

- scratch it.

- 23 -


24/36

11 Steps on the road to bliss

If you are like most people you will

have no control over the thoughts and

emotions that appear in your mind.

You will be tossed like a withered leaf

in a squalling gale by whatever

happens to come along.

However, if you notice what you

notice and think about what you think,

you will unshackle yourself from

thoughts and emotions. You will then

inevitably detach from the illusion of

having a self and the stage will be set

for the state ofno thoughtto well upand merge into oneness and the peace

that passes all understanding.

The following table charts seven states

of mind. If you arrange your life with

quiet times to just sit, you will come

to know them all.

withemotion

withoutemotion

1. unobserved thought 1a 1b

2. observed thought 2a 2b

3. observer with no thought 3a 3b

4. no thought 4

1a unobserved thought withemotion.

This is the common, human condition

of a mind out of conscious control and

swayed in excitement (love or hate) by

whatever happens to enter

consciousness. Life is full of

uncontrollable ups and downs.

1b unobserved thought without

emotion.

This is another, common, human

condition where life has lost its

flavours. Reality seems dull and grey

rather than depressing. There is still a

constant flow of thoughts entering

consciousness but they lack colour.

Life is boring and flat

2a observed thought with emotion.

That makes me so angry. You are

aware that your heart strings are being

plucked by particular thoughts but

there is nothing you can do about it.

2b observed thought without

emotion.

In this state you are aware of your

string being pulled and the awareness

dampens the effect. You learn to smile

at the simple ways you normally react.

With practice this method makes it

increasingly easy to lower your highs

and heighten your lows.

- 24 -


25/36

3a observer with no thought but

with emotion.

Here you are aware of being in an

emotional state (a mood) but you do

not know why. You still have someawareness of self, but other thoughts

are flimsy and short lived; they

channel hop in an emotionally tinged

mist.

3b observer without thought or

emotion.

In this case there is still some

awareness of self but there are no

noticeable moods or emotions and suchthoughts as appear are unsubstantial

quick channel hops in a thick and

distant mist.

4 no thought.

The essence of this state is no sense of

self. There is no one to think or feel

so there are no thoughts or feelings.

Significantly, when there is no self

there is no other. There is thus theOneness, the not two. Because the

illusion of self has been transcended

there is Bliss, and Consciousness is

suffused with the peace that passes all

understanding.

Only when we have removed the harm in

ourselves can we become truly useful toothers.

- 25 -


26/36

12 On the Primrose Path to Peace

The reality which can be described is

not the real reality. There is only spin

from human minds. And all human

minds are erratically conditioned by

time, place and parents and so are

chaotic, jumbled and trippling with

inconsistencies. Pose value and spin,

even when perpetrated with integrity,

is all there is. Or is it?

What about the absolute and the

eternal? Some matters cannot be

rationally and mechanically knownbut can be sensed by the spiritually

mature.

Those who insist on only one way of

knowing are blinded by knowing in

only one way. Those who only know

are merely rational. Those who sense

that which lies beyond mere knowing

are supra-rational.

Question:

When is it rational to be merely

rational?

Answer:

On most occasions when engaged with

the detailed working of real machines

ie on those happy occasions when

responses to stimuli are totally

predictable

Question:When is it rational to be supra-

rational?

Answer:

On all occasions when living things

(including people) are involved ie on

any occasion when the second

response to a given stimulus is likely to

be different from the first.

For most of the 20th century the

conventional wisdom of the dominant

group (cowdung) was rational

reductionism analogous to a clockwork

machine.

In the 21st century the brilliant,

universally legitimate, standardized,

ICT enhanced, truth (bullshit) seems

set to be supra-rational, holism

analogous to a self regulating, complex

ecosystem.

Underlying the past cowdung and

future bullshit is the popular reality

intuitively mirroring reactions to

sensory experience (primrose). But, atall times, the so-called intuitive

aspects of the primroses will be

radically conditioned by the cowdung

and bullshit from which they emerge.

Why should this be?

The planet congealed 5 billion years

ago. Hominids appeared 3 million

years ago but did not engage in

conversation till about 75,000 years

ago.

Language is as yet a speechless babe.

Informed opinion has yet to gel as to

its significance. It is clear, however,

that language makes reality rather than

the reverse. We each live in a worldcreated by the vocabulary and dialect

which we learn. Eskimos have 18

words for snow and who but a Doric

speaker could point to the localitys

feel gype?

