Reason is ultimately pure madness
2015/04/02 Leave a comment
That´s why everybody is reasonably fucked up.
Unless you realize the necessity of giving up being “reasonably mad”,
you´ll stay mad.
The Buddha with no name
2013/10/24 Leave a comment
He:
Being a devoted Buddhist means denying your natural human instincts and desires
Me:
I am no Buddhist, but if you let yourself believe that Buddhism is about “denying your natural human instincts and desires” is a total misconception.
It´s most likely the fault of many deluded minds calling themselves “Buddhists”, who have promulgated this stupid misunderstanding.
Buddhism is not about denial. It´s about questioning the world of our senses, pointing to a Reality which is ever-present yet beyond time, thought and duality.
The essence of Buddhism – or for that matter, the essence of any true religion – is not to be found in Sutras, Bibles, or God knows what other holy books.
Reality doesn´t lend itself to words…It has nothing to do with Reason, it´s more a kind of feeling-less feeling…;)
Of course, my words may sound totally unsubstantiated, unless you experience it for yourself. It´s a hell of a work, or un-work…
Very few ever know it, if any…
A great disorder
2012/12/16 12 Comments
I find Thomas Ross ´post incredibly moving and meaningful. Here it is:
My expectations explode against hard reality.
I end up not where I am supposed to be.
Nothing unfolds according to plan.
Just once, could things happen as they are supposed to happen? Just one, could what I seek come my way as I imagined?
In Zen we say that all things exist in disorder but against a background of perfect harmony. I have tried in so many ways to see and feel that harmony. I have even pretended to grasp it. But I don’t. I feel no order or harmony – just swirling and cruel chaos.
Where is this harmony? How can it be mine?
All this grief and questioning and doubt, I now understand, arise from one simple mistake. I keep supposing that I can control what will come. I imagine that when I do X today, then Y will happen tomorrow. I seek to impose order upon the disorder. And when I fail, as I must, I rage against it all.
The harmony, I know, is right there. Waiting for me. The key to that ecstatic existence is right here. Simple acceptance. Undiluted, sure, steady acceptance of all that is and all that I am.
I know these things. And I know that I am moving closer and closer to that way of being. Substituting that simple truth for that simple mistake. To be purged of rage, filled with gratitude and acceptance.
My comment:
Where are we supposed to be…? WHO is supposing, and above all – WHY?…
Homer put this in a grand manner:
God has bestowed man with Reason, in order for us to understand that It is of no avail.
The Secret of Existence baffles us each step. I do wonder how others seem to get things done according to a plan. Anticipated agenda…- it never works for me. It´s almost a curse, whatever I try, fails.
To be honest, I no longer know WHAT works.
Both “harmony” and “disharmony” must go. Harmony, real unadulterated harmony is the Death of Concept, the thing we fear most…Only that Primordial Silence is The Unwavering Sound.
The impending question is: Can we ever know – that is, have any preconceived idea – what Death is?…
Or are we supposed to simply die to whatever control, expectation and “mistake” entails…?
The kind of Order we seek is neither “order” or “disorder”. It is overwhelmingly irrational.
Mazy. Intriguing. But indefectable.
Our concept of Being always loses the battle no matter how subtle its agenda is…
The hardest lesson is thus, to learn to un-be.
To know means equally to have the guts to “not know”…”Closer” is a vague denomination…There are no degrees as to “nearness” or far. Far is near, near can be far…Fear is near, fear can be far…
You know that very well by now.
Let it be a mistake. “Failing” can be the guide to the unmistakable..
The simultaneity of opposites
2012/10/05 6 Comments
There is this extraordinary word in Greek: χαρμολύπη – harmolypi, which I don´t think is to be found in any other language.
It means to be sad and joyous at the same time. Paradoxical, isn´t it? Not easy for our reasoning mind to grasp this.
We think that we are either sad or glad, we are either this or that. But what if there is no such thing as “either or”…? Especially when it comes to emotion, when it comes to real life.
Reason is univocal choice, – “this” and “not that” – reason is the outcome of constant dissociation, it is distance between one thing or another.
Reason is the outcome of conflict ultimately – conflict between opposites – that is, it can function only in the range of two-ness – to illustrate – either the inside or the outside, you are either tall or short, ugly or beautiful, good or bad. Oneness is for Reason the ultimate threat, as reason can only exist within fragmentation, in fact REASON IS FRAGMENTATION.
Within oneness there is not such thing as only good or bad, more but not less, only dark or lesser light, obviously – the inside is the outside and vice versa. Everything is interplay, everything is intertwined.
Oneness is both dark and light, cold and warm, up and down and all the shades there in between.
All classifications and categories are the outcome of reason. Reason has invented time – the interval between one thing and another – that is, distance. Distance means either near or far…Reason means suffering cause it tries hardly to be either “near or far”, always fighting “for or against”. Reason is struggle, it is constant judgement, reason is projection. Reason always tries to compensate its missing counterpart – wholeness. Abuse or violence is also reason´s way to compensate its fragmentation, to reach unity. More of this in another post. What I am trying to emphasise now, is that classification breeds fragmentation and fragmentation is misfortune.
“Either or” is the beginning of suffering!! Reason means eventually affliction.
Life is all-embracing, “whole” and simultaneous. You are both near and far, ugly and beautiful, existing and non – existing, you are light and you are darkness. Move swiftly, don´t get stuck in one thing or another – unless you want to be unhappy.
Get to know thoroughly both sides of reality, be “together”, learn to explore the opposites in Oneness. And when you have learned the secret of extremes, you will see that Oneness is both joy and sorrow, light and darkness, existence and non-existence – but also neither nor.
Yes, when you have learned the secret of the opposites you will know that Oneness is neither light nor darkness but ever-existing and non-existing Joy.
Julien Matei
Mirrors of Encounters 