blog (January, 2005)
social contraction
My continuing philosophy is predicated on the assumption that in dynamic counterbalance to the expanding universe of entropically increasing random disorderliness there must be a universal pattern of omni-contracting, convergent, progressive orderliness and that man is that anti-entropic reordering function.
-- Albert Szent-Gyoergyi, "Drive in Living Matter to Perfect Itself"
Buddha's Zen
I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the geatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminatd ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of a right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.
-- The Buddha
read Zen Flesh Zen Bones or check out 101 Zen Koans
corridors unto his perfection
staggering under heavy weightless hindrance
chugging through trainyards
bucketloads
cramped social quarters
trampled dime times
pack the kids into the station wagon we'regone and when'll it be wheel westward on?
But the excerpt shows clearly a charming quality of youth: to begin with optimism; and once the inadequacy of optimism is borne in on him by an inevitably hostile world, to retreat into abstractions.
-- Thomas Pynchon, V.
You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.
-- Plato
look'y here, hear; somewhat delighted and somewhat de-lighted; drop out and drop off