So spin is the only option? Yes and

No.

Yes amongst the cowdung and

primroses of yesteryear.

- 26 -


27/36

No, at least potentially, amongst the

bullshit and primroses of tomorrow.

The latter depends on the growth and

diffusion of mind sets attuned to

perfectly emancipated and carefree

existence (peace).

You are not what you have been

programmed to believe you are. You

are/are not what you think.

Veils of language prevent you

appreciating that you are everything

and everything is you. You have the

freedom to think (sense) that the

linguistic illusion of an individuated

ego rests mirage-like on the dynamicflux of interpenetrating oneness.

Such sensing brings the peace which

passes all understanding; the peace

known throughout history to that virile

minority of existential entrepreneurs

known as mystics

the fools for God,

the Taoist simpletons,

the real people.

How can the mind be changed?

Take time to avoid external

distractions. For five minutes each day

just sit. Notice what you notice when

there is no thing to notice. Be still

and know the fearless equanimity of

being. Peace will appear like second

teeth.

So difficult and yet so easy.

The answer lies within.

Be still and know.

Five minutes a day is all it takes to

tread the primrose path to peace.

Glossary

Cowdung conventional wisdom of the dominant group

Bullshit brilliant, universally legitimate, standardized, ICT enhanced, truth

Primrose popular reality intuitively mirroring reactions to sensory experience

Peace perfectly emancipated and carefree existence

- 27 -


28/36

13 The roller coaster ride to peace of mind

Joy, sorrow and emotional flatness are

created by your attitude towards

things.

Things appear in your mind either as

inputs from your sense organs (eyes

and ear etc) or as imaginations from

memory or in dreams.

First the thing, then the reaction to the

thing: and you choose how to react.

But you have developed a lifetime of

bad mental habits; can these bebroken?

Some external events can be

influenced, others not. Attempts to

influence may succeed or fail. Those

are the stark realities. To worry about

them does not add value or increase

efficiency; neither do feelings of

desire, indifference or aversion.

Is it possible to be free of such uselessand debilitating habits of mind?

When there are no thoughts of an I

and when attention thus rests securely

in the here and now there is peace of

mind.

You may have known fleeting

moments of such peace6 you may have

been lost in a book or a movie or

stunned by the beauty of a sunset.Precious moments when you didnt

know who or where you were but you

were inspired.

Peaceful minds are free from illusions

such as I exist, time exists, or indeed

6 In the western tradition these moments of

peace have been variously called cosmic

consciousness (Richard Bucke), oceanicfeelings (Sigmund Freud) or peak experiences

(Abraham Maslow)

that any thing exists in any

permanent and unchanging way.

A deep appreciation that the only

constant thing is change frees the mind

from its ordinary pattern of thinking.

Then the life force, from which natural

and spontaneous action springs7, is free

to make a difference in the world. The

self-less forces of nature will be

unleashed. Can the minds of ordinary

people become like this?

Good news - you already have peace

of mind and it cannot be taken from

you. Your task is simply to remove the

impediments to your knowing it - like

blowing dust from a mirror. You must

stop your mind from wandering; you

must learn to centre your attention.

Reality is the jagged zig zag of

attention hopping from one thoughttrain to another

7this involves what from ancient times theChinese call Wu-wei (non contrived action). St

Augustine was referring to it when he said, "Ifyou only love God enough you may do as you

please."

- 28 -


29/36

The following diagram illustrates three phases in the process of bringing attention to

the still centre.

The flat line is the ever-present and unwavering equanimity that is the bedrock of

mind.

The curved line represents the hobo mind riding thought trains loaded with

emotional baggage.

The fleeting moments of peace are glimpsed when the lines cross.

Phase 1 Riding the Roller Coaster

Phase 1 illustrates the ego-besotted anduncontrolled mind in which attention is

easily led to the imagined past or

future on thought trains as endless as

waves upon the shore.

The diagram is a deliberate

oversimplification. Reality is the

jagged zig zag of attention hopping

from one thought train to another; and

resting on each for varying times and

degrees of joy or sorrow. The briefestthought moment is but a fraction of a

second. Thoughts and moods transform

instantly in a mind swayed byexternalities.

Media and advertising engineers are

expert at flicking the conditioned

switches of desire/aversion in we

capitalist consumers. So with

politicians, false prophets and the

psyche police. Without rigorous mind

training we are as brain dead puppets

on their tinselled cords of steel.

