Deep Blue

Eric Fromm is an inspiration to me. Therefore, I post here an excerpt from my favorite of his works, Escape from Freedom, a book intended to explain psychologically how the German people could embrace the Nazis in post-WWI Germany. I have found this work to be very well done, and thought-provoking.

“There is only one possible, productive solution for the relationship of individualized man with the world: his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work, which unite him again with the world, not by primary ties but as a free and independent individual . . . . However, if the economic, social and political conditions . . . do not offer a basis for the realization of individuality in the sense just mentioned, while at the same time people have lost those ties which gave them security, this lag makes freedom an unbearable burden. It then becomes identical with doubt, with a kind of life which lacks meaning and direction. Powerful tendencies arise to escape from this kind of freedom into submission or some kind of relationship to man and the world which promises relief from uncertainty, even if it deprives the individual of his freedom.”

Soyen Shaku, the first Zen teacher to come to America, said: “My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes.“ This is akin to Musashi-san’s request that we think lightly of ourselves, and deeply of the world.

The following are rules that he practiced every day of his life.

In the morning before dressing, light incense and meditate.

Retire at a regular hour. Partake of food at regular intervals. Eat with moderation and never to the point of satisfaction.

Receive a guest with the same attitude you have when alone. When alone, maintain the same attitude you have in receiving guests.

Watch what you say, and whatever you say, practice it.

When an opportunity comes do not let it pass by, yet always think twice before acting.

Do not regret the past. Look to the future.

Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child.

Upon retiring, sleep as if you had entered your last sleep. Upon awakening, leave your bed behind you instantly as if you had cast away a pair of old shoes.

I’ve had a few questions from you all about Miyamoto Musashi (the author of the tagline above on my blog’s masthead)

Musashi is the author of several works of philosophy, such as The Book of Five Rings, and the Dokkodo, “The Way to be Followed Alone”. The full text is here. Musashi was a ronin, or masterless samurai, in the early 17th Century in Japan (The Edo Period). The term ronin captures merely one facet of his life. He was also an accomplished calligrapher, sculpter, painter, farmer, and philosopher. He trained constantly, in many disciplines (both martial and otherwise). Most of this training was done alone.

Days before dying, he gave us the Dokkodo. This is the original.

Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words.
- Apocrypha

Whitman (see post below) had my mind ranging through the American Wild.

This is the American Wild that I was shown by my parents, of course.

Which leads me to Pirsig. You see, it’s all connected.

But you know that.

Take a look at that smile riding in back.

Robert Pirsig was indeed a Father to be respected.

He set aside his life to show his son the American Wild, this despite slowly losing his own mind at the time.

That gives a new meaning to ”Quality Time”.

Oh, by the way, just in case anyone is discouraged today: despite literally battling his mental illness to write a book about the experience(s) of the trip, Pirsig completed his book. He then received 120 rejections, and one acceptance, for his Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

One of the greatest modern books I have ever read.

And now you can too. Enjoy. If you read the book I’ve posted here, please also buy it, out of respect.

Thou art that which asserts that everything you think you are, and everything you think you perceive, are undivided.

- Robert Pirsig

Today, it’s Whitman who sings to us, from the American Wild.

I SING the Body electric;
The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.
Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves;
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do as much as the Soul?
And if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul?

- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

In thinking about Watt this morning (the post below), I am reminded of a conversation with a new friend of mine, wherein we discussed Viktor Frankl.

“What is to give light must endure burning.”

Uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari, Viktor, wherever you are.

You truly were properly named.

First, the historical basis for Bruce’s aphorism:

Nan-in, a Japanese Zen master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. After he asked Nan-in about Zen, the professor spoke to Nan-in ceaselessly, for some time. Nan-in therefore prepared tea for the two of them. Nan-in poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself.

“It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Now, Bruce asks of us to be both the cup and the water.

Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless – like water.
Now, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow, or it can crash!
Be water, my friend.

Now, realize that these words above do not capture the full impact of Bruce’s water,

and go here.