The Fireplace Records, Chapter 40
Complexity is Closer to the Truth
In my experience, life is rightly characterized as diverse, complicated, varied, rich in multiplicity, saturated with the 'ten thousand things.' Personally, I find little need to seek or to find or to have the "experience of unity." This state of "unification," when actualized, is in most cases rather fleeting. It may be profound, but no more so that the beauty of complexity and the fascinating reality of diversity. I do not find the experience of the multiplicity of things distressing, disturbing, or disheartening.
Just because all of the eggs today are in one basket does not make the colored basket more real or more interesting or more valuable than the eggs.
Ignoring the facticity of the complexity of the natural and mental realms seems to me a more serious ignorance, not very sensible, and ultimately unwise. I long ago gave up on any quest for "enlightenment" (in Hindu or Buddhist terms) and prefer the ordinary state of mind grounded in a world that is not simple, not one, not unified, complex, and rich in details. To claim that our normal experience of complexity and variety is an "illusion" or "ignorance (avidya) seems to me a form of incorrect judgment.
No doubt, trying to simplify one's life has its benefits, reducing sensory overload can reduce stress, and not becoming overly infatuated with novelty can be helpful; but, pushing on this strange path towards the "enlightenment" or "realization" of a pure and uncluttered "Unity" can produce its own distressing and disturbing predicaments for a person.
Many philosophers, ancient and modern, have made a sharp distinction between appearances and Reality, the many and the One, the phenomena and the Noumena, and multiplicity and Unity. For me, it is muddled thinking to call all of our experiences "just fleeting illusions" and fabricate a true realm of being outside of our personal and social and practical experiences. Indeed, we can't "see" in any ordinary sense of "see," the cells, molecules, atoms, and the subatomic particles that constitute the objects of our macro-cosmic world; but, this in no way means the multiplicity of objects in our ordinary environment are in any way "illusions." The meaning of "objects" is much more complicated, varied in linguistic usage, and functional in many practical contexts. Again, complexity is closer to the truth.
Just because all of the eggs today are in one basket does not make the colored basket more real or more interesting or more valuable than the eggs.
Ignoring the facticity of the complexity of the natural and mental realms seems to me a more serious ignorance, not very sensible, and ultimately unwise. I long ago gave up on any quest for "enlightenment" (in Hindu or Buddhist terms) and prefer the ordinary state of mind grounded in a world that is not simple, not one, not unified, complex, and rich in details. To claim that our normal experience of complexity and variety is an "illusion" or "ignorance (avidya) seems to me a form of incorrect judgment.
No doubt, trying to simplify one's life has its benefits, reducing sensory overload can reduce stress, and not becoming overly infatuated with novelty can be helpful; but, pushing on this strange path towards the "enlightenment" or "realization" of a pure and uncluttered "Unity" can produce its own distressing and disturbing predicaments for a person.
Many philosophers, ancient and modern, have made a sharp distinction between appearances and Reality, the many and the One, the phenomena and the Noumena, and multiplicity and Unity. For me, it is muddled thinking to call all of our experiences "just fleeting illusions" and fabricate a true realm of being outside of our personal and social and practical experiences. Indeed, we can't "see" in any ordinary sense of "see," the cells, molecules, atoms, and the subatomic particles that constitute the objects of our macro-cosmic world; but, this in no way means the multiplicity of objects in our ordinary environment are in any way "illusions." The meaning of "objects" is much more complicated, varied in linguistic usage, and functional in many practical contexts. Again, complexity is closer to the truth.
Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:
Now is Real, a Unified Instant, but Fleeting.
Nature Mysticism: Resources, Quotes, Notes
Riddles (200+ Riddles, with No Ads.)
Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories.
Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information
Pulling Onions Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor
Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans
The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo
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