I can't let this idea just sit... it's gotta come out now, unrehersed.
Desire. I've been aware for a long time that desire (to /want/
something) is very important. Unfulfilled desire results in
unhappiness. And so for a long while I've been trying to avoid it.
Reading that Zen book has brought me into contact with an entire field
who's sole aim is the abolution of desire (or graspingness, as it's
called there). There is, of course, an inherent contradiction here in
that I desire the complete removal of desire. But then, contradiction
is level 3, and I'm not going to shun it.
Anyway, what I sense now is that /desire/ and it's effects go far beyond
just the personal level of happiness. Desire actually springs out of
the Subject/Object duality that we've been talking about. Because we
view ourselves as seperate from the universe, it is possible to conceive
that the "universe" posses something that we ourselves don't. And then
we "want" it. But as I've said, this entire duality of subject and
object is just mental programming (here is the Mind or Matter question
again: is it meme's or gene's?) Eliminate the duality and desire is no
longer meaningful. How can "you" want something when there is no you,
let alone "anything" to want? It's all one and the same. That is why
no material objects can ever really make a person happy. All that the
material object does, when "owned" is increase the list of things in
your possesition, and decrease (or maybe not) those you don't have.
Ownership thus reenforces the duality, leading one farther and farther
from the simple, happy, world. _Desire_is_the_Enemy_.
And not just the enemy of happiness. It is the root cause of most all
of the enviromental problems today. Desire for material wealth leads to
waste. Desire for faster transport leads to global warming. Desire
leads to enviromental damage. (and now a little Church of Euthanasia)
Desire for children leads to overpopulation. And overpopulation just
means that there are that many more mouths desiring food, bodies
desiring shelter, gonads desiring sex. _Desire_is_the_Enemy_!
The way to resolve all of this lies at the heart of desire: the
Subject/Object duality. Zen will make us free! Understand that _you_
and _the_world_ are really one and the same thing and you will
understand that material desires are irrelevant (actually: impossible).
It is the self interest that springs from the duality that makes us
believe it is our right to impose our will on the world.
Looking back, I haven't done this idea justice. I don't think this can
be said in words. It's... tingly
This must be what they call enlightment. It really is like walking on
air. I'll be damned.
ERiC
enough for tonight, I'm going to sleep on that note.