- 29 -


30/36

Phase 2 Observing the Roller

Coaster

In Phase 2 attention is split and the

mood swings are less severe. If Phase

1 involved noticing then Phase 2

involves noticing what you notice.There is a Hindu image of two birds

sitting on a branch. The first eats fruit

and the second watches. In Phase 1 the

thought was "I am happy" in Phase 2

the thought is I seem to be happy

because This process of splitting

gradually removes the sorrows and

joys of living.

A rider on the roller coaster might see

this as a puritanical and spoilsporttechnique leading to a flat and soulless

existence. However, those who no

longer ride the roller coaster know that

mindfulness and self watching are

the only way to control your mind and

thus manage more than a fleeting

glimpse of its true nature.

Again the diagram is oversimple. In

the early stages of Phase 2 it is difficult

to remember to split attention and you

drop back to Phase 1. To encourage

mindfulness you may sprinkle your

dwelling with objects which, when you

see them, remind you to notice what

you are thinking and feeling at that

moment.

The human mind slips easily into ruts

and routines and it needs patience and

determination to re-programme it.Good news -

the process is self perpetuating

having tasted a little you will want

more and

the further you go the easier it gets

the closer to home (your true

nature) the more familiar the

territory.

Phase 3 being off the Roller

Coaster

Phase 3 is ineffable there is nothing

that can be meaningfully said about it.

There is a Zen concept of the gateless

gate. Only when through the gate is itobvious that the gate does not exist.

Words deal with things like the gate

of Phases 1 and 2. In Phase 3 there is

only the interpenetrating oneness

which is everything all in one. In the

diagram the gateless gate is/is not8 at

the point where the roller coaster ends

and the smooth ride begins.

In Phase 3 there is a kind of knowing

that involves more than a mere rationalunderstanding of the hard facts.

There is an awareness that people and

things come and go in much the same

way as thoughts; and that everything

connects to everything and is

constantly changing. There is an

ongoing steady state of bliss rather

than the wild excesses of joy and

sorrow. There is the fearless freedom

and compassion of a prodigal son

home again to his true nature. There is

the peace that passes all understanding.

Centre your

attention and

unleash the self-

less force of

nature

8 delete as appropriate to your present level of

understanding

- 30 -


31/36

14 A drop in the ocean

It is useful to think of an enlightened

person having three bodies although it

is really only one body seen in threedifferent ways. (see Box 1)

Box 1 three bodies

Body 1 Bliss body.

Having turned the mind around there is

only the Oneness. No more particular

things; nor feelings of love, hate or

indifference. There is the peace that

passes all understanding, but also

compassion for those still living in themessy world.

Body 2 Particular body.

This is the body seen from its own

point of view - as if it existed in the

ordinary sense.

As the vehicle which carries us through

the ordinary world we must attend to

its physical and psychological needs.

Body 3 Social body.

To see ourselves as others see us.

Those who are skilful in helping others

to see the light present themselves

differently to different people.

Different strokes for different folks

An enlightened person is no longer a

person as ordinarily understood.When an individual mind rises above

its conditioning and habitual illusions

it returns like a raindrop to the ocean

which is the one mind. This is the

peace that passes all understanding.

This is the bliss body from which we

came and to which we will return. (see

Box 2)

Box 2 everlasting bliss

We speak of coming and returning but,given the Oneness, these are illusory

notions. Particular and social bodies

are different ways of viewing the bliss

body there is only the oneness which

is everything and always.

Clouds may hide the sun but it is still

there. Illusions may prevent people

from knowing their bliss body but it is

still there. When there are no clouds

the sun can be seen. When there are noillusions the bliss body is apparent.

The one-mind of the bliss-body is

compassionate. It also lives happily

with the paradoxes created by language

(see Box 3). Although it appreciates

that there is only one thing which is

everything it also appreciates that the

one thing gave rise to the many things

and that there is much sufferingamongst the many things.

Box 3 enlightenment is like jazz

People have been in the world for more

than six million years but language has

been around for only about 25,000

years.

Language is useful for dealing with the

practicalities of day to day living but ithas not yet evolved to deal with the

insights of shamans, mystics and other

existential champions.

Enlightenment is like Jazz youll

know it when you find it. Talking

about it is a waste of time. Be cool. Be

still, and know!

- 31 -


32/36

People suffer because of how they

think. Think different and end

suffering. The UNESCO Charter

reckons that, It is in the minds of men

that war is created and it is in the

minds of men that peace must bewon.

How to win the peace?

Just sit. Be still and know. Unhook

yourself from the constant drip feed of

media messages and come to know

your mind as it is in itself. You willbecome more open to the numinous.

The one-mind of the bliss-body will

then lead you home. It will teach you

to see infinity in a grain of sand and

eternity in an hour.

This article is based very loosely on ideas expressed in Suzuki's argument that thebeginnings of the Mahayana concept of the Triple Body is to be found in the

Lankavatara Sutra.

Suzuki D T (1930,1999) Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra; Motilal Banarsidass; ISBN

8120816560

- 32 -


33/36

15 Five Skandhas are Empty

"These four words (five skandhas are

empty) are the essence of the earliest

Buddhist teachings".

There follows a rational schema to

blow away rational schemas. This

might assist compulsive rationalists

who have difficulty going beyond.

A Picture

First a branching diagram which you

might care to draw on a piece of paper.

Begin at the middle of the top of apage.

Write the word 'entities'.

Make two branches. Label the left

branch 'physical' and the right

branch 'mental'.

Make two branches down from the

physical branch. Label the left

branch 'quantum impermanent' and

the right branch 'newtonian

permanent'.


mental branch. Label the left one

'subjective' and the right one

'objective ? but impermanent'.


subjective branch. Label the left

one 'psychological newtons (five

skandhas)' and the left one

'enlightened quantum mystical

(five skandhas are empty)'

The Illusory Nature of the

Newtonian Permanent

Newton's laws are pragmatically

useful. They work as long as you donot look too closely. If you look in

quantum close up you realise that

solidity and substance are illusions;

there are no 'things' at the subatomic

level, only energy fields. So, despite

common sense appearance, no thing

exists. There is only energy.

Objective Mental Entities

Not yet! The task would be to write a

chemical formula for a thought patternor a wave equation for an emotion - but

this cannot be done. The only thing

that can be safely said at present is

that, from the objective point of view,

mental entities are likely to be fuzzy

edged and ever changing.

Unenlightened Subjectivity - The

Five Skandhas

Any reasonably intelligent person, by

taking thought, will be able to go alongwith the Buddha's concept of the five

skandhas. The first two could be said

to 'exist' as newtonian permanent

entities and the last three could be said

to 'exist' in the mentally subjective

category which is labelled as

psychological newtons.

- 33 -


34/36

NAMA-RUPA (Corporeal Form).

Compound things are made up of

elemental things eg molecules are

made from atoms. VIJNANA (Sensation). When light

from an object reaches the eye a

sight 'sensation' results. The same

pattern applies for the other sense

organs.

SAMJNA (Perception). When a

physical sensation has been located

within the fields of impulse and

feeling (see below) then a

'perception' can be said to have

been created.

SAMSKARA (Impulse). Impulses

are subjective mental entities

which dictate in broad terms the

manner in which sensations

become perceptions. The impulses

derive from the culturally given

world-view-with-pigeon-holes into

which sensations are routinely and

conveniently slotted.

VEDANA (Feelings). Feelings aresubjective mental entities which

have been created as a result of

personal (rather than broad

cultural) experience. They serve to

label sensations on their way to

becoming perceptions as pleasant,

unpleasant or neutral.

Enlightened Subjectivity - The Five

Skandhas are Empty

Solving the quantum koan means

arrival on the other shore where no

words are spoken and action is taken

without the awareness that, "I amacting".

Imagine yourself as a quantum

physicist looking inside your own

brain. The microscope is on full power

and there is nothing to be seen but

minute swirls of substanceless energy.

OK, now look back up through the

microscope - what is the quantum

physicist made of? Who is looking at

what? Aargh!

Gone Beyond

The Shamans figured it out pretty soon

after language came into being. The

guys who wrote the Upanishads had it

twigged more than 2500 years ago.

Everybody goes there at least once a

day - where do 'you' go to during deep,

dreamless sleep? What difference is

there between the self concept when

dreaming and the self concept when

awake? Did Chaung Tzu dream he was

a butterfly or was it the butterfly's

dream?

I drift into the deep-dreamless-sleep-

while-awake state now and again and I

know the selfless peace of it. But I

cannot enter it at will. What to do?

Based on: Mu Soeng Sunim (1991) Heart Sutra: Ancient Buddhist Wisdom in the

light of Quantum Reality; Primary Point Press

- 34 -


35/36

16 Anguising angst

In the spirit of existential jujitsu the

anguish of angst is to be welcomed.

It drives you to the spiritual path more

effectively than most other frames of

mind. The concept points to a feeling

of anxiety, especially one about the

general state of things rather than

anything specific; a profound feeling

of generalised anxiety or dread (origin

1920s: from Ger., fear)

Angst - a term introduced into

philosophy by existentialist thinkers. It

denotes the state of mind produced

when a person becomes aware of being

finite in a world that is infinite. The

source of this feeling of apprehension

is ultimately the infinite nature of

nothingness (or the void). (Collins

Dictionary of Philosophy, ISBN

0004343700)

Angst - (German for: anxiety, anguish)

In existentialist philosophy, the dreadoccasioned by mans realization that

his existence is open towards an

undetermined future, the emptiness of

which must be filled by his freely

chosen actions. Anxiety characterises

the human state, which entails constant

confrontation with possibility and the

need for decision, with the

concomitant burden of responsibility.

(see also bad faith; existentialism)

(A Dictionary of Philosophy (Pan),ISBN 0330283596)

(existential anguish) The horrible

feeling the existentialists suppose we

have when we are confronted with our

own complete and irremovable

freedom and responsibility. (Robert M

Martin (1991) The Philosophers

Dictionary, ISBN 0921149751)

Angst - Variously translated asanxiety, anguish, dread. It was first

used in an existential sense by Soren

Kierkegaard in The Concept of

Anxiety (1844), where he describes the

terrifying reality of the state of

splitness, indecisiveness and

responsibility in front of choice

Heidegger, in Being and Time (1927),

freely paraphrases Kierkegaard and

does not add anything significant to

Kierkegaards analysis Sartre, in

Being and Nothingness (1943), again

follows Kierkegaard but adds an

element of determinism by makinganguish a state of bad faith in which

the conscious subject tries to renege on

his unalienable freedom to choose.

(The New Fontana Dictionary of

Modern Thought, ISBN 0002558718)

Angst - A recurrent state of disquiet

concerning ones life which

Existentialists interpret as evidence

that human life has a dimension which

a purely naturalistic psychology cannotcomprehend The term was

introduced by Kierkegaard, who held

that angst (usually translated here as

dread) concerning the contingencies

of fortune should show us that we can

only gain a secure sense of our identity

by taking the leap of faith and entering

into a relationship with God

Heidegger uses the same term (here

usually translated as Anxiety) to

describe a sense of unease concerningthe structure of ones life which,

because it does not arise from any

specific threat, is to be diagnosed as a

manifestation of our own responsibility

for this structure Sartre uses the

term angoisse (usually translated as

anguish) for much the same

phenomenon as Heidegger describes.

(The Oxford Companion to

Philosophy, ISBN 019866132)

- 35 -


36/36

17 Changed MindThen: thing, thought and worry.

Now: no-thing, no-thought, no-worry

Between then and now:see the goal, hold it in mind, work

towards it.

Then, of itself, effort ceases and the

journey ends.

Then there was like and dislike, friend

and foe.

Now there is no argument or

contention.

The goal is: to know yourself;

to know the illusory nature of

common sense;

to know the source of perception,

thought and feeling;

to know the limitation of words;

to know the impermanence of

created things;

to know the process of

creation/destruction;

to know the futility of knowing

The road to the goal involves:

watching the creation of self;

noting the origin of thought;

letting thought go.

Thoughts flow like a waterfall;

some fly out and involve you.

Notice this. Throw them back.The waterfall is background noise;

ignore it.

Deep in the jungle is a still clearingwith no earth, sky or horizon.

No edges or limitations on the changed

mind.

Beyond the power of words;

inconceivable, unspeakable.

The unchanging Oneness is the source

of ten thousand no-things.

doubtless Doubt.

unchanging Change.

It is said:

"When the mind has changed

you may do as you please."

It is said:

"The angels simply live, getting what

they give, not brash enough to have an

understanding."

It is said:

"When walking walk,

when sitting sit."

Only when we have removed the harm

in ourselves can we become trulyuseful to others

With agency in mind - on the road to easy peace

Documents

Transcript of With agency in mind - on the road to easy peace