(1b) Mind the gap
Mind the gap means don't be a Zen poser.
Don't give yourself the airs of one who knows. I hate this tendency, primarily in myself. "I am the teacher. The one who knows what feeling is, what thinking is, what action is. You are below me. I am above you. I am the special one, to whom people pay their hard-earned money for instruction in how to be. I am the Great Pontificator, above menial tasks like housework."
When I see this tendency in others I feel very angry. Grrrrrr! I go red, and use foul and abusive language.
Don't give yourself the airs of one who knows. I hate this tendency, primarily in myself. "I am the teacher. The one who knows what feeling is, what thinking is, what action is. You are below me. I am above you. I am the special one, to whom people pay their hard-earned money for instruction in how to be. I am the Great Pontificator, above menial tasks like housework."
When I see this tendency in others I feel very angry. Grrrrrr! I go red, and use foul and abusive language.
posted by Mike Cross at 9:44 AM
5 Comments:
I'll try this again; I guess my last attempt got lost in cyberspace.
I have always been fond of the expression:
"Mind what is true, not the personality."
I see those folks and even myself who sometimes put on airs like one who knows, or dose not know, I begin to wonder what did I think I knew? I have been thinking for a while now that knowing is not so important. Doing, seems more useful.
I hope you are doing well.
Jordan
What is sitting-meditation?
Is it doing?
Is it non-doing?
Do you do it?
Does it do itself?
What is sitting-meditation? Is it doing? Is it non-doing? Do you do it? Does it do itself?
I wonder if this was meant to be rhetorical.
My first thoughts on this came up semi intuitively, from a rhyme my older daughter brought back from day care. “Yes, No, Maybe so!”
Tonight I am having trouble sleeping, and thoughts of this were running around in my brain-housing unit. Yes, no, maybe so, is not really cutting it for me right now.
I think just sitting, using the prescribed method works well for me.
It is doing and not doing, you do it and it does itself.
The universe is sitting meditation, it is never doing or not doing it just is.
I also feel that this answer, along with any other, is incomplete and begins to sound like a bunch of pseudo-philosophical mumbo jumbo if you are not feeling it the same way, which is quite possible and even probable.
I think I have difficulty describing what 3000 looks like. So I do not think I can begin to describe infinity. I am not such a great pontificator.
I hope you can resolve this strange ego issue you are having and get back to posting. Although occasionally dull or rude it was often thought provoking and enjoyable.
Get back to work lazy bones, other non-monks out here were benefiting from your blog!
Jordan
This comment, Jordan, is a kind of mistake. That's OK -- human beings are prone to make mistakes.
You feel/think that you have understood me a bit but in truth you do not know me at all.
Minding the gap means, for example, after you think you have understood something, going back to square one and investigating more deeply whether you really understood anything.
This kind of process does not require us to get rid of our ego, but it requires us repeatedly to transcend, to detach, not to care. It necessarily involves a kind of humility that is akin to childlike curiosity. And progress in it depends above all upon dogged persistence.
Childlike curiosity includes the meaning of being interested in something for its own sake, without concern for one's own reputation, social standing, or financial situation. We set out on the quest for enlightenment with this attitude (which is in truth not so much the existence of something as the absence of something), and yet along the way something else creeps in. A bit of "I know." A bit of presumption. A bit of a gap.
You have gone wrong. That is OK. Go back to square one. All being well, I may meet you there.
Mike,
Thank you for elevating me to human being status!
But I do not pretend to understand you or for that matter for you to understand me.
I do enjoy the dialog and continue to think it benefits me.
You see a gap, I see a connection, and perhaps that is a key difference we have in perception. I see gaps as connections.
I don’t know weather this is understanding or knowing. I don’t think the verbiage is so important for me, I just open my eyes.
I do agree about the childlike curiosity, and dogged persistence. But you completely lost me on the ego, reputation, social standing, and Money bit. I may be a bit dense. Please give it another push.
I think that along the way a bit of “I don’t know” creeps in too.
As far as going wrong I think that is just dualistic.
Square one: I am prone to think idealistically, so this is hard to achieve moment to moment. I am trying though, and sometimes I find myself there.
Hope you are well,
Jordan
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