Hey, Lithin.
On Fri, 23 Oct 1998, Lithien wrote:
>
>you [me, Donny] also added:
>
>So
>they do not mind whether it crackes or not. Our common sense is of no use
>for Koreans at all. They live in a world of "thusness", not of "must or
>must not
LITHIN:
>this world of "Thou" is also alluded to by Joseph Campbell. it is a
>different psychology when one sees the world as a "Thou" instead of an "it".
Actually, Campbell got that from Martin Bauber's philosophy as
expressed in his book *I-Thou*.
>
>you continued:
>
>Buddhist *do* frequently use the word *muge* -- literally "liberation," but
>what they are liberated from is duality. static.
>
>is there a distinction between liberation and freedom?
>
Yanagi makes that distinction. He uses "freedom" to refer to the
opposite of "confined," "restricted," etc. This is the sense we use for
DQ when we think in terms of dynamic-as-opposed-to-static.
Yanagi uses "liberation" as a non-dual term. "Liberation"
(*muge*) isn't the opposite of anything. It's the liberation from
dualities of life-death, S-O, free-confined, dynamic-static... and so on.
I think it can be of use to us to re-examing what is ment by "DQ"
and it's place in the MoQ, w/ these concepts in mind.
>
>it is so hard to stop thinking in a opposites. i try and try and its
>impossible, it seems. when i think DQ is the true essence of beauty because
>its always new. im trapped into dualistic thinking because consequently
>there has to be an old. maybe our brains are programmed to think this way?
>how can it be stopped even if only for a little while?
Well, if you've read your Joe Campbell then you know it doesn't
necessarily have to be stoped. Generaly it is enough to be aware of the
mystery of the "Void" -- the timeless realm -- and to dwell on this
mystery from time to time. Most religious ceramonies and mythologies are
dedicated to reminding us of the Oneness from which we come and into which
are enfolded back into. Campbell was fond of quoting Sri Ramakrisna's
statement that you should not seek enlightenment unless you seek it as a
man whose hair is on fire seeks water. I, for one, am 23 years old and do
not, at this stage in my life, feel that kind of a need for full-fledged
Nirvana.
But we all experience that "realm" momentairily once or twice in
our waking lives (like Bil Bryson's hike in the woods... or, I have a
friend who went joging once and "lost" 4 hours -- and he wasn't thinking
of anything in particuler; just running.). We all have "Zen moments"
sooner or later. And Hindu philosophy teaches that we all enter the
"timeless realm" every night in dreamless sleep.
>could the answer lie in our experience of time? since time occurs linearly
>for us, it is only natural to think of before and after. if we existed in a
>timeless reality then all dualistic thinking would stop!
Time! To me it's at the heart of metaphysics. "How do things
come to exist?" asks "How do they get into time -- get 'timed', aquare a
rhythm to them?" Which is of corse the same as asking, "What is time?"
Maybe I'll get a chance to share some thoughts along these lines next
month.
TTFN (ta-ta for now)
Donny
____________
P.S. If anybody's intrested in Joseph Campbell, the Joe Campbell
Foundation has a great webpage at <www.jcf.org>. I'm a memeber of the
JCF, and personally, I think Campbell was the greatest scholar/philosopher
of the last century. Well worth checking out!